Italian Books - Page 13

Sicilian Home Cooking: Family Recipes from Gangivecchio

Wanda Tornabene, Giovanna Tornabene, Michele Evans

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“To know and be close to your family, nothing is more important than dining together at home, as often as possible, on delicious home cooking. Salute!”

Four years after winning the 1997 James Beard Award for Best Italian Cookbook, Wanda Tornabene and her daughter, Giovanna, return with a glorious second helping of homestyle recipes. Sicilian Home Cooking offers more charming stories and rustic, delicious dishes from the kitchen of Gangivecchio, the Tornabenes’ magnificent thirteenth-century abbey in Sicily’s Madonie Mountains.

As in the award-winning La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio, here you’ll find a wonderful array of simple, mouthwatering recipes for antipasti, soups, pasta, rice, meat, fish, vegetables, salads, and desserts—including easy and delicious variations on bruschetta, the hearty Fagioli e Festoncini di Nonna Elena (Granny Elena’s Bean and Pasta Soup), enticing entrees like Cotolette di Vitello di Wanda (Wanda’s Veal Cutlets) and Gamberi in Crosta alla Gangivecchio (Gangivecchio’s Shrimp en Croute), and sublime desserts like Cartocci (Fried Pastry Coils with Ricotta Cream) and Gelo di Caffè (Coffee Gelatine). Sicilian Home Cooking also offers some tempting new sections. “Egg Dishes” showcases this essential ingredient in beautiful frittatas. “Pizza and Focaccia” is a salute to these most Italian of breads, adorned with fresh toppings. The section on couscous teaches the traditional method for this Arab speciality, which Sicilians have adopted as their own. “Wines and Liqueurs” gives recipes for homemade, refreshing libations, including the Italian favorite, Limoncello.

The homestyle recipes are nothing short of fantastic—but what makes this book even more special is that Wanda and Giovanna welcome you not only into their kitchen but also into their lives at Gangivecchio. In stories rich with the fragrant atmosphere of the gorgeous Sicilian countryside, they share memories of the annual grape harvest, a special Christmas snowstorm, and an illicit childhood trip on a commerical fishing boat. They describe favorite local restaurants and dishes from the past and the present. And they tell funny and touching stories of relatives, friends, and pets—both old and new.

Sicilian Home Cooking is a cookbook and much more—a true slice of Sicilian life.

Patsy's Cookbook: Classic Italian Recipes from a New York City Landmark Restaurant

Salvatore Scognamillo

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the Restaurant That Frank Sinatra Made Famous

Of the thousands of restaurants in New York City, very few withstand the tests of time—and only one can lay claim to being Frank Sinatra’s favorite. And where Frank went, his friends followed—from close pals such as Tony Bennett and fellow Rat Packers Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. to the show-biz colleagues they brought in.

Established nearly sixty years ago, Patsy’s has long been a celebrity favorite and a New York institution. Why? Great food, family friendliness, and a welcoming atmosphere that makes you feel like you’ve come home. And the fare is the classic southern Italian cuisine that’s become America’s comfort food: Mussels Arreganata, Fettuccine Alfredo, Rigatoni Sorrentino, Chicken Parmigiana, Veal Marsala, Shrimp Scampi, Tiramisù . . . a greatest hits of Neapolitan-influenced dishes.

And Patsy’s Cookbook provides more than recipes: also in the mix are anecdotes from family and friends, including the occasion when Pablo Picasso tried to give Patsy a painting; the time that the restaurant opened on Thanksgiving Day just for Frank Sinatra; Aunt Anna’s rather unorthodox autograph request of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs; and the story of the roast suckling pig delivered to Jackie Gleason’s hotel suite.

Here is a remarkable collection of 100 perfectly executed, delicious recipes, heartwarming stories of a successful family business, and entertaining celebrity tales, capturing the full experience of a New York City institution. Patsy’s Cookbook is an invitation to join the extended family that’s proud to call Patsy’s their second home.

