Italy Anywhere: Recipes and Ruminations on Cooking and Creating Northern Italian Food
by Lori De Mori, Antonio Tommasi, Jean-Louis de Mori

List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $9.35
You Save: $20.60 (69%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.04 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions

Book Summary Information

Book Reviews of Italy Anywhere: Recipes and Ruminations on Cooking and Creating Northern Italian Food

Book Review: Great!
Summary: 5 Stars

Summary of Italy Anywhere: Recipes and Ruminations on Cooking and Creating Northern Italian Food

In Italy Anywhere an extraordinary trio of friends fuses the sensuousness of Under the Tuscan Sun with the culinary flavor of Marcella Hazan's Marcella Cucina. Lori De Mori, a well-known food writer; her husband, Jean-Louis; and his partner, Antonio Tommasi, owners of a Los Angeles string of ultra-chic homestyle Italian restaurants, unlock the secrets of a seductive cuisine and a fantasy lifestyle of sunny simplicity.

Italy Anywhere is its authors' own story of cooking, entertaining, eating, and collaborating in business and in life. They share their time-tested culinary secrets and entertaining pleasures in more than 30 food essays on subjects like "Why We Invite,""Learning to Cook,"and "Dinner for One."Over 175 recipes and variations--from Pumpkin Gnocchi with Butter and Sage to Whole Wheat Walnut Cookies--initiate readers into the true Italian art of cooking and living. Anyone who has ever dreamed of living in Italy will be entranced by this culinary armchair experience.

Chapters cover every course of the Italian meal, from stuzzichini (the appetite-awakening finger foods served before a meal begins) through dessert, including in between antipasti, pastas, risottos, soups, and dishes of fish, meat, poultry, and vegetables. Rigatoni with Chicken and Radicchio, Spaghettata with Balsamic Vinegar, and Veal Stew with Soft Polenta exemplify the most comforting of comfort foods, while Braised Monkfish with Olives and Lemon Peel, Homemade Chicken Raviolini with Chanterelles, and Grilled Tuna with Puréed Sweet Yellow Peppers bring the most sophisticated Italian flavors home. Summer Peaches in Prosecco with Mint is a refreshingly light dessert; for those seeking the elegantly rich, Vanilla Cream Custard with Caramel Sauce fits the bill.

Lori De Mori's talent as a food writer--her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, and Saveur--is evident both in the helpful notes that accompany each recipe (how to fry squid, for instance) and in the delightful essays that pepper the book on such topics as Venice's Rialto fish market, chef watching, and the perfect tomato sauce. As the authors say, "the most Italian thing you can do to your home and your kitchen ... is to infuse it with food that warms both the belly and the soul." These enticing recipes are sure to make readers live like Italians all over the world. --Robin Donovan

General Books

• Cooking, Food & Wine
• Regional & International > European > Italian