125 Best Italian Recipes

by Sloan-Macintosh, Kathleen

• ISBN13: 9780778801986
• ISBN10: 0778801985
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-09-12
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

Traditional Italian cuisine at its very best.Italian regional cuisine is simple, unpretentious and hearty. You can find it in the Italian countryside, where fresh local ingredients are used to create a variety of vibrant dishes.125 Best Italian Recipes has dishes from Lombardy to Tuscany to Calabria to Sicily, each distinctive in style and sharing a refreshingly straightforward quality that appeals to virtually every palate.Some of the delicious recipes include: Minestrone Toscano; gnocchi di ricotta; spaghettini aglio olio e peperoncino (spaghettini with garlic, olive oil and chili) Risotto alla Milanese; la carbonnade (rich beef stew), saltimbocca (veal scallops with sage) Agnello e peperoni (lamb with peppers); quaglie arrosto con pancetta (quail roasted with pancetta) Polio con melanzane e pomodoro (chicken with eggplant and tomato); teglia di pesce al forno (baked swordfish); cozze gratinate (baked mussels) Spinaci saltati al limone (sautéed spinach with lemon); zucchine ripiene (stuffed zucchini) Panna cotta (cooked cream pudding); amaretti (almond biscuits); torta di noce (walnut cake).These delightfully appetizing dishes are simple to prepare, most in about 30 minutes using everyday ingredients available at local supermarkets. This is the ideal book for any home chef who wants to experience the heart and soul of Italian cooking.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Necessities of the Italian Pantry

Appetizers - Antipasti

Soups - Zuppe

Pasta and Polenta - Pasta e Polente

Rice - Risotto

Meat - Carne

Chicken - Pollo

Fish and Seafood - Pesci e Frutti di Mare

Vegetables - Verdure

Sweet Things - Dolci

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

IntroductionOpen my heart, and you will see Graved inside of it, "Italy." -- Robert BrowningFOR ME, THE FOOD of Italy is all-consuming in its appeal. It speaks directly to everyone of my senses in a way no other cuisine does. Ultimately, this is food the way I think it is meant to be -- natural, colorful and sensual, with layers of flavor and texture.Splashing a little extra virgin olive oil into a warm skillet, chopping a fat, cream-colored clove of garlic, slicing through a brilliant red pepper or watching fresh chopped tomatoes turn themselves into a brilliant sauce in minutes -- all these things make me feel part of the wonderful tradition of home-style Italian cooking which is such an integral part of that beautiful country.Growing up in an Anglo-Irish household in Toronto did not precisely prepare me for writing this book. However well I was fed (and indeed I was), dishes such as roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and potato bread did not feed an appetite for rustic Italian food.Or perhaps they did.Whether or not she recognized it, my Mum -- the most natural and instinctive of cooks -- had much in common with the mothers and grandmothers of Italy and their finest cooking. As passionately and ritualistically as they produced their warming soups, slow-braised meats, handmade breads and pastas, so did she make her beef stew, shepherd's pie, blackcurrant jam and the flawless pastries for which she was especially renowned. It matters little that she cooked with butter and not olive oil, or that she chose to make pastry and bread dough instead of pasta; her reverence for working quickly, respectfully and simply with only the very best, freshest, seasonal foods absolutely mimics la cucina casalinga -- the home cooking ofItaly I so admire.The passion for the food itself, the inspiration to feed a family well and to never, never waste anything -- "the economy of your grandmother" as Ruskin described it -- such are the characteristics shared by good cooks everywhere, no matter what the ingredients with which they work.I wrote this book because I want to contribute in some small way to reinforcing a way of cooking that I think of as simply the best. It is an opinion that, happily, is shared by the family and friends for whom I have prepared the dishes in this book.As a food writer I have become increasingly weary of the globe-trotting dinner plates too often placed before me in restaurants. When properly wrought by talented chefs who have a strong grounding in the classics, fusion cuisine is marvelous, inspiring, thrilling.In the wrong, impatient hands, it's simply con-fusion.Little wonder then, that I often find myself yearning for the clarity and uncontrived simplicity of the foods I so enjoyed in Italy. There, as in much of the Old World, cooking styles are not driven by trends. Not so here -- perhaps because in the New World we feel the ongoing need to reinvent or reinterpret the classics.What countries like Italy have to teach us (again and again, it would appear) is the art of culinary relaxation -- how to enjoy the simplicity and clarity of rusticity, how to anticipate seasonal foods and, once they are here, respect them by allowing their "realness" to shine. This is food on a plate or in a bowl to be eaten with pleasure -- no worries, no over-think.So, this is the inspiration for 125 Best Italian Recipes, a book that features my favorite regional Italian dishes. Here you'll discover food from the haute cities of the North to the humble villages of the South and from coast to coast. This is Italian cooking at its simplest and finest: unpretentious, unchan