Cucina Rustica: Simple, Irresistible Recipes in the Rustic Italian Style

Viana La Place, Evan Kleiman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Soups 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book about 10 years ago after reading it in a library. The soup recipes alone are worth buying this book. I still make the Broccoli, Bean, and Pasta soup on a regular basis. A great cookbook for vegetarians who are tired of the same old, same old...

simple, easy, wonderful! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I have spent the last 3 and a half years living in northeastern Italy. I'll be going home to the US this year and I have to say, I'm a thrilled to have this book in my collection. Almost everything in this book (or some variation) has been served by my Italian friends at dinner parties or gatherings, or even on the menu of local eateries. This book allows me to take one of the things I love most about Italy home with me. I even picked up a few copies to give as gifts!

Editorial Review:

Cucina Rustica,"the rustic 'kitchen,"is Italian food at its simplest and freshest. With more than 250 recipes that use readily available ingredients in deliciously creative combinations, La Place and Kleiman offer a style of cooking and eating that's inviting, easy, and elegant.

In Nonna's Kitchen: Recipes and Traditions from Italy's Grandmothers

Carol Field

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

With life in Italy becoming increasingly urbanized and Americanized, le nonne (Italian for "the grandmothers") are the last generation that knows the rich traditions and unique dishes of the country's towns, valleys and hilltops. Carol Field goes trolling through Italy's back roads to find these true guardians of the Italian culinary heritage, and weaves their stories, wisdom and dishes together in a wonderful cookbook that celebrates their history and preserves their timeless wisdom.

In these pages are the authentic meals enjoyed by generations of Italians. There are savory breads such as Gnocco Ingrassato (made with crunchy cubes of pancetta), such fruit preserves as Le Pesche d'Estate (peaches in lemon and sugar syrup), sumptuous sauces like Salsa Piccante alla Senape (spicy mustard) and mouthwatering meat dishes like Agnello in Umido (braised lamb with green olives). And what's a meal without dessert? Tempting fare like Crema Bacchica (literally, Bacchuss pudding -- a cinnamon-and-clove-scented pudding flavored with wine) and Torta di Mandorle e Cioccolata (chocolate almond tart) will elicit heartfelt cheers of "magnifico" from grateful gourmets.

Italian Intermezzo (Menus and Music) (O'Connor, Sharon, Menus and Music, V. 15.)

Sharon O'Connor

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The best Italian dinners are made at home. This title puts a cookbook with recipes from a variety of chefs together with a music CD of songs that capture the soul of Italy, masterpiece paintings from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, poetry, and colourful food photography. The author travelled throughout Italy and the United States to visit 21 chefs. She has formatted 120 of their recipes for the home cook, including dishes for each course of a traditional Italian meal, from antipasti to dolci, including baked ricotta cheese; pappardelle with shrimp, tomatoes, and basil; and espresso gelato. On the accompanying CD, the Pizzarelli-Peplowski Sextet creates the sound of Italy everyone knows, from Neopolitan songs and opera to pop songs and music from the movies. Recipes come from 21 restaurants in Italy and North America including: Certosa di Maggiano, Siena; Don Alfonso, Sant' Agata; Hotel Cipriani, Venice; Villa San Michele, Florence; Acqerello, San Francisco; San Domenico, New York; Spiaggia, Chicago; and Valentino, Los Angeles. The music includes: "Ah! Maria"; "Mattinata"; "Non Dimenticar"; Santa Lucia"; "O Sole Mio"; and "Torna a Surriento".

Ciao Italia Pronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen

Mary Ann Esposito

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

More confusing than inspiring 2 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

"Ciao Italia Pronto!" is a better cookbook in theory than in practice.

Italian food? Check! Thirty minute meals? Check! Sounds like just the thing to make a nice meal and still have some time between getting home from work and bedtime. That would be a false assumption.

