Cooking is an undisputed way to connect to loved ones, but for Filippo Cortivo and the rest of his family, self-publishing a new cookbook meant preserving the memory and traditions of their mother: one of Melrose Avenue’s more recognizable Italian chefs for nearly a decade. Loredana “Mamma” Cecchinato, the matriarch and namesake of Larchmont’s Osteria Mamma, helped build the black-and-red corner restaurant into a neighborhood staple until her 2017 death after a battle with cancer. Serving dishes primarily from northern Italy and Umbria, the home cook turned professional possessed a natural talent that saw an endless procession of neighbors and family friends through their home in Italy, and a stable of regulars and celebrities in Los Angeles.
Now, a new cookbook titled “Ricettario della Mamma” shares a few of her recipes ideal for home cooks, all pulled from Cecchinato’s three-ring binder full of handwritten recipe scribblings and half-procedures. “I think my mom deserved more recognition,” said Cortivo, “but she never wanted it. They asked her to open a restaurant all her lifetime and she said, ‘Cooking is my passion.
I don’t do it for work.’” When her children called her to help train Osteria Mamma’s cooks, she was never supposed to clock in for work regularly — she decided to stay simply because she loved it. Cortivo had always wanted to assemble a cookbook of his mother’s recipes, even before her death, but never knew where to begin.
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