Italian in its inspiration, American in its outlook, Cucina Fresca brings a vivid new style to the earthy simplicity of Italy's culinary tradition. This is food at its freshest and simple to prepare.

In 1985 two young women chefs with enormous, vitality and imagination published their first cookbook, Cucina Fresca. For many readers it was more than a cookbook; it was a love affair.

Cucina Rustica, the "rustic kitchen," as interpreted by he authors, is Italian food at its freshest, simplest, and most satisfying. It is a celebration of the pleasures of unpretentious cooking - earthy, nourishing food that takes its inspiration for the Italian classics we all adore and translates them into elegant dishes for today's busy kitchen and modern table. In 250 recipes the authors prove that food with great taste and style can undemanding and easy to prepare. They offer: An innovative array of antipasti from broiled cheeses topped with woodsy mushrooms to artichokes marinated in lemon and thyme. Amazingly quick soups of garden-fresh tomatoes and Arborio rice, or wild mushrooms with Marsala over crostini. Main-course salads such as chicken with mozzarella and vegetables, and summery salads with sweet shrimp, yellow peppers, green beans and basil Skewers of shrimp, veal and sausage perfumed with herbs and grilled over glowing coals. Pastas with unique and ways-to prepare sauces: fusfulli with grilled vegetables, pasta with fresh tuna and mint, perciatelli with pancetta and red wine. Rustic cakes and elegant mascarpone flavored with espresso and chocolate; the ultimate tiramisu; luscious figs braised in honey and wine. Plus a special section on ingredients and techniques for marinating everything from radicchio and olives to sardines, peppers,, mushrooms, onions, and more. Whether you're a novice or an experienced cook, these are the kinds of recipes that will become much loved standbys, providing dozens of memorable meals.

Provides more than 225 recipes including fish soups and stews, pasta and rice dishes, and salads.

In her debut cookbook, Susan Gravely celebrates 40 years as Founder and Creative Director of VIETRI, a lifestyle brand offering handcrafted Italian tabletop and home and garden accessories. With a foreword by Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, Italy on a Plate is an exploration into what makes Italy so magical: its staggering beauty, unparalleled style, artistic legacy, and incredible food. The close friends Gravely has made during her years of Italian travels have graciously shared their homes and their favorite family recipes, and this book gives a culinary tour of Italy’s flavors with recipes you will enjoy with loved ones for years to come.

Cucina Rustica,"the rustic 'kitchen,"is Italian food at its simplest and freshest. With more than 250 recipes that use readily available ingredients in deliciously creative combinations, La Place and Kleiman offer a style of cooking and eating that's inviting, easy, and elegant.

"In this authoritative and immensely readable insider's account, celebrated cookbook author and former chef Joyce Goldstein traces the development of California cuisine from its early years in the 1970s to the present, when farm-to-table, foraging, and fusion cuisine are part of the national vocabulary. Goldstein's interviews with almost two hundred chefs, purveyors, artisans, winemakers, and food writers bring to life an era when cooking was grounded in passion, bold innovation, and a dedication to "flavor first." The author shows how the counterculture movement in the West gave rise to a restaurant culture that was defined by open kitchens, women in leadership positions, and the presence of a surprising number of chefs and artisanal food producers who lacked formal training. California cuisine challenged the conventional kitchen hierarchy and dominance of French technique in fine dining, she explains, leading to a more egalitarian restaurant culture and informal food scene. In weaving the author's view of California food culture with profiles of those who played a part in its development-from Alice Waters to Bill Niman to Wolfgang Puck-Inside the California Food Revolution demonstrates that, in addition to access to fresh produce, the region also shared a distinctly Western culture of openness, creativity, and collaboration. Wonderfully detailed and engagingly written, this book elucidates as never before how the inspirations that emerged in California went on to transform the eating experience throughout the U.S. and the world. "--

“A wonderful cookbook with the very best authentic Italian recipes . . . Flick through it and you can feel immediately transported to a table under an olive tree” (The Sunday Tribune). Named One of the Top 100 Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years by Cooking Light! Verdura has become a classic that readers turn to as their vegetable cooking bible—with irresistible recipes representing the best of the Italian approach to vegetable preparation, an earthy yet spirited technique that celebrates fresh ingredients simply treated. Contending that eating well-prepared vegetables helps us to appreciate life’s natural cycles, Viana La Place presents recipes for antipastos, salads, soups, sandwiches, pasta, risottos, pizzas, and much more. The vegetables she explores run from the familiar—artichokes, aubergines, radicchio—to the more exotic, such as chayote, cardoons, and brocciflower. (Sautée her cauliflower-broccoli hybrid in garlic and oil—then top it with pungent provolone!) Other recipes, such as Soup of Dried Broad Beans with Fresh Fennel; Fettucine with Peas, Spring Onions, and Mint; Grilled Bread with Raw Mushroom Salad; and Baked Red Pepper Fritatta; give further evidence of the author’s original yet thoughtful way with the earth’s bounty. Desserts are also included, among them Watermelon with Bittersweet Chocolate Shavings; Grilled Figs with Honey and Walnuts; and Lemon Granita and Brioches. With a vegetable and herb guide and an ingredient glossary, Verdura provides comprehensive information while exciting the palate.

This book contains more than 350 recipes in all categories of cuisine. These have been collected, distilled and refined over the past forty years by Professor James B. Gerhart of the University of Washington, Department of Physics, an avid cook and gourmet whose skill and judgment in domestic food preparation is legendary among family and friends. A detailed bibliography citing nearly a hundred sources is provided. (When was the last time you saw a cookbook with a bibliography?) Dr. Gerhart states in the preface, the included recipes "...are based on the recipes cited in each case, but they are modified to fit my taste, to simplify them, to adapt them to Seattle's excellent market. Many of the sources are not easily accessible. Some recipes come from friends. A few are original." Plentiful help and practical advice is provided throughout, making this an especially good book for novice cooks. An index comprising 19 pages is included, and this is available to preview among the sample pages at www.lulu.com.