[.ca] Lidia's Italian Table: More Than 200 Recipes from the ... (ISBN 0688154107)

From Amazon.com:
Lidia Bastianich moved to the United States in 1959 from Trieste in northern Italy. She was 12 years old. Her actual home was over the line, in what became Yugoslavia after World War II. So food, for Bastianich, was both what made her family different from everyone they lived around in their new home in New York State and the anchor that held her family together. Bastianich calls this visceral sense of food "Lidia's Italian Table." It's the name of her PBS series and of this book, which accompanies the series. In sections that include antipasti, soups, pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta, vegetables, game and chicken, meats, fish and shellfish, and sweets, Lidia sweeps readers up into her arms and hugs them with the likes of Baked Onions with Butternut Squash Filling; Sauerkraut and Bean Soup; Bow Ties with Sausage and Leek Sauce; Shrimp Risotto; Fennel, Olive, and Citrus Salad; Braised Venison with Polenta; Baked Squid and Potatoes; and Zucchini Cake. Notice how most of these dishes have a familiar "Italian" ring, yet stretch beyond whatever that notion typically includes--the soup with sauerkraut, for example. Lidia's table is set in a part of Italy that doesn't get a lot of ready play. It's Italian, but then some. A little extra. If you try it, you may find it difficult to get up from Lidia's table. You may just want to stay. --Schuyler Ingle

the perfect cookbook for those that already know how to cook:
This book is perfect for italian-americans who already know the basics of real italian/italian-american food: garlic, olive oil, parsley and often a little pepperoncino. Another reviewer complained that there were few pictures in the book -- well the audience that this book best serves already knows exactly what a kale bruschetta looks like; the beauty of the book being that it's inspirational, and a little different than Southern-Italian cooking. Lidia's from the northeast of Italy, but this is not austrian nor croatian food -- take what you know and use it to make "gnocchi with butternut squash sauce,""garganelli with pheasant in guazzetto," and panna cotta. Lidia's recipes are extremely easy to follow and are well-organized. They look like a well-educated female italian relative wrote out her best stuff for you. Expand your reportoire in a way that's easy and suitable for your cooking style -- buy this book.

Reminds me of my mother's homecooking:
I am a big fan of Lidia and she has brought be back to recognizing my Italian hertiage (I am 50 percent). The recipes in this cookbook reminds me of my mother's Italian cooking. Plain and simple. I want to thank Lidia again for 're-awaking' me to my Italian hertiage.

Northern Italian Cuisine from the PBS show:
This companion to a PBS series presented by Ms. Bastianich includes over 200 authentically Italian recipes. I believe the value in purchasing this book depends a lot on how many cookbooks of Italian cuisine you already have. There is a fair amount of overlap with Ms. B's first book, 'Al Cucina di Lidia'. For example, in the PBS title, there is a recipe for rabbit, 'Coniglio al Balsamico' which features balsamic vinegar and sage, while in the earlier book, there is a similar recipe, 'Coniglio alla salvia' featuring balsamic vinegar and sage. Both are braises, cooking for about 45 minutes. Both books also include recipes for sauerkraut and pork. The overlap may be less than 10 percent and Ms. B. does cite her book as a reference, along with ten (10) other titles, about half of which are in Italian. It is just important to realize this in weighing the value of the book. Based on the incidence of recipes for strudel, fresh pasta, polenta, and risotto, I would say the book concentrates on the cuisine of northern Italy, which is totally expected, as Ms. B was born and raised on the Istrian peninsula, east of Trieste. The chapters and number of recipes in each are: Appetizers: 21, many of bruschetta and including prosciutto Soups: 22, including an essay on how to make a good minestre. Fresh Pasta: 16, including an essay on pasta making and several recipes including game meats Dry Pasta: 14, including essay on tomatoes and sauces Rice: 11 recipes, almost all for risotto Gnocchi: 11 recipes, many with game meat Polenta: 9 recipes, mostly regional specialities Vegetables: 20, including lessons on prepping artichokes and favas Game and Chicken: Rabbit and boar and venison, oh my Meat: 19, including recipes for sauces Fish and Shellfish: 17, including general tips on handling bivalves and crustaceans Sweets: 22, including Strudel and Zabaglione. If you have no Italian cookbooks or only cookbooks covering the hard pasta / tomato ridden Neapolitan cuisine or really need a book for game recipes, you could do no better than this volume. If you absolutely must have every cookbook by a major Italian cookbook author, this will be a worthy addition to your collection. If you have Ms. B's third book on Italian-American cuisine, this will be a very good compliment, as I expect no overlap there. If you really enjoyed the PBS series for which this book is a companion, then I highly recommend it. But, if you already own a few of the other hundreds of Italian cookbooks, I suggest you at least browse the book before signing up. There may be more overlap than is worth you money. I will still give it the highest rating, because on its own merits, it is a very good book.

It could have been better:
I am a big fan of Italian cuisine and everytime I have the opportunity, I cook for myself or my friends. I simply love the flavors of fresh basil, cheese, fresh pasta or tomatoes that give wonderful taste to whatever I cook. For the most part of it, the book is well written. It contains a lot of details about the ingredients generally used (Lidia writes some nice "essays" about olives, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, mushrooms, truffles). There are enough suggestions for antipasti, soups, fresh and hard pasta, meats, fish, risotto, gnocchi. The names of the recepies are also in Italian, and so you can impress your guests with your Italian knowledge. They are not complicated, easy to do, even for someone who is not very experienced in the kitchen. But I have to say that I saw better books on the topic. This one does not contain a very wide range of ideas for cooking and compared to the book I bought from Rome last year, it is a bit costy. It would have been even better if each receipe was accompanied by suggestions of wines to serve with the dish. Information about how difficult and expensive it is to make that dish would have made the book more valuable. However, it is an interesting introduction to Italian cooking and it does not miss the well-known and famous recepies.

A cookbook to go back to over and over again:
I continually go back to this book to look for meat and seafood dishes that fit with Italian-American tastes but that are new and different. The other night I made pomegranate roasted chicken with Gran Marnier, brandy, and rosemary. Also good is baked squid with potatoes and parsley, cheese and herb ravioli(ricotta, ricotta salata,parmigiano,mascarpone)that is good made with any greens and topped with a sage/light cream sauce. If you're like me and didn't know many Italian meat dishes (my Neapolitan family kind of doesn't know what to do with it), you will love it if only for what you learn about meat. You won't see the brilliance of this book until you try the recipes. Very very good for the somewhat experienced cook.