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Summary: Just Like an Italian Restaurant
Review: This is one of my favorite cookbooks. When I got this book, my knowledge of cooking Italian food was pretty much limited to: boil the pasta, then pour some sauce out of a bottle. No longer! Lidia's recipes are easy to make and taste excellent.I've made several scallopini dishes and loved them all. Also, I was induced to try her recipe for Eggplant Parmesan even though I've never liked eggplant, and it's now one of my favorites. Most of the dishes are easily scaled down when cooking for one or two people. For instance, I halved the Eggplant Parmesan recipe and cooked it in a 9" square pan instead of a 9"X13" one, and it came out great. The only things that seem disappointing are the vegetable side dishes - but maybe that's because I haven't tried any. None of them cry out for me to try them, but perhaps they will surprise me and be as good as the rest of the dishes in this book. Overall, this is an excellent cookbook for the beginning Italian cook.
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Summary: My favorite new cookbook!
Review: This is the best Italian cookbook I have.It is worth its weight in gold. I could never make good spagetti and meatballs. Now, thanks to Lidia's easy to follow directions, I am making wonderful Italian dishes. My husband says my meatballs are the best he has ever had. I can't wait to try all the other recipes. If you love Italian food but can't get the hang of it, this is the book for you. Thanks Lidia!
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Summary: viva italia
Review: This is the most comprehensive italian cooking tool! Lydia's step by step guides are clear and easy to follow. The recipes in this book can take you from a quick family meal to an elaborate celebration! No other italian cookbook offers such tempting items in such a user friendly format! Quick to become a favorite in any kitchen!
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Summary: Comforting Food from Italian Genius and American Wealth
Review: This third book from Lidia Bastianich has at least two things going for you can see from the dust jacket alone. First, it's from a PBS television series, which means the recipes were clearly worked over by a platoon of prep chefs and culinary producers, so the instructions are well exercized. Second, it's a winner of an IACP Cookbook award. They don't give these to just any compilation of recipes. A third clue that this book will be something special is that it's editor at Knopf is Judith Jones, the most celebrated cookbook editor of the last several decades, having begun her career by editing Julia Child's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. The last clue that this promises to be a rewarding book is that it is published by Knopf, my all time favorite American publisher which has an unsurpassed attention to the details of laying out an attractive book without the need for glitzy rotogravure. As anyone who has spent any time watching Mario Batali on TV knows, Italian American food is different from Italian cuisine. Since there is a rather large industry of culinary journalists and chefs describing the true Italian regional cuisines, it's only fair that the Italian American derivatives be celebrated on their own merits. Ms. Bastianich will not, however, be limiting herself strictly to Italian American hybrids. Some dishes are her own creations and some are purely Italian which never acquired an 'American accent'. The chapter headings in the book are:
Antipasti Soups
Pasta & Risotto
Pizza
Entrees
Contorni (Side Dishes)
Desserts and Coffee I am happy to see there is no space dedicated to the extensive subject of Italian breads except for the brief chapter on Pizza, as this is a subject requiring a great attention to detail which would detract from the primary object of the book. I am also happy that no space or expense was devoted to wine pairings. While this is a worthy subject, I would rather know that all my money is going for quality recipes. As Ms. Bastianich came from northern Italy (actually Istria, ceded to Yugoslavia at the end of World War II) and the great majority of immigrants from Italy to America came from southern Italy, the book ends up with a fairly balanced reflection of Italian cuisine as a whole. One of the signal features of Italian American cooking is the mixing of meat with southern Italian tomato pasta dishes, as in Sugo di Carne and Spaghetti and meatballs. Of course, meat sauces are not unknown in Italy. Northern Italy has the Sugo alla Bolognese. In fact, Italian appears to have a special work, 'sugo' for meat sauces to distinguish them from meatless sauces such as 'salsa marinara' and 'salsa di pomodoro'. Another signal feature of Italian American cooking is the apotheosis of garlic, which is used with even greater abandon than in the Italian south. Where Italians typically slice raw garlic, so you can easily skirt around it if you wish to keep a sweet breath, Americans are known to crush the daylights out of the cloves, making it's taste stronger and harder to avoid. The book includes two very nicely done color photograph sections. Photos of food are free of the annoying out of focus closeups found elsewhere. There are good black and white photos demonstrating selected techniques, clearly being performed by the author herself. Photographs of family are endearing, clear, and well captioned. I have cooked several recipes in this book and find them all delicious. Not all are easy and some may require some practice, but then, try to construct a mortise and tendon joint entirely from the directions in a book on carpentry. This is true comfort food. Highly recommended.
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Summary: MAMA MIA...THESE RECIPES ARE DELICIOUS!
Review: To the best of my knowledge, there is not an ounce of Italian blood in my veins but my love for Italian food is endless. This book is by far one of the best Italian recipe books I have come across in ages. Mind you, not all the recipes are one hundred percent genuine Italian, some are American adaptations, such as the spaghetti and meatballs. This version would not likely be found in any restaurant in Italy but it is still a terrific recipe. My favourite recipes tried so far are the Lobster fra Diavolo with Spaghetti and the San Martino Pear and Chocolate Tart, which is soooo Heavenly it will just knock your socks off and take your mind to a whole other place! Most of these recipes taste the way Italian food should, like authentic recipes actually prepared in the Old Country. There are also some nice coloured photographs here, although more in colour and less in black and white would have added to the quality of the book. Overall, the book is still deserving of a five star rating for the excellent content.
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Summary: Better Than My Nonna's Legendary Meatballs!
Review: What a cookbook! Finally a cookbook packed with the best and most delicious Italian-American recipes you could find anywhere. I was asked to cater a birthday party for a 79-year old Italian woman so I decided to use Lidia's recipes. Every single dish came out absolutely tasty and beautiful...even better than what you usually order at a neighborhood Italian-American restaurant in the Northeast. The meatballs were better than my Sicilian grandmother's legendary meatballs! Everyone raved about the meat raviolis which I served in a grated parmigiano-butter sauce. Numerous raviolis broke apart in the boiling water so I'm not sure what I did was wrong. Maybe I should roll out the pasta dough a bit thicker the next time. I was never a fan of caponata (eggplant appetizer) until I tried Lidia's recipe. It was the best I've ever tasted. I love fried peppers so I used the recipe from the book. They turned out a bit bitter from an abundance of browned garlic. Next time, I will omit the garlic. I think the peppers taste great on their own whether they are roasted or fried. I wish most Italian restaurants in American would use Lidia's recipes for tomato sauces which taste very fresh. The book is heavy and thick... comes with beautiful photos. It's filled with warmth...almost like a grandmother's personal recipe book that she refuses to share with anyone. It's one of the most beautifully designed cookbooks I've seen in ages. Mangia!
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Summary: Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen
Review: Wow, what a great Italian cookbook, the best I have seen-ever.
The directions are fantastic, if you follow everything she says you will make the most unbelieveable tasting dishes, you almost feel high from the flavors you can create with this book. You will not want to, nor will you have to go out to dinner. There are tons of recipes that I have always wanted to make - chicken scaprellio, fried mozzarella, calzones, every scallopine dish ever, grilled and marinated calamari. All these and so much more are in this book. So far (in the past week) I have tried;
Calzones, Gnocchi, Tomato sauce, Ravioli with spinach, Chicken scallopine with peppers, mushroom and tomato, Chicken breast in a light lemon-herb sauce (was like an oreganto), stuffed artichokes. Every dish was like a dream, I can't wait until I can prepare new recipes. Nothing is too heavy, the oil amounts are perfect, not too rich, or too weak. Can't say enough good things about it, just buy it and you will see!
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