Notes about Recipes in this book

• Fresh basil pesto

  • JKDLady on July 22, 2015

    Wow, I do like the almonds instead of the pine nuts. I've recently taken a dislike to pine nuts, for whatever reason. I've tried walnuts before, but I do like the almonds. By itself, I find this recipe too salty, but when mixed with pasta, it is very good.

• Roasted mushrooms

  • Zosia on January 22, 2024

    Simple but tasty. Only half the amount of oil was needed.

• Roasted winter squash purée

  • twoyolks on December 14, 2017

    The squash ended up bland and the flavor was one note. It was also a bit hard to get the hot squash out of its skin.

• Cherry tomato and red onion focaccia

  • twoyolks on October 03, 2016

    This looks much prettier than it actually tastes. It's not bad but I would've liked more flavor from the dough itself. Simply, I've made better focaccia. I omitted the optional pancetta.

• Chickpea salad with red onions and lemon zest

  • twoyolks on February 25, 2017

    This is a nice, simple fresh chickpea salad. However, it's much more Middle Eastern in flavor than it is Italian.

• Garlicky lentil soup

  • MollyPellecchia on December 27, 2023

    Makes a lot of soup. Delicious & very forgiving. I swap the veggies for what is in the fridge. Added sliced green beans, increased the potatoes as I didn’t have a turnip or fennel. And 1/4 teaspoon cumin.

• Ribollita

  • TrishaCP on October 21, 2019

    Absolutely loved this. Just what a ribollita should be. Many steps, and the recipe only specified the use of two instead of four cloves of garlic called for in the ingredients list (I bunged all in), but definitely worth a repeat.

• Arugula, fennel, and orange salad

  • Zosia on January 05, 2021

    Very refreshing, bright tasting salad that's also very pretty no matter how the ingredients are arranged - even tossed works well.

• Winter cauliflower salad

  • rglo820 on January 12, 2018

    The flavors in this salad are delicious, but the proportion of olives and blue cheese to vegetables resulted in an overly rich salad. We would up serving it over a baby kale/chard/spinach mix to balance it out a bit, but you could just as easily double the cauliflower and celery or even throw in a can of chickpeas.

  • Lepa on November 24, 2019

    This is an unusual and extraordinarily delicious salad. We had a party with lots of enticing dishes but my friend and I mostly focused on this salad and ignored all the other food. If you like strong flavors, cauliflower and gorgonzola do yourself a favor and try this amazing salad!

• Farro salad with Gorgonzola

  • mfranklin125 on April 05, 2017

    Easy and yummy. I did raw peppers and feta instead of Gorgonzola.

• Insalata di riso

  • mfranklin125 on April 09, 2017

    Easy good and easy to modify

• Carrot-ricotta ravioli with herbed butter

  • twoyolks on March 21, 2016

    The filling of the ravioli is a bit bland; the carrot flavor is barely present.

• Capricci with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes and cream

  • Breadcrumbs on June 01, 2015

    p. 142 – This was good, not remarkable though. A solid variation on a standard tomato cream sauce. I actually missed the brightness of the tomatoes as that typically balances the richness of the cream. No surprise this was a hit with mr bc lover-of-all-things-cream though! Of course he added some shredded chicken to his as well. Not sure I’d repeat this unless I had some tasteless tomatoes around that might benefit from roasting. Photo here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1015218?commentId=9586383#9586383

  • mrsbloomsdale on January 30, 2016

    This is a favorite fast dinner (once the tomatoes have been roasted). We roast and freeze many pounds of cherry tomatoes when they are at their peak in August and September and enjoy this from time to time during the winter.

  • TrishaCP on August 03, 2016

    This was pretty good, though does benefit from pretty liberal grindings of black pepper for more complexity. I left the smaller cherry tomatoes whole (about half of them), so I definitely got some of the tomato brightness Breadcrumbs found lacking in this recipe.

  • Ganga108 on February 20, 2023

    It is a 37C day today - not a day to be roasting tomatoes. Yet, I did them early morning when it was a bit cooler and the with the cooling on to dissipate the small amount of heat. The sauce with cream was made later - easy enough done. This is a simple dish, but here we love the attention that simple dishes demand, as well as the joy of much more complex dishes. Perfect for weeknights if you pre-roast the tomatoes. (Love mrsbloomsdale's hint about roasting and freezing tomatoes.) Adored the dish on a hot hot Australian summer evening.

• Penne rigate with blistered green peppers

  • gastronom on May 08, 2014

    This is a tasty use of green peppers. I added sliced red onion during the last few minutes of cooking. Also removed the crushed garlic before blistering the peppers, minced it, and added the minced garlic with the vinegar at the end.

• Grilled pizzas

  • Jenifferswhim on August 03, 2020

    This is the best pizza I have had since I was last in Italy. Love the dough and it's super fun making pizza on the grill!

• Zucchini blossom and ricotta frittata

  • Zosia on July 16, 2020

    Very nice. It allows the squash blossoms to shine.

