Notes about Recipes in this book

• Italian wedding soup with chicken meatballs and sage crostone

  • Totallywired on October 09, 2018

    Terrific soup. Great use of leftover chicken from stock making. Subbed chard for escarole. would sub a larger pasta shape.

• Lentil soup with bacon, apple, and mustard

  • bgood on November 22, 2012

    Fantastic taste. The mustard apples bring out the bacon taste. Nice and thick like I like it.

  • TrishaCP on March 12, 2016

    I forgot to serve the apple garnish, but even on its own, this soup is a winner. The mustard and bacon are a great idea. Like most lentil soups, this also freezes well.

  • Totallywired on January 23, 2019

    I also forgot to make the garnish! Terrific without, will make this again and again.

  • crandall57 on February 20, 2026

    Loved this soup! Don't forget the garnish, it is awesome.

• Endive, apple, and farmhouse cheddar salad with country ham and wheat beer dressing

  • ereibel on December 27, 2011

    I loved this dressing it was sweet and a little spicy at the same time. Next time I might decrease the honey and increase the mustard a little.

• Scallops with grapefruit butter

  • bellatavia on March 21, 2016

    bright, tangy and delicious!

• Korean steak

  • MelMM on April 02, 2012

    Don't let the Coke dissuade you. This marinade really adds a nice, subtly sweet, yet aromatic flavor to your steak. The end result is very, very, good. Do take note that the steak size called for is huge, which means it is a thick steak. If you are using thinner steaks from the supermarket (say 1.5 inches thick), you will need to reduce the cooking time. I would just use the marinade recipe and grill as you usually would. Also take note of the 12-hour marinating time, so you do need to plan ahead. Besides for that little bit of advance planning, this is a very easy recipe, and the flavor is outstanding.

  • bellatavia on February 15, 2016

    This is a great recipe -- everything works as Chef Carmellini promises. This is a great way to have "grilled" steak when you live in a city apartment. I made it for a dinner party and it was a crowd-pleaser!

• Mac- 'n-cheese-stuffed meatloaf

  • bellatavia on December 11, 2016

    This is an impressive recipe in all regards! From the preparation to the presentation, this meatloaf is tremendous. And, it is also literally TREMENDOUS -- it would easily serve 8-10 people. Things I would do differently: use 1/3 lb of pasta rather than 1/4 lb. bake for longer than 1 hour. The loaf came out undercooked and I think it needed at least another 15 minutes. The other thing I would do is let the macaroni & cheese cool for longer than the 5 minutes suggested by Carmellini. It definitely needs to congeal to a gooey consistency before I manipulate it into a plastic wrapped-"macaroni sausage tube." It was hard to work with it while the cheese sauce was still quite liquidy. Ultimately, this recipe was worth the time & effort -- it was delicious and ultimately worked besides the few tweaks I mentioned above.

  • JeffALNY on February 13, 2026

    This dish is epic. I’ve made it twice and it makes everybody happy. GREAT for a large gathering, especially if you like to show off a little.

• Greek lamb stew with old-school marinated Greek vegetables

  • bgood on March 19, 2012

    A delicious lamb ragu, the Marinated Greek Vegetables are what I would call greek salad but the addition of the chickpeas and the mint was excellent. I subbed rice vinegar for the red wine as I find it generally works best in greek salads. I left the lid on for the whole cooking time. The recipe wasn't specific but I think next time I'll leave the lid off after I've added the carrot & celery.

• Lamb chili with chickpeas and raita

  • wodtke on July 14, 2015

    A great success, definitely a keeper. Used sour cream instead of the raita, because I had it.

  • babyfork on January 19, 2024

    I'd give this 4 stars. Husband and kid loved it though, so 4.5 stars here. Followed the recipe exactly. I used a homemade chicken broth with no added salt, so I did find that I had to add a good amount of salt at the end when I was adjusting the seasoning. Even with that, the next day I thought it still needed a bit more salt. This is not spicy at all. In fact, the only slight heat detected comes from the cayenne in the raita. I'm not quite sure the long cooking time was necessary for this. I think I'd try cutting back on the amount of broth next time. Never really thickened up despite 2.5 hours on the stove. Served as suggested over rice, topped with the raita and fresh cilantro. (I used the online recipe from Tasting Table, but the link is broken so copying my note from 2015 here.)

  • babyfork on January 26, 2024

    Made this again and downgraded it to 3.5 stars. I followed my own suggestion to cut down on the broth. I only added the canned tomatoes and a full can of light coconut milk and omitted the broth completely. I used a great garam masala blend that I brought back from Dishoom in London and I added ancho chile as well. Also added a jalapeno, deseeded & diced. Even with the ginger, garlic, spices, etc this somehow turns out kind of bland. I used high quality humanely-raised grass-fed ground lamb. I like the idea of this (and I'll eat it all), but the recipe as written needs some help. The raita is good though. Served with a homemade herbed socca bread.

• Lamb tagine with green olives

  • bellatavia on January 24, 2016

    This is a perfect recipe. Make it to the letter and it will blow you away. Great for a dinner party -- it's a crowd-pleaser. And make it with the Citrus Rice as he suggests!

• Swiss chard with dried apricots and sunflower seeds

  • bellatavia on January 24, 2016

    Not too hard to make, relatively healthful, and the apricots lend a surprising amount of sweetness to this dish.

• Rutabaga-turnip gratin with maple syrup

  • MelMM on March 22, 2013

    Not a huge hit. I made this will all turnips. We did not love the extra sweetness added by the maple syrup. It just didn't quite seem to go, or seem necessary.

• Oven-roasted vegetables glazed with apple cider, dried cranberries, and pumpkin seeds

  • bgood on November 22, 2012

    Great veggie side dish. The celery leaves take it to the next level

• Citrus rice

  • bellatavia on January 24, 2016

    Absolutely delicious. Perfect with his Lamb Tagine.

• Sausage and shrimp pilau

  • wodtke on July 29, 2015

    Made exactly as written. Nice intense flavor, though I prefer it with the addition of good Yucatan smoky hot sauce. Makes a huge quantity -- all to the good, as I like leftovers.

• Kierin's bacon-chipotle cornbread

  • bellatavia on April 06, 2012

    Wow! This recipe is easy to follow and basically perfect. I used low-sodium bacon and I made my own buttermilk (the old vinegar-in-milk trick) because my lame local grocery store didn't have any on the shelf, but the cornbread still came out moist, aromatic, and flavorful. The balance of savory and sweet is made even better by the heat of the chipotle chilis in adobo. I'll make this again, for sure, it's a real crowd-pleaser -- I brought it as a "finger food" at a margarita happy hour and it went perfectly.

  • ellwell on September 16, 2022

    I made this tonight but didn't cook it long enough. The flavor was delicious. I think I’ll try to rescue the crumbs tomorrow and cook it up with my eggs.

• Peanut-butter-oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies

  • JJ2018 on February 28, 2019

    We really liked these - the peanut butter and salt mean they are not too sweet. Very crumbly a bit like shortbread for us. Would make again

• Food52 by Hunter Lewis

  The 2012 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks vs. Mourad: New Moroccan

  Full review