Tasting Rome

When it comes to ethnic cookbooks, I think I have more Italian books than any other category. It makes sense. It was the first non-mom food I ever tasted, and I loved it from the first bite.

Tasting Rome by Katie Parla and Kristina Gill approaches the subject by including "traditional dishes and contemporary innovations, each selected for the story it tells about Roman cuisine and the way it transports the full spectrum of local flavors to the home kitchen."

While the book includes quantities of ingredients, the authors point out that typical Roman cooking doesn't get "bogged down with precise ingredient amounts or proportions." So you're welcome to adjust the recipes to taste while still being true to the spirit of the recipes.

Some of the recipes I've bookmarked for later include picchiapo (simmered beef with tomato and onion), concia (fried and marinated zucchini), coda alla vaccinara (braised oxtails), sformatino di broccolo romanesco (romanesco custard) and pizza romano (thin-crust Roman style pizza).

What's a little interesting here is the dishes that aren't in the book - no ravioli or lasagna, for example. There are pasta dishes - just not those very common ones. But there is gnocchi. And carbonara.

Overall, it's a good book to have in my collection, but I'm glad it's not the only one.

I received this book in order to to a review.

Italian Diabetes Cookbook by Amy Riolo

Photo from The Italian Diabetes Cookbook;

Used with permission.

I don't usually publish recipes here, but in this case, I think it's the best way to show you the type of recipes you'll find in this book.

I know that when a lot of folks think of diabetic recipes, they first think about what they'll miss, or they expect that the recipes will be dull or uninspired.

But, hey, if I didn't know that this was a diabetic cookbook, I might not realize it. You might think that you wouldn't find any pasta recipes, but ... they're there. Using whole wheat pasta.

Another pasta recipe - and the one I have bookmarked to make next - is actually spaghetti squash. Okay, it's not pasta, but it's good stuff. The one I have bookmarked has shrimp, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and tomatoes, among other things. Doesn't that sound good?

What's different about this book is that each recipe includes a wine suggestion that goes with each dish. I think that's a great idea. For those of us who don't drink a lot of wine, it's nice to get suggestions for what to serve.

Overall, it's a nice book, particularly for folks who are diabetic, particularly if they love Italian food. Besides the wine suggestions, each recipe has what are labeled "Italian Living Tradition" as well as nutritional information.

There aren't a ton of photos in this book, and they're all in two sections rather than being next to the recipes. Design-wise, it's not the prettiest book you'll ever see, but the information and the recipes look solid.

Lemon-Scented Shrimp (Gamberi al limone)
From The Italian Diabetes Cookbook

All of the bodies of water that border Italy—from the Adriatic to the Ionian, Mediterranean, and Tyrrhenian seas—contain multiple varieties of shrimp, making shrimp popular everywhere. If you’ve never prepared shrimp before, you’ll be amazed at how easy it is. In my seafood cooking classes, I often tell students that, if they’ve had bad luck making shrimp in the past, it’s because they’re doing too much, not too little. The key to preparing good shrimp is choosing the freshest shrimp possible and cooking them until just done—not a second longer. Baby, regular, and jumbo shrimp all work in this recipe, so feel free to use whatever is freshest.

Serves: 4 | Serving Size: Approximately 4 ounces shrimp
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 5 minutes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Crushed red chile flakes, to taste
Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

2. When olive oil begins to release its aroma, add shrimp, salt, black pepper, and crushed red chile flakes. Cook shrimp on one side just until the tail of the shrimp is bright pink, approximately 1-2 minutes.

3. Turn shrimp over and squeeze lemon juice over top. Cook shrimp until all gray color is gone and they are pink and cooked through, approximately 1-2 more minutes. At this point, shrimp should be coiled slightly tighter than when they were raw. Shrimp will continue to sizzle in the pan.

4. When they are cooked completely through, transfer shrimp to a serving platter, garnish with lemon zest, and serve immediately.

Italian Living Tradition
In addition to serving this as an appetizer, you can toss these shrimp into pasta with fresh parsley or add into a finished soup or salad. They also taste great on top of the Crostini with Chickpea Cream.

Wine
Fiano

Exchanges/Food Choices:
2 1/2 Lean Protein
1/2 Fat
Calories 130
Calories from Fat 25
Total Fat 3g
Saturated Fat 0.0g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 140mg
Sodium 110mg
Potassium 245mg
Total Carbohydrate 1g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 0g
Protein 18g
Phosphorus 190mg

Recipe copyright © 2016 American Diabetes Association. From The Italian Diabetes Cookbook. Photography: Renée Comet Photography. Reprinted with permission from The American Diabetes Association. The Italian Diabetes Cookbook is available at ShopDiabetes.org, in bookstores nationwide, or by calling 1-800-232-6733.

