Manuela Anelli Mazzocco

This cookbook is one that you will love if you love Italian food, or even if you don't! There are 100+ recipes that maintain preparation techniques, cooking methods, and using fresh seasonal ingredients for traditional Italian cuisine.
From Cheese and Pepper Pasta, Meatballs in Tomato Sauce and for dessert, Grandma's Cake. There are also some sample menus, that include Hearty Make-Ahead Supper, a Vegetarian Feast, and a traditional Roman Supper. There are also ingredient tips with each recipe and cooking tips, anything you need to know for preparing these time-honored recipes.
I love Italian food, especially pasta and I think that this cookbook will have a treasured place on my cookbook shelves!… (más)

Rockridge Press likes to call it's books "complete" this or that. It's an exaggeration to call this slim book complete, but it does present a nice overview of cooking styles from regional Italy. It even includes a map, which is a rarity in Rockridge productions.

I like this book and think that it will meet everyone's needs for the foundation dishes we associate with Italian cuisine. I like that many recipes have the Italian name included. Adaptations and Italian-American recipes are titled in English only. For beginners there is a nice little menu suggestion page at the end of the book.

From my reading notes:

* Lasagna is traditional style with béchamel (besciamella) in addition to meat sauce. This isn't my favorite style but it is traditional.

* The trick of frying mussels to pop their shells is much faster than boiling. There are other cooking tips too that help things come together more quickly.

* Fried dough! I love it.

* Sensible suggestions for substitutions if the recommended items aren't available

* Includes suggestions for ways to use leftovers.

This book will not provide new information for anyone who regularly cooks Italian food, but I think that it will be of great use to a novice. It might make a good gift for a newlywed.

I received a review copy of "The Complete Italian Cookbook: Essential Regional Cooking of Italy" by Manuela Anelli Mazzocco from Rockridge Press.… (más)

Author Manuela Anelli Mazzocco, a blogger, recipe developer, and photographer, left Italy as a young bride and came to the United States bearing her mother-in-law's book of treasured family recipes. After twenty years of cooking for her own family, she now offers "The Complete Italian Cookbook: Essential Regional Cooking of Italy". The twenty small regions of Italy are grouped into five main regions: Northwest, Northeast, Central, South, and Islands. The geography--which influences the delicious cuisine of each region--ranges from mountains to seashores and historic towns and beautiful countrysides. The recipes include Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Risotto and Polenta, Sauces and Pasta, Pizza and Bread, Meat and Poultry, Fish and Seafood, Vegetables, and Desserts and Drinks. Here are some of the delicious dishes you'll find: "Sicilian Rice Balls"; "Onion Frittata", "Venetian-Style Beans and Pasta Soup"; "Tuscan Bread and Tomato Salad"; "Seafood Risotto"; "Baked Polenta with Cheese, Mushrooms, and Sausage"; "Spaghetti with Garlic, Oil, and Hot Peppers". "Pasta with Pesto, Green Beans, and Potatoes"; "Rosemary Focaccia Bread"; "Garlic Rolls"; "Meatballs in Tomato Sauce"; "Sicilian-Style Swordfish"; "Eggplant Parmigiana"; "Baked Tomato Gratin"; "Tiramisu"; "Grandma's Cake"; and "Bellini Cocktail". This taste-filled "culinary tour" of Italy also includes a regional map and a glossary.

Book Copy Gratis Callisto Publishers… (más)