Italian Cookbooks

It used to be that a visit to Sicily was part of the Grand Tour of Europe undertaken by such luminaries as Wagner and Goethe. Closer to our time, Sicily has become a destination in itself. It is also a point of reference - and an especially attractive destination - for millions of Sicilian descendants in the diaspora of Sicilians who for one reason or another left Sicily two or three generations ago. In such cases a visit to this magical place takes on the nature of a pilgrimage.

Betsy Vincent (di Vincenzo) Hoffman's memoir of her first visit to Sicily describes this kind of experience. Beautifully illustrated with the watercolours of the talented Kathleen Citrolo Gwinnett - another American descendant of Sicilians who has visited our island - this lively if not very lengthy volume is a delightful read. Though not intended as a guide book in itself, it is useful as a primer, especially for those who prefer to wade into the subject instead of jumping in unprepared.

Not every sentimental journey will be similar to this one, but Ms Hoffmann's account of hers may be sufficient to start others thinking about the same kind of trip.

Betsy's description of her grandparents' experiences is touching. Here the human element is never absent. This kind of book reminds us that it is the people who make the place.

The Wiseguy Cookbook

Henry Hill was a born wiseguy, and his love of food got him through both the good and bad times. Even cooking on the run in the Federal Witness Protection Program-where prosciutto was impossible to find and gravy was something you put on mashed potatoes-he managed to keep good Italian food on the table. He still brings this flair for improvisation to his cooking. No recipe is set in stone. And substitutions are listed just in case.

Now, in his inimitable style, Hill tells some spicy stories of his life in the Mob and out, and shows readers how to whip up his favorite dishes, Sicilian-style-recipes to make even the toughest tough-guy beg for more...

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1000 Italian Recipes

With expert guidance on special techniques in addition to the recipes, you'll learn to make crispy pizza, delicate ravioli, and decadent tiramisù. Advice on buying ingredients and pairing Italian wines with food makes shopping simple. Now you can enjoy all your favorite Italian delights and explore new ones in your own home. In 1,000 Italian Recipes, you'll find:

Whether you are looking for the perfect resource for everyday and holiday cooking, or imagine exploring all the glories of Italian cuisine one recipe at a time, you'll never need to look beyond these pages for simple, varied, and mouthwatering inspiration. Ordering Information

Flavors of Tuscany

"Flavors of Tuscany" is an authoritative and beautifully illustrated celebration of the culture of Tuscan food and cooking that incorporates a wonderful selection of authentic regional recipes. Starting with Antipasti (appetizers and nibbles), try Anchovies Marinated in Lemon, Olive Oil, and Chile or Fresh Broad Beans with Pecorino and Panzarotti. Minestre (soups) includes the classic Minestrone and Cacciucco (mixed fish stew). Pasta e Pane (pasta and bread) offers tempting recipes for risotto, gnocchi, and sauces. Secondi (entrees) covers fish, meat, poultry, and game dishes. Enjoy Tuna Steaks Baked with Rosemary; Meatballs with Pecorino and Mushrooms; or Pollo alla Diavola - flattened chicken with chile and lemon. Contorni (vegetable sides) includes the delicate Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers. To finish, Dolci e Postpasti (sweet things) treats you to Castagnaccio made from chestnut flour, pine nuts, and walnuts, or Cenci, ribbons of deep-fried pastry served at festive celebrations. Ordering Information

Sicilian Home Cooking

Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene run a restaurant in Gangivecchio, their 600-year-old family home in Sicily. This is their second cookbook, and it focuses on home cooking, Sicilian style. Italians are well known for their generous hospitality, and the Tornabene women are great ambassadors. Through dozens of personal stories, some funny, some sad, they invite you into their home to sit at their kitchen table while they reminisce, gossip, educate, and feed you some of the most enjoyable comfort food and conversation you've ever experienced.

Wanda was born in Palermo but has lived in Sicily for more than 50 years. She learned to cook from her mother-in-law and passed those lessons down to her daughter. She admits that she was reluctant to share her secret family recipes, but has found great joy and pleasure in doing so. -- Leora Y. Bloom Ordering Information

Ciao Italia in Umbria

Cookbooks about Tuscan cuisine abound, but the food of its easterly neighbor, Umbria, remains mostly unexplored. Mary Ann Esposito's Ciao Italia in Umbria meets this dearth handily. A "traveling cookbook," it showcases the region's healthy, rustic food while providing a first-person look at its restaurants, home cooks, and singular occupations, like truffle hunting. The core of the book--an offshoot of Esposito's PBS series Ciao Italia --is its 60 easy-to-do recipes, which feature the area's most notable and delicious products, including olive oil, black truffles, farro, and wine.

