It’s clear that family and cooking are the loves of Stefano Faita’s life, and the two passions are completely intertwined.
Anecdotes about his family are sprinkled throughout an interview and the half-hour episodes of his new cooking show In the Kitchen With Stefano Faita, which began airing last month on CBC-TV weekday afternoons.
Faita credits his mother, grandparents, aunts and uncles for his knowledge of food and ultimate career path.
“If there’s one thing I thank my mother for it’s showing me how to cook ... my mother is gold, what my mother gave me when it came to cooking and cooking often.”
Faita, whose third French-language cookbook launches this fall, has been writing a weekly recipe column for Le Journal de Montreal for seven years and teaches at Mezza Luna, the cooking school beside the family-owned Italian cookware and hardware store called Dante’s.
In operation for 58 years in Montreal’s Little Italy, the store is unique in that shoppers can get anything from drill bits and hunting gear to imported cookware.
Faita is well known in French Canada, so hosting In the Kitchen With Stefano Faita in English is something new for him.
“I’m making some good wholesome recipes. A lot of them are family recipes from my mom or my grandma, things I’ve learned throughout the years with my family.”
His philosophy of food is to keep it as simple and fresh as possible. “And just have fun with it. And try to be adventurous and creative in the kitchen if you can.”
The trilingual Faita is quick to say that he is not a trained chef. A former graphic designer, he began working in the family business when the fashion magazine he was working on went out of business. When he was 12 he began helping his grandfather sell vegetables at the market, and over the years he has assisted celebrity chefs teaching their specialties at Mezza Luna, which his mother, Elena Faita-Venditelli, and sister started in 1993.
When his sister moved to Italy, Faita began teaching in her place.
Faita is carrying on the tradition of teaching his own little girl how to cook. “I do try to let my daughter participate and help me out and let her have fun in the kitchen.”
She loves pancakes “so daddy’s become a pancake king. She just helps me out on the counter. I bought her a little plastic knife, so she can cut some vegetables.” Her other utensils include a miniature frying pan and a spatula with a pig on it.
In his books, he encourages readers to make his recipes their own. “If there’s onions and you don’t like them, just remove them. If you like things more salty, maybe you can add some capers or an anchovy.
“I just want to get people to want to be IN the kitchen. And if I can do that, then I think I did my job.”
Here’s a recipe from Stefano Faita.
Grandma’s Apple Cake
Faita’s paternal grandmother Angela looked after him and his sister when they were growing up and he has fond memories of this cake.
Try Cortland or Fuji apples for this cake or use your favourite baking apple. If your raisins are dry, soak them in some orange juice to plump them up. Strain them before using.
15 ml (1 tbsp) butter, for greasing pan
30 ml (2 tbsp) plain breadcrumbs, for dusting pan
500 ml (2 cups) all-purpose flour
15 ml (1 tbsp) cinnamon
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
175 ml (3/4 cup) packed brown sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) butter
2 eggs (extra large)
125 ml (1/2 cup) plain yogurt
Zest of 1/2 lemon
50 ml (1/4 cup) orange juice
2 large apples, peeled and diced
150 ml (2/3 cup) dried raisins
150 ml (2/3 cup) chopped almonds
Butterscotch or caramel sauce, for serving
Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Heat oven to 180 C (350 F).
Grease a 20-cm (8-inch) round cake pan with butter and then dust with breadcrumbs to coat bottom and sides of the pan. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and continue to beat until incorporated and smooth. Add yogurt, lemon zest and orange juice. Continue to beat until batter is smooth.
Stir flour mixture into wet mixture a little at a time until batter is smooth. Do not overmix. Gently fold in apples, raisins and almonds.
Scrape cake batter into prepared pan. Bake until cake springs back when touched and cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.
Serve cake with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream, if desired. Alternatively, simply dust with icing sugar.
Makes 6 servings.