A Kitchen with a View and a #Giveaway

This book is straight out of Italy.

And I mean that literally.

The author contacted me and offered her book, A Kitchen with a View, plus a copy for one of my readers, straight from her Italian kitchen. How wonderful is that.

She offered to ship a book to a winner, but I know how that international shipping can be. It sometimes takes a loooooong time, so I offered to ship to the winner and save everyone that little bit of extra angst.

So. About the book.

The author, Letizia Matticiacci, is both a home cook and a cooking teacher, so the recipes are the sort that you'd find in a modern Italian home, and the instructions are clear. Measurements are in both metric and in spoon and cups, so you don't need to convert anything.

And the recipes are quite tempting. And doable in an American kitchen. And, like many Italian recipes, they rely on good ingredients instead of a lot of bells and whistles.

One recipe that I found interesting was an Umbrian-style chicken cacciatora which had no tomatoes. Pretty much every other cacciatore I've seen or eaten relied heavily on tomatoes, but this one got its flavor from fresh herbs, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and a little bit of lemon juice.

There's a pasta sauce recipe that's so brilliantly simple - dried porcini mushrooms, garlic, wine, and cheese play starring roles. Another pasta sauce uses Italian sausage, onion, cream, wine, and cheese. So simple, but just think about the flavors!

It's not all about dinners, though. There are salads and dessert (mmmm. hazelnut and chocolate gelato!) as well as information about ingredients as well as the lifestyle in the area. Like the olive harvest! It made me wish I had olive trees.

If you're interested in Italian home cooking that's being done today - as opposed to restaurant dishes that have been etched in stone - then this is a great glimpse into what you might find if you wandered into a home in the Umbria area.

The giveaway is over, but you can still buy your own copy of A Kitchen with a View!

Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook

Patsy's is a restaurant in New York, and Patsy's Italian Family Cookbook by Sal Scognamillo is filled with classic Italian restaurant dishes - which makes me really happy.

When I lived in Chicago, I spent some time working in an area near the "Little Italy" section of the city, and I loved going to the old-school Italian restaurants where the classics were still classic.

No fusion food, no molecular gastronomy, and a share-a-plate special for lunch that still sent me home with leftovers.

This book has a lot of my favorites, like Chicken Cacciatore, Linguine Puttanesca, Mussels Marinara, Chicken Pizzaiola, Baked Clams, Pasta Fagoili, Beef Braciole, Veal Scalloppini, Penne with Vodka Sauce, and Eggplant Parmigiana.

There are even classic desserts, like biscotti and gelato and panna cotta.

There are also dishes I'm less familiar with, but I want to try. Like any restaurant menu, there are some dishes I'm more interested in, and some that I'm less interested in, but there are very few here I'd outright refuse. Even better, the recipes usually call for ingredients that are easy to find.

One exception to that "easy to find" rule might be the Penne with Wild Boar Ragu, but I might make it anyway, with pork or beef instead of that boar. No, it won't be the same, but it still looks like it should be pretty darned good.

I've already made a few recipes from this book (and more are on the agenda) and I've been pleased with the results. The instructions are simple and clear, and the recipes have turned out as good as expected. I should have a recipe over on Cookistry for you very soon.

If you're looking for a book with classic restaurant recipes, this one is highly recommended. If you're looking for Italian-Thai-Modernist-Fusion, you're out of luck.

Nonna's House by Jody Scaravella

I got a chance to take a peek at an uncorrected proof of Nonna's House by Jody Scaravella, and the odd thing was that I think I enjoyed the stories in this book more than the recipes.

And that's odd, because I'm usually all about the food.

But the stories reminded me of what I've heard from my own (non-Italian) relatives about coming to America, so it got me thinking about those stories.

There are a few recipes I want to try even though the book isn't finalized, but I might leave some of the others for the final version to see if a few questions get cleared up.

For example, one recipe called for three anchovies, which in the US are tiny things that come in jars or tins, but I know that there are much larger anchovies that are pretty much of a meal. Based on the recipe, I'm pretty sure the larger anchovies are required, but I'm not sure exactly how large - and that's a pretty important consideration for me, considering that I'd probably end up substituting a fish that's more likely to be available where I live.

The photos in the book look great, so this should be a very attractive book when it's done. It's due to be released on April 7, 2015 on Kindle.

Note: I received an uncorrected digital version from the publisher at no cost to me.