With an "address book" of outstanding Umbrian restaurants, the book provides a compelling culinary tour of a region too often neglected by cookbooks but, happily, celebrated here. --Arthur Boehm Ordering Information

Italian Classics Cookbook

With its formula of exhaustively tested recipes paired with heavily illustrated techniques, the series makes it easy for even beginning cooks to produce successful dishes almost every time. For the casual home cook, Italian Classics might be the single best Italian cookbook to own. The book is, in classic Best Recipe fashion, a great big beautiful doorstop of a thing. Even so, it's not crammed with arcana. For most Americans--who in survey after survey say that regional Italian is the cuisine they most enjoy cooking at home--the recipes here will be pretty familiar; the space is devoted not to obscure dishes but to exhaustive treatments of favorites. Pesto, for instance, gets about three pages.

The book doesn't call for wildly obscure ingredients that other cookbook authors so often claim can be readily found at "specialty stores," and there's no snobbishly overwrought preparation--another boon for the home cook. --Claire Dederer Ordering Information

Secrets of Fat Free Italian

Woodruff is the author of several other "Secrets of Fat-Free" cookbooks, including Secrets of Fat-Free Cooking (Avery, 1995), most of which have been immensely popular. Here she offers quick and easy low-fat recipes for Balsamic Three-Bean Salad, Eggplant Rollatini, and others. She uses a variety of reduced-fat ingredients to lighten up these Italian dishes, and some revisions seem more successful than others (e.g., Fettuccine Alfredo made with nonfat parmesan, evaporated skim milk, and butter-flavor sprinkles). And some recipes don't seem particularly Italian. But, overall, this is a nice collection for those who want their favorite Italian dishes but want them low-fat, too. Schlesinger's book is another in the series that includes 500 Fat-Free Recipes (Villard, 1995). Despite the title, there are more like dozens of recipes here, all with three grams of fat or fewer per serving for rice and grain dishes as well as pastas.

Cucina of Le Marche

Trabocchi, chef at Maestro in Washington, D.C., is a native son of Le Marche, the Italian region that the New York Times recently deemed "the new Tuscany." Trabocchi grew up in the small town of Santo Stefano, and with assistance from Kaminsky ( Pig Perfect ) he achieves a lovely style that is rather low-key in comparison to the commanding tone many chefs affect in cookbooks. Trabocchi also does an excellent job of isolating the best, most characteristic recipes from Le Marche, as cucina marchigiana is often difficult to differentiate from that of Umbria or Emilia-Romagna. Yet what makes the food of Le Marche so special is its rustic quality, which is hard to imitate in American kitchens. It's fun to read about dishes like Roasted Suckling Pig Ascolana-Style and Turbot in Smoky Hay, but preparing them may be out of reach ("You will need to get clean green hay from a local farm," instructs the latter recipe).

Biscotti Recipes

This book is a great resource for the serious biscotti baker. The recipes are unusual, yet the ingredients are readily available. Helpful hints demystify the secrets of biscotti (it really is very easy to make a batch or two!), and the recipes lend themselves easily to substitutions. Make sure you try the dried cranberry/walnut variation - it can become quite addictive!

Comprehensive list of biscotti from sweet to savory. Biscotti isn't just for dessert! The combinations are interesting and I especially like the textureful No-Guilt biscotti with no oil or butter that includes whole wheat flour and bran. Also, wonderful triple ginger and the delicious and not too sweet Tuscan spice and almond. Many of the savory ones are good served with soup.

From some reviewers I was told that you must follow the recipes exactly the way they are written. No impov allowed here. Ordering Information

Italian Diabetic Meals

Every luscious Italian entree one can think of is here, madehealthy and diabetes friendly thanks to food master RobynWebb. Who can resist sinking a fork into veal marsala orsalmon with leeks and mushrooms? Some of the 150 dishes arelow in carbs, and all of them are easy to fix-;many can becooked in one pan! It comes with complete nutritional analysisand meets all ADA guidelines. Meals include pastas, meats,vegetarian dishes, and light desserts, all with a taste of Tuscany.

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