American kitchens are certainly more sophisticated since the days when Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee owned the Italian cooking franchise. However, many of the ingredients called for in these recipes are still on the exotic side in my corner grocery. Sure, we have farmers markets, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, even an Italian specialty market or two but, if I have to fight traffic gridlock after work to go destination shopping for ingredients, it defeats the purpose of the Thirty Minute meal. The author recognizes this problem and provides a four page directory of mail order houses to obtain some of the required ingredients. This immediately makes about 40 percent of these recipes more trouble than they're worth.

If you do manage to find the ingredients, know that these recipes are neither simple, nor fast.

The recipe for "Lazy Lasagne" requires eight ingredients, and bakes for 30-35 minutes. That's cooking time only, and does NOT include prep time. Oh, and the tomato sauce for the lasagne is a recipe on a separate page. The sauce requires an additional eight ingredients and 20 minutes of cooking time.

Another main dish, "Fresh Tuna with Artichoke, Capers and Chickpeas," requires 12 ingredient and we're advised to make it early in the day, or a day ahead.

Some of the dishes are unfamiliar and pictures of the prepared food would have been a big help. There are only eight full page color pictures located in the center of the book, one appetizer, one soup, two main dishes, two salads, and two desserts.

If you're interested in this book for quick, convenient recipes, look elsewhere. This is far more complicated and time consuming than the advertised "....30 Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen." Not recommended.

Editorial Review:

From her Ciao Italia kitchen, Mary Ann Esposito shows people with busy lives and those just starting out in the kitchen how to prepare an authentic Italian meal in thirty minutes, in a book filled with more than seventy mouthwatering recipes from the entire gamut of Italian cuisine: Cibatta toasts with ricotta and salami Zucchini soup with cheese and eggs Quick Chicken Cacciatore Fresh Tuna with Artichokes, Capers and Chickpeas Layered Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole Baked pears with apricots and wineMary Ann also gives readers tips on maximizing their time in the grocery store, how to love leftovers, and how to create a Ciao Italia Pronto Pantry filled with the necessary ingredients that any busy cook should have on hand for a quick and authentic Italian meal. This is a great new book in a sleek, contemporary package, from one of televisions most beloved personalities.

The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy

Domenica Marchetti

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Italian cooks are masters of the art of preparing simmering soups and stews that showcase seasonal ingredients at their very best. Domenica Marchetti reveals their secrets with The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy, a collection of more than 60 exceptional, authentic recipes that celebrate each season in the Italian tradition. On a rainy day in fall, nothing takes the chill off like a bowl of Crema di Ceci con Maltagliati, a hearty, rustic soup of puréed chickpeas and pasta drizzled with fresh olive oil. In winter, La Genovese di Signora Venditti, a rich ragu of slow-cooked beef and sweet onions, will surely lift the spirits. Vellutata di Asparagi con Orzo Perlato, a delicately flavored, creamy soup of tender asparagus, sweet fennel, and pearled barley makes a perfect spring welcome. And when summer comes, Zuppa di Cozze e Vongole Piccante, a spicy stew of mussels, clams, and ripe garden tomatoes is perfect for a casual dinner party. With practical information on equipment, seasonal and pantry ingredients, and a delicious mix of vanishing classics, regional specialties, treasured family recipes, and contemporary creations, The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy is a book to be savored throughout the year.

Cooking with My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap

Adriana Trigiani, Mary Trigiani, Lucia Anna Trigiani, Antonia Trigiani, Francesca Trigiani

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

For the Trigianis, cooking has always been a family affair–and the kitchen was the bustling center of their home, where folks gathered around the table for good food, good conversation, and the occasional eruption. Example: Being thrown out of the kitchen because one’s Easter bread kneading technique isn’t up to par. As Adriana says: “When the Trigianis reach out and touch someone, we do it with food.” Like the recipes that have been handed down for generations from mother to daughter and grandmother to granddaughter, the family’s celebrations are also anchored to the life and laughter around the table. We learn how Grandmom Yolanda Trigiani sometimes wrote her recipes in code, or worked from memory, guarding her recipes carefully. And we meet Grandma Lucia Bonicelli, who never raised her voice and believed that when people fight at the dinner table, the food turns to poison in the body.