• Crêpe cannelloni with mushrooms and zucchini

  • thekitchenchronicles on July 25, 2017

    One of my favorite Italian dishes, and great for vegetarian guests. Not as hard as it seems- a bit time-consuming but a lot can be done in stages in advance. Worth noting that both times I've made this, it made 2 dishes of 8 rolls each, not 3x8 as the recipe says... Wrote it up here: http://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2017/07/10/crepe-cannelloni-with-mushrooms-and-zucchini/

• Eggplant "meatballs" in tomato sauce

  • twoyolks on July 08, 2016

    These are more like bread dumplings than they are eggplant meatballs. The eggplant dissolves into the background and most of the mixture is actually the bread crumbs. The flavor is quite good and actually reminiscent of meatballs. The texture is more dumpling like but also pleasant.

• Chicken thighs braised with escarole

  • Pizzacat13 on December 21, 2025

    Made this a couple of times- it is a beautiful soulful chicken dish. The braised flavour is really so much more than the sum of its parts. It works even if you don't have access to escarole or Spring bulb onions- I have subbed in green onions and shallots and used a combo of frisbee and Belgian endive for the escarole- it still works. I just wish there was a way to keep the chicken skin crisp, once you put the escarole into the dish, the chicken skin goes soggy. Maybe sear and remove the skin and crisp it in the oven and re-add at the end- might try that next time....

• Grilled asparagus with speck

  • Ganga108 on June 11, 2023

    I've made asparagus this way for decades, mostly on an inside stove-top grill pan. Without the speck, of course (#vegetarian). I hit the asparagus with the lemon and salt towards the end of cooking and while the stalks are still still on the grill pan. It gives a different flavour.

• Braised sweet-and-sour Savoy cabbage

  • twoyolks on October 13, 2016

    The sweet-and-sour flavor overwhelmed any flavor from the cabbage.

• Honey-balsamic roasted carrots

  • Bloominanglophile on January 10, 2015

    These carrots were good, but the honey and balsamic vinegar (I used a balsamic reduction I had in the fridge) didn't produce the sticky coating I thought it would. There may be too much oil--I would take it down to 1 Tbsp if I tried this again. Use your discretion.

  • twoyolks on August 17, 2017

    I really liked these. Looking at the ingredient list, you might expect carrots in a goopy, sweet sauce. Instead, the dressing is light before cooking and the liquid cooks off and the flavors meld with the carrots. The flavor of the carrot shines through and is nicely complimented by the honey and balsamic vinegar. I needed to cook them longer than the recipe called for to get them tender.

  • Christinalego on May 19, 2020

    Yes, yummy, but needs 10-15 min more cooking time.

• Chocolate zucchini cake

  • gastronom on July 29, 2014

    Moist simple chocolate cake. Used white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose. Once with olive oil, once with avocado oil--both excellent.

  • eliza on August 06, 2020

    This cake is simple to make and uses cocoa powder which are both pluses. The resulting cake is very moist and dense, almost brownie-like in texture. I substituted Greek yogurt for half the oil But otherwise followed the recipe. Used a slightly smaller cake pan and had to bake for 67 minutes convection. For a simple chocolate cake I do prefer the one in River Cottage Everyday, however.

• Carrot polenta cake with Marsala

  • ashallen on November 09, 2019

    Nicely flavored cake and healthier than some since it contains carrots, olive oil and cornmeal. I agree with anya_f that it's a good breakfast treat. It eats like a quick bread/muffin in cake form. Given that it's so moist, it'd probably do fine baked as a muffin. I made it the night before and, if anything, the flavors seemed to meld a bit better after it'd sat overnight. Sweetness worked well with some bitterness from the olive oil I used which happened to be a peppery/grassy one (fortunately the peppery/grassy flavors didn't come through). I used sweet Marsala - worked fine. Instead of fine polenta, I used fine stoneground cornmeal. My lemon was small - a bigger one would have been great. Removed from oven once it hit 192F in center. Stayed moist and flavorful for multiple days. [Cross-post for Kitchn/Glorious Vegetables of Italy.]

  • Lepa on November 14, 2019

    This is an unusual, easy and delicious, cake. The middle wasn't quite cooked at thirty minutes so next time I will add a few more minutes to the baking time.

  • Pamsy on October 30, 2020

    This recipe has lots to commend it, easy to mix and make, great flavours, quick to bake, dairy free and gluten free (when using gluten free plain flour). Baked in an 8 inch round springform tin with a parchment liner at 190c for 45 minutes. Good as a dessert or cake and keeps well.

• Pumpkin gelato

  • twoyolks on November 17, 2016

    I would've liked a stronger pumpkin flavor from the gelato.

• Plain focaccia

  • IvyManning on July 10, 2018

    Really confusing recipe. First rise is 3 to 10 hours, then 12 to 18 hours, and again for 24 hours. So it essentially takes 3 days to make.

• New York Daily News

  ...as much a love letter to Italy as the vegetables she cooks with...The seasonal recipes that follow do justice to the book’s title — lush, indulgent dishes that make you forget the absence of meat.

  Full review

• Serious Eats

  ...drop dead gorgeous...But unlike many glossy, well-shot cookbooks these days, the recipes inside are totally on point and the writing between them is warm, inviting, and informative.

  Full review