Everyday Italian, By Giada
De Laurentiis
Reviewed by Publishers
Weekly
From Publishers Weekly
With its cover image of the fetching de Laurentiis wearing
a low-cut top and its promise of easy, tasty Italian
recipes, this cookbook is sure to draw in home cooks
who don't know how to make a basic marinara sauce and
want to be introduced them to the beauty and simplicity
of Italian cuisine. Which is, of course, a good thing,
but a shame, too, since this work lacks depth or meaning.
Readers seeking a true introduction to the building
blocks of Italian cooking would be worlds better off
with one of Marcella Hazan's or Lidia Bastianich's early
primers. What those who are lured in by the good looks
and charm of de Laurentiis (granddaughter of film producer
Dino and star of Food Network's Everyday Italian)
will get is an unsophisticated but decent selection
of Italian-American classics, from antipasto to pasta,
meat dishes to desserts, including Clams Oreganata,
Caprese Salad, Salsa all'Amatriciana, Fettucine Alfredo,
Veal Marsala, Caponata and Chocolate Tiramisù.
De Laurentiis provides an introduction to each dish,
and her recipes are generally minimalist (there are
no recipes for homemade pastas or stews that take a
day to make). Though bursting with glamorous shots of
a lovely looking author, this is a rather flat first
effort.
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Product Description
In her hit Food Network show Everyday Italian,
Giada De Laurentiis shows you how to cook delicious,
beautiful food in a flash. And here, in her long-awaited
first book, she does the same—helps you put a
fabulous dinner on the table tonight, for friends or
just for the kids, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum
of flavor. She makes it all look easy, because it is.
Everyday Italian is true
to its title: the fresh, simple recipes are incredibly
quick and accessible, and also utterly mouth-watering—perfect
for everyday cooking. And the book is focused on the
real-life considerations of what you actually have in
your refrigerator and pantry (no mail-order ingredients
here) and what you’re in the mood for—whether
a simply sauced pasta or a hearty family-friendly roast,
these great recipes cover every contingency. So, for
example, you’ll find dishes that you can make
solely from pantry ingredients, or those that transform
lowly leftovers into exquisite entrées (including
brilliant ideas for leftover pasta), and those that
satisfy your yearning to have something sweet baking
in the oven. There are 7 ways to make red sauce more
interesting, 6 different preparations of the classic
cutlet, 5 perfect pestos, 4 creative uses for prosciutto,
3 variations on basic polenta, 2 great steaks, and 1
sublime chocolate tiramisù—plus 100 other
recipes that turn everyday ingredients into speedy but
special dinners.
What’s more, Everyday
Italian is organized according to what type of
food you want tonight—whether a soul-warming stew
for Sunday supper, a quick sauté for a weeknight,
or a baked pasta for potluck. These categories will
help you figure out what to cook in an instant, with
such choices as fresh-from-the-pantry appetizers, sauceless
pastas, everyday roasts, and stuffed vegetables—whatever
you’re in the mood for, you’ll be able to
find a simple, delicious recipe for it here. That’s
the beauty of Italian home cooking, and that’s
what Giada De Laurentiis offers here—the essential
recipes to make a great Italian dinner. Tonight.
