Food and Wine with Mario Batali

Start a global climate change study group.

About Mario

"Once you've put your groceries in the car,
the quality of your dinner has already been decided."

Featured Recipe

Fresh Robiola Wrapped in Mortadella

Mortadella is a big fat smoked Italian sausage with a delicate flavor. Make sure to get real Italian mortadella, which has only recently become available here, not the pallid domestic version. You won't find an antipasto like this in Italy, but the combination of the melting rich cheese and the pork sausage is amazing. Don't rush it: let the mortadella packages sit on the grill long enough to char-it's those really darkened porky bits that make it so good.

Mario's Top 5

Ingredients for Summer

1	Corn - Sweet delicate corn takes to the grill like white to rice, the post grill bath of olive oil, balsamic vinegar really makes it remarkable.

2	Peppers - A grill roasted pepper is the missing ingredient in so many dishes as well as essential to any summer antipasto selection... stored under good oil in the fridge they will last 2 weeks…if you do not eat them all at once.

3	Eggplant - Often misperceived as bitter, creamy delicious eggplant is all about the preparation and is easier than most fry fans think. Choose smaller rather than larger ones and experiment with Japanese, Chinese and Turkish varieties.

4	Pizza Dough - Buy it from your local pizzeria and turn it into a thousand things. I love stuffed focaccina with apricots and coppa, or a classic pizza margherita. All easy to make and quick especially if you buy the dough.

5	Bologna - Mortadella from Italy is the original bologna tastes great simply grilled or better yet, wrap it (burrito style) around an Italian cheese like robiola, or even mozzarella, grill it on the hot part of the grill and blow your friends minds.

About Mario

From his restaurants and cookbooks to his vineyard
and philanthropic efforts, everything that Mario Batali
has achieved is bigger, bolder and more recognizable

"A great chef is a great cook who can also
organize and operate a business or kitchen."

The following links will allow you to explore the many
different areas of Mario's life and career.

Restaurants

Biography

Music

Where's Mario?

From magazine articles and television appearances to book signings and cooking demonstrations, check here to find out where Mario can be seen in the coming months.

The Tap Project Needs Your Restaurant

The Tap Project, a UNICEF charity we've supported in the past, has a simple and elegant premise: If people paid one dollar for tap water in restaurants for a week, it would pay for a lot of clean drinking water in Third World countries. You can't complain about the price - in New York, our tap water tastes better than a lot of brands that cost more. But UNICEF is looking for more participants to join the effort during World Water Week, March 16 to March 22. If you own or operate a restaurant, contact the Tap Project. You'll be in good company: Participating establishments include Esca, Le Bernardin, and Gramercy Tavern.

Global Warming Endangers Black Truffles; Gourmands Despair at God's Indifference to Suffering

We had a good bit of sport over the astronomical prices paid this past summer for white truffles in New York restaurants. But what if their black cousins, long the déclassé branch of the family, became even more expensive? Or disappeared entirely? That wouldn't be so funny. And it wouldn't be good for the price of white truffles, which, like Beluga caviar and shark-fin soup, could become a purely plutocratic pleasure sooner than we expected. (Not that truffles are evil in the way of Beluga caviar and shark-fin soup; we're just thinking of endangered luxury foods, you understand.) An article in USA Today suggests that the global warming is currently bringing the hammer down on black-truffle production and that (gasp) "France's black truffle will one day be just a memory." It's a similar story around the world, as fish stocks are depleted, ecosystems are knocked out of whack, and global demand for things like toro and truffles move beyond a small cluster of ascot-wearing bons vivants.

What Is Organic?

Organic refers to the way agricultural products- food and fiber- are grown and processed. It is an ecological system that at its core relies on a healthy rich soil to produce strong plants that resist pests and diseases. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of more "earth-friendly" practices that work in harmony with nature.

Mario Batali Gives Bottled Water The Boot

In March, Alice Waters' famed Chez Panisse restaurant announced it would no longer sell bottled water due to environmental concerns over waste, not only from packaging but from transporting it, too.