The Italian Cooking Course: More than 400 authentic recipes and techniques from every region of Italy
In this thick tome, recipe after recipe pops out as a dish we want to make. Caldesi, a London chef, touts the techniques woven through the book, but what stands out here is the range of her recipes. For every familiar dish, there are as many surprises. A giant mushroom- and mascarpone-filled pasta rotolo. Pasta and chickpea soup topped with fried fresh pasta squares. A timballo with superthin fried eggplant slices encasing pasta, tomatoes and mozzarella. A meatloaf with mortadella. We don't know how this book escaped our notice upon its first publication (as "Cook Italy" in 2010). Renamed and republished in paperback this year, we're glad it's back (Zbigniew Bzdak, Our Favorite Cookbooks of the YearChicago Tribune, 11/27/13)