Recipes From an Italian Farmhouse Cookbook

Additional Details

Description: From the olive groves, vineyards, and horizonless cornfields of rural Italy comes a cuisine of superb country fare. This collection of traditional recipes captures the incomparable diversity and regionality of Italian provincial cooking by going right back to its peasant roots. It is a cuisine of unsuspected riches and astonishing variety, which lies at the source of more familiar Italian recipes. These delicious, authentic dishes are complemented by stunning and evocative photographs of the magnificent landscapes. 

Recipes from an Italian Farmhouse opens with a chapter on the ingredients characteristic of Italian provincial cooking, drawing the reader in with the delights of golden Parmesan cheese, juicy olives, and rich, thick olive oil; tender Parma ham, peppery salamis, and scarlet plum tomatoes; subtle-flavored pine nuts and dried funghi. 

In this country of contrasts - snowy mountains, sunbaked plains, golden hillsides, and soft green fields -- each region has its own character, which is expressed in the enormous variety of the local dishes. From the region of Friuli in the north, Jota, a rich soup of meat, beans, and sauerkraut, shows Austrian and Swiss influence. Rice and corn grow on the plains of Lombardy and Piedmont, so the people cook such dishes as Brudera, a risotto with chicken, sausages and onion, or Polenta di patate made with corn, potatoes, cheese, and bacon. The best olive oil in Italy is produced in the hillsides of Tuscany and is mixed with tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh basil to make Panzanella. From the beautiful but impoverished countryside of Apulia in the south comes Cavatieddi con la rucola, handmade pasta shells cooked with arugula and dressed with the simplest of fresh tomato sauces. These extraordinary flavors, the essence of an Italy once visited by only the most adventurous travelers, can now be recreated at home. 

---- 

Condition: Dust jacket has one frayed corner tip. Further good condition.