Adriana Trigiani’s voice springs to life from the first page of Cooking with My Sisters, a collection of beloved family recipes that the Trigianis have been enjoying for generations. But there’s much more here than just the food. Peppered with hilarious family anecdotes, poignant letters, and exquisite color photographs, Cooking with My Sisters draws us into the warm and witty world of the Trigiani clan. Each recipe has a story behind it, and each chapter has tips from different sisters, reflecting the unique personalities of the latest generation of Trigiani women.

Here are mainstay meals, featured in sections such as “The Big Life” and “The Big Wow,” which include the chapters “Pasta, or as We Called It, Maccheroni” and “Food We Hated as Kids but Love to Serve Now.” Accessible to any cook, the recipes range from Chicken and Polenta, Zizi Mary’s Rice Soup, and Gnocchi to favorite desserts like Grandmom’s Buttermilk Cake–and all the delectable dishes are geared toward bringing your family together.

Written with Adriana Trigiani’s trademark humor and verve, this wonderful book will appeal to anyone who values the bonds that food, community, and cultural tradition can provide.


From the Hardcover edition.

Ciao Italia

Mary Ann Esposito

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Join the popular host of Ciao Italia, seen nationally on public television, for an intimate journey back to her childhood in Buffalo, New York, to a time when her mother and grandmothers ran the household from their kitchens.

Food was the connector in our lives; it brought people together. In an Italian family, love is expressed through kisses, kudos, and in the kitchen, writes Mary Ann Esposito. Yet, as a girl, Mary Ann took for granted the endless parade of delicacies emanating from the family hearth. Only when she began studying cooking in Italy did she realize that the techniques and recipes she was learning were so familiar because she'd seen them prepared countless times before! Inspired, Mary Ann spent ten years combing Italy for the secrets of its great regional cooking. Now, in this companion volume to her enormously popular cooking show, she offers two hundred recipes -- some straight from the Mediterranean, others from her family's archives and memories -- plus dozens of anecdotes and tips, to create this intimate loving tribute to her Italian heritage.

The hallmark of Italian cuisine is its freshness, and Esposito shows how to make the most of every ingredient. Here's her recipe for quick tomato sauce, ready in just thirty minutes, plus one made with red peppers and another with yellow tomatoes. A chapter on breads covers everything from hearty focaccia to calzoni with a choice of four fillings to sweet, fruit-filled panettone. Many of her soups are meals in themselves, like rich Sardinian Fish Soup or Spinach and Meatball Soup.

Sweet Myrtle and Bitter Honey: The Mediterranean Flavors of Sardinia

Efisio Farris, Jim Eber

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sardinia now rivals its northern neighbor Provence as a vacation destination. The coastline lures visitors, but it is the food that will make you linger. Chef Efisio Farris is poised to become the next great ambassador of Italian regional cuisine. To promote the cooking of his native Sardinia, he has appeared on the Food Network, given demonstrations at food festivals across the country, and even launched his own company that imports Sardinian specialties for his restaurants and for retail. It is Mediterranean cooking at its purest, making liberal use of olive oil, fish, and fresh vegetables. But it’s also distinguished by indigenous ingredients that are becoming hot trends in America: pecorino, flatbread, fava beans, fregula, and bottarga. Farris has pulled together more than one hundred recipes–many of them family secrets. Among them are Watermelon Salad with Arugula and Ricotta Salata; Pannacotta with Bitter Honey; and Bruschetta with Sausage and Pecorino Sardo. More than 150 breathtaking images take you on a tour of the countryside–from the terraced olive groves to the riverbanks full of wild asparagus. In sidebars, the author relates charming anecdotes and Sardinian history. Readers will come away not just with a taste for the island’s flavors but also a sense of Sardinia’s magical beauty and culture.