This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
It is often said that cooking is a matter of the heart. But it also embodies a story of family, memory and transmission. This is what Marina Orsini shows us in a work on the border between biography and recipe book, Greedy ! My family recipes. With all the warmth and generosity that we know her to be, the actress and host opens her family recipe book to us and reveals parts of a secret garden that she has been cultivating since childhood.
As far back as she can remember, Marina Orsini has always had the nickname “Gourmande”. It must be said that she grew up in a tight-knit family and tables, small or large, covered with good dishes. As she writes in the preamble to her very first book, which has just been published: “I grew up around a table. […] We have always come together for the evenings of big celebrations, but also because the table is a place for reunions, exchanges, discussions, laughter, love… and sometimes great sorrow. »
Marina therefore remembers many memories related to family meals, as well as the preparations that precede them. She remembers the garden her father tended every day, buying peppers at the Jean-Talon market before concocting fruit ketchup, the festive days during which her family gathered to prepare tomato coulis, prosciutto, sausages and wine while munching on cheese washed down with wine. “Everyone left there with groceries that were stored in the cold room that every good Italian in Montreal has,” she confides.
The idea of a book paying homage to this family of bon vivants with Italian and Scottish roots, which was also nourished by Quebec and French culinary culture, had been in Marina Orsini’s head for years. In fact, since the death of her mother, disappeared, just like her precious book of recipes written by hand which never left her. “So I wanted to bequeath something tangible to my son Thomas and the other children in my family,” she explains. This gourmet pendant that characterizes us so well. Because that’s what I was fed, as well as affection. All of this has made me who I am today. »
The four women in his life
The host does not hide that it is essentially four women who have influenced her cooking. “I had four mothers,” she says. We have always had a fairly matriarchal family in which women were numerous and played a central role in our daily life in Ville-Émard. »
Who were or are these inspiring women, whose master recipes constitute the first part of the book Greedy ? His mother first. An outstanding hostess who liked to entertain, take out the china and silverware, and who competed each year in a friendly way with Marina’s aunt at Christmas for the prize for the best lasagna. “It was quite a project, this dish! she remembers. It took two days to prepare, including hours rolling the little meatballs that make it up. But what a delight! »
Marina Orsini was also accompanied by her aunt Marguerite, “a fan of large, well-stocked tables, where it was always a party”. By “Nana”, too, her French ex-mother-in-law, to whom she remained very close, “who cooked divinely with almost nothing. It was a real pleasure to see her talk about butter and cream, and to taste her scrambled eggs like her marrow bones”, says Marina, who considers her cousin Josée, a unifying woman with braised meats and legendary pizzas, as her fourth source of inspiration in the kitchen.
Build your own signature
Marina Orsini does not hide the fact that her cooking has clearly been influenced by four mentors, but also by friends. “I’m not making this up,” she said. I take recipes that I like, and I modify others. »
In the second part of her book, the host actually offers the recipe for Sister Angèle’s pie dough. But it also shares some which constitute its hits, like an essential basmati rice dish at his table, a spaghetti sauce that his son loves — “He can eat it every day, even when he gets up in the morning! — his butter-curry-ginger chicken, or his tiramisu. “My family was not very dessert, but since I got pregnant, as soon as they offered it to me, I want it,” she admits, laughing.
Concretely, of the 50 recipes that make up the book Greedy !, a good half represent Marina’s personal legacy to her family, and more generally to gourmets who wish to rhyme their meals with classics that are often simple to make and keep. As for the many photos and anecdotes that punctuate this book, they refer us to the main message that Marina wishes to share: “Let’s be greedy in life! We only have one to live, and we must take full advantage of it. So, let’s be greedy of everything! »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.