• annapanna on March 02, 2013

  This is a lovely book. The stories he tells around the food, how people used to prepare things in Italy when he was a child are so authentic! I grew up in Italy too and it brings back so many fond memories.... it made me remember how my grandmother used to make huge batches of biscotti and other sweet treats, fill a large pan and we would walk together to the "forno" where they made bread and ask them to bake them for us...and there were women bringing their lasagne as they probably didn't have an oven at home (as he describes in the chapter on lasagne) . If you want to know how Italian food is (and was) prepared traditionally this is a great book!

• roztaste on July 25, 2010

  My favourite anglo Italian chef

• PenelopeA on January 17, 2010

  Fantastic book about Italian food and how it fits into Giorgio's Italian background.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Lemon and mascarpone tart (Torta di limone e mascarpone)

  • Astrid5555 on April 22, 2014

    One of my favorite lemon tarts so far, tangy, very creamy, a little bit runny, but extremly delicious!

• Sweet pastry (Pasta frolla)

  • Astrid5555 on April 22, 2014

    Very sticky, had to press the dough into the tart pan instead of rolling it out.

• Potato gnocchi dough

  • FJT on May 02, 2020

    Very light, fluffy gnocchi. I only used 180g of flour, rather than starting with 240g and adding more as needed. Not sure why! Froze half the batch for another day.

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    Light and fluffy gnocchi.

• Pesto

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    One bunch of basil is enough to make half a batch (enough for two serves of pasta). Delicious.

• Porcini risotto (Risotto ai porcini)

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    I only used fresh mushrooms but it was still delicious.

• Fresh egg pasta

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    Fantastic recipe - quick to make and it works well.

• Ragu alla Bolognese

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    Amazing slow cooked bolognese sauce.

  • tui on March 21, 2013

    This is a delicious recipe and a great one if you want to make a large quantity of sauce. I made it with only half the meat (1 kg) and scaled down the wine and passata by half, but kept the same quantities of vegetables, and there was still enough for 8 to 10 people.

• Classic risotto with grana cheese (Risotto alla lodigiana)

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    Perfect basic recipe with every step clearly explained. Very good as is or to use as a starting point for other flavours.

• Cod with lentils (Trancio di merluzzo con lenticchio)

  • Melanie on March 28, 2014

    Substituted flathead for the cod. I was particulary impressed with the lentils, albeit with a minor change. Finely dice the pancetta and cook through with the lentils (instead of removing as per recipe suggestion).

• Risotto with sausage and peas (Risotto luganiga e piselli)

  • CAT on May 16, 2012

    Very tasty, easy.

• Asparagus risotto (Risotto agli asparagi)

  • annapanna on April 14, 2013

    Classic risotto. The recipe tells you to cook asparagus and onions separately, puree part of it and set aside, then add after 10 min to the rice. I used to do everything in one pot, I am not sure that made a big difference. Good idea to put the stalks of the asparagus into the broth, instead of throwing them away directly. Will make again.

• Arancini

  • KarinaFrancis on August 26, 2018

    Totally delicious and just like we had in Sicily! So much better than any I’ve had since being back from holiday. They were a palaver to make and wouldn’t recommend tackling it in one day, but totally worth doing. We made ours the size of an apricot and got 35 arancini from the mixture, but only used 1/2 the filling mixture. We also double crumbed them.

• Saffron risotto (Risotto allo zafferano)

  • KarinaFrancis on August 25, 2018

    I thought I knew how to make risotto, so this is the first time I followed a recipe for it. I was so wrong, I knew nothing! It’s creamy, cheesy and totally delicious. I used it to make the arancini and it held together perfectly. Note on quanties: I ended up using a little less than 2 Ltr of stock

• Roasted turbot (or brill) with porcini and potato puree (Trancio di rombo ai funghi porcini con pure di patate)

  • thennek on June 20, 2013

    Fresh porcini mushrooms

  • tekobo on December 27, 2016

    Made with fillets of turbot as the fishes that I had were not large enough to cut steaks out of. Served as a starter with a mixture of mushrooms, some sliced, some whole depending on the size. Left out the potato. Enjoyed by all.

• Chargrilled lamb with peppers and eggplant puree (Agnello primavrile alla griglia con peperonata e melanzane)

  • Popisdead on August 23, 2020

    Served new potatoes with this. Was really good but potatoes possibly too much. Used stock pot for sauce which needed a fair bit of work to stop being salty. Really nice, all problems my own making.

• Food52 by Don Lindgren

  ...it has these really lengthy sections that I haven't found explained almost anywhere else. There’s 19 pages on risotto before you get to the first risotto recipe, and that was a huge eye opener.

  Full review