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Italian Home Cooking: 125 Recipes to Comfort Your Soul

by Julia Della Croce

DESCRIPTION
This book is an homage to traditional and classic Italian home cooking, and to the kitchens of the Italian people who have developed Italian cooking through the centuries and across oceans to new worlds. In America, we call it comfort food. The Italians call it cucina casalinga, home cuisine. In Italy, comfort food is a highly evolved art form, and this book includes recipes from the author's own family of devoted cooks-from appetizers and soups, to salads and meats, from pastas to desserts and even food for children.

REVIEW
This cookbook is a joy to look through. Tantalizing photos, beautifully designed. It's a great book to have. I've made the pizza/calzone dough recipe three times. It's the lightest, moistest, most delicious dough. While I give this book 5 stars, it's closer to 4.5. As beautiful as the book is and as delicious as everything is, some of the recipes seems to be missing some steps. For example, the pizza dough recipe tells you to combine water and yeast and set it aside. Then combine some other wet ingredients and set aside. And then the dry ingredients. Suddenly, you are waiting for the dough to come together in the mixer. For the experienced cook or baker, it's easy enough to figure out what to do, but beginners or those who aren't sure of themselves in the kitchen might get confused. That aside, this is a great book the I highly recommend to everyone.
(amazon.com - Christopher Falman)


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia della Croce is the author of 13 cookbooks, has been broadcast extensively on radio, and has made many appearances on national and regional television, including "The Today Show" and Food Network. Her work appears in various newspapers and magazines including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Food & Wine, and Cook's Illustrated. Julia has received widespread recognition throughout the US for her excellence in teaching, including an award by The James Beard Foundation distinguishing her as one of America's Best Cooking Teachers. In 1993, she was honored for her contribution to Italian cuisine and culture at the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C. She teaches in cooking schools throughout the United States and Europe.