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Summary: Create your own Italian village
Review: "Mario Batalia's Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages" is the quintessential Italian cook book for anyone who wants to create their own Italian culinary masterpieces in the familiar surroundings of their own kitchens. This book is beautifully illustrated, very easy to read and provides the reader with the necessary basic's concerning the use of ingredients. Mario encourages us to use fresh ingredients from our own "villages" and not to be afraid to subsitute freely if a particular ingredient is not locally available. Follow the receipes, be creative when necessary and success will not be far behind. Bravo Mario.
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Summary: This book is the key to GREAT italian food.
Review: Batali explains in simple, non confusing way. If you want to learn how to cook Italian, get this book!
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Summary: Hard to find ingredients
Review: Being a fan of Mario Batali on the Food Network, I had high expectations for this book. His shows always made Italian cooking look simple. As a beginner cook, the title sent visions of me making Italian dishes for everyday meals. Unfortunately, many of the dishes use hard-to-find or rather expensive ingredients. Some of the ingredients used: rabbit, venison, saffron, etc. I have tried several of the dishes (mostly pasta) and they turned out quite well. The recipes I tried are mostly strong-flavored and tasty. If you love pasta, I think you'll like this book.If the Carne section (which is where most of the meat dishes reside) used more of the common meats like beef, chicken, or pork I think I would have rated this cookbook much higher. A small gripe: the recipes do not show which page the photos are or that they have photos at all. That makes the photos harder to find and in fact, it's quite easy to assume that the recipe has no photo at all! That's too bad considering that photos often help in deciding which of the dishes to try.
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Summary: Better for experienced cooks
Review: Despite the inference of the title that the recipes contained in this book are "simple", I think that you really have to understand that in Mario Batali's world, these recipes are indeed simple and the dishes he is preparing are considered rustic country cuisine. For the average home cook, I thing the word that "simple" means food that doesn't take a couple of hours to prepare or require you to order ingredients on the internet from specialty stores because you can't find them anywhere. Not all of us live in New York where Italian groceries abound.I like watching Mario's shows on Food TV but let's face it, he is NOT making simple food. Yes, pasta is "simple" but not when you make it from scratch yourselfwith specialty flour. Rachael Ray or Sara Moulton make simple food, not Mario. That said, this book does have some good points. It is very nicely presented and lovely to look at. The food does look delicious and if I get real adventurous someday, I might try a few. If you are looking for a basic Italian cookbook to make simple lasagne or manicotti, do not buy this book.
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Summary: Better for experienced cooks
Review: Despite the inference of the title that the recipes contained in this book are "simple", I think that you really have to understand that in Mario Batali's world, these recipes are indeed simple and the dishes he is preparing are considered rustic country cuisine. For the average home cook, I thing the word that "simple" means food that doesn't take a couple of hours to prepare or require you to order ingredients on the internet from specialty stores because you can't find them anywhere. Not all of us live in New York where Italian groceries abound.I like watching Mario's shows on Food TV but let's face it, he is NOT making simple food. Yes, pasta is "simple" but not when you make it from scratch yourselfwith specialty flour. Rachael Ray or Sara Moulton make simple food, not Mario. That said, this book does have some good points. It is very nicely presented and lovely to look at. The food does look delicious and if I get real adventurous someday, I might try a few. If you are looking for a basic Italian cookbook to make simple lasagne or manicotti, do not buy this book.
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Summary: Food Network's 'Molto Mario' writes his first cookbook!
Review: Fans of Mario Batali's popular Food Network shows, as well as his two top-rated New York City restaurants have been asking for years when he'd compile his recipes into a cookbook. Now he's brought together more than 200 of the most-requested recipes, plus many brand new recipes, for a cookbook that was truly worth waiting for. In addition to Mario's interesting side notes on special techniques and ingredients, the book contains dozens of photographs from his 'two villages' -- the tiny Italian village where he learned his love for simple rustic cuisine, and his New York City neighborhood -- plus 36 pages of color photos showing the delicious-looking end products. And the voice is pure Mario -- knowledgable, opionated, and totally spontaneous. Whether you like traditional Italian home cooking or cutting edge dishes prepared in the spirit of Italian simplicity, you'll find recipes you'll return to time and again.
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Summary: A fine book, but read the intro before buying
Review: Far too many people look at the title "Simple Italian Food" and think that the book is going to include tons of 30 minute recipes for everyday Italian cooking. Wrong. Anyone who has watched Batali's show, or anyone who reads the introduction to this book will find out that what he is referring to is the use of a few, excellent ingredients in each dish, as opposed to a long list of ingredients that will require one whole cart at the grocery store to carry. Most of the recipes require 6 or 7 ingredients, tops. Some are exotic (most have easy substitutes), yet one of Batali's primary but often-missed points is that the kind of ingredient isn't important, but its quality. I'm surprised by how few a number of people took this concept away from the book. The recipes turn out delicious. They can be intensive at times, particularly the pasta dishes. Most of the meat dishes also require long periods of braising. Few of the dishes are quick-prepares. THAT'S FINE IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. So look through the book a little bit before buying and determine if this is what you are expecting. If so, you'll likely enjoy it.
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Summary: A fine book, but read the intro before buying
Review: Far too many people look at the title "Simple Italian Food" and think that the book is going to include tons of 30 minute recipes for everyday Italian cooking. Wrong. Anyone who has watched Batali's show, or anyone who reads the introduction to this book will find out that what he is referring to is the use of a few, excellent ingredients in each dish, as opposed to a long list of ingredients that will require one whole cart at the grocery store to carry. Most of the recipes require 6 or 7 ingredients, tops. Some are exotic (most have easy substitutes), yet one of Batali's primary but often-missed points is that the kind of ingredient isn't important, but its quality. I'm surprised by how few a number of people took this concept away from the book. The recipes turn out delicious. They can be intensive at times, particularly the pasta dishes. Most of the meat dishes also require long periods of braising. Few of the dishes are quick-prepares. THAT'S FINE IF THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. So look through the book a little bit before buying and determine if this is what you are expecting. If so, you'll likely enjoy it.
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Summary: simple recipes with hard-to-find ingredients
Review: I agree with the reader from Minnesota. I purchased this cookbook because of a favorable review, but have not been able to find many of the ingredients.
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Summary: Hard to find ingredients in most of the receipes.
Review: I bought this book, based on how easy it sounded to make a few dishes, on Martha Stewarts TV show. After I got the book, I found that most receipes called for some very hard to find ingredients. I am giving the book to my daughter who works downtown, & may stand a better chance of finding the necessary ingredients at the "specialty" shops located in most downtowns. I think there should be an advisory about the fact that there may be some difficulty in gathering the various needs of some receipes.
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