• Wholeness on November 09, 2022

  Please be very careful when buying this book entitled "Five Quarters" - apart from the different title / cover image, it is the exact same as the book by the same author entitled "My Kitchen in Rome". If you have the latter already, don't buy this one

• cookbookaddict2020 on November 04, 2021

  made her spaghetti carbonara and it was amaaaazing. I don't eat pork so I used some garlic beef sausage and it worked fine. I've never gotten carbonara to come out silky before, always had curdling issues, but not with this recipe. Bliss!

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pasta and potato soup (Pasta e patate)

  • excurvatus on September 14, 2021

    a plain jane but very satisfying soup. i used a little bit of north american bacon. eaten with bread, 4 was a very safe serving estimate. (i think i ate it for 5 meals total).

• Pasta and lentil soup (Pasta e lenticchie)

  • okmosa on March 03, 2022

    I added a little pancetta at the beginning, used different small pasta shape, and subbed French green lentils instead of brown. Rachel’s recipe explained that soup consistency would depend on how much water the chosen pasta and lentils need, of course, but so true! My pasta took forever to cook in the lentil soup so I may pad cook it separately next time. Mine ended up closer to stew but was still delicious.

• Bucatini with tomato and cured pork (Bucatini all'Amatriciana)

  • Lepa on May 16, 2020

    This was good but still not the Amatriciana recipe of my dreams so I'll keep looking.

• Spaghetti with tomatoes, anchovies, capers and olives (Spaghetti alla puttanesca)

  • TrishaCP on June 17, 2019

    This was a nice puttanesca.

• Spaghetti with ricotta and black pepper (Spahetti con ricotta e pepe nero)

  • TrishaCP on August 16, 2017

    Simple but satisfying. I ended up using more Parmesan than specified, and a ton of black pepper- it's flexible so you can adjust to your taste. Be mindful of how much pasta water you add. I was a little heavy handed and added too much, so it was slightly thinner than I wanted, though I definitely did not have problems with the spaghetti clumping! Nice to have a creamy-ish pasta sauce without the fattiness of a cream-based sauce.

  • twoyolks on June 17, 2020

    Simple but good but not amazing. I found that a little bit of olive oil complimented it nicely.

  • Barb_N on October 26, 2025

    It should have come as no surprise that this was bland, considering the ingredients. If pepper was meant to be the predominant flavor, then I under-seasoned. I thought that making this with my own freshly made ricotta would have made it more flavorful. I’m a fan of dishes with color so added kale braised in stock, which added the constrast and flavor. There are more flavorful pasta dishes that are simple, this won’t be a repeat.

• Pasta with broccoli (Pasta e broccoli)

  • okmosa on February 08, 2026

    My cousin in Rome made for me a simple dish of orecchiette pasta with an almost smooth sauce made by cooking Romanesco down until very mushy, really. I've been thinking about it for months and finally picked up a Romanesco head on a whim. This was the only recipe I could find in my Italian cookbook collection, and it didn't disappoint. I added an anchovy when sauteing the garlic because my cousin did, which was essential. And I used garganelli pasta which I found sublime with this sauce. I will make this so many times more.

• Ricotta and spinach ravioli (Ravioli di ricotta e spinaci)

  • FJT on August 24, 2021

    I can't comment on the pasta recipe because I used my go to gluten free recipe, but the filling and sauce are very good. My most successful ravioli so far

• Chicken or rabbit, hunters' style (Pollo o coniglio alla cacciatora)

  • FJT on July 18, 2021

    I made this just for 2 people using 2 chicken legs. Full of flavour and very easy to make. Will make again.

• Zucchini cooked in olive oil (Zucchine al tegame)

  • blazin on June 22, 2020

    Am I the only one who gasped when the recipe said *discard the garlic* !? WHY on earth would you throw away those sweet, luscious gold nuggets?! Anyway, here's a non-paywalled version: http://archive.vn/Uxxyd

• Tomatoes stuffed with rice (Pomodori al riso)

  • Yildiz100 on July 25, 2019

    Delicious. I used the optional parmesan and baked the tomatoes for 55 minutes till they were taking on a bit of color. I was glad that I baked them on the longer side of the given range, as the rice was just al dente. The only problem with the recipe is that there was too much filling. I filled the tomatoes completely full instead of 3/4 full and used one extra tomato (discarding the insides) and I still had a bit leftover.

• Braised fennel with olive oil (Braised fennel with olive oil)

  • Barb_N on March 28, 2017

    This is a bare bones preparation but does not require the 'best' produce, in fact it is quite forgiving of scraggly, old fennel. I put it in the oven with olive oil, water and a lid as I was using the oven anyway. Even the tough old layers of fennel were meltingly tender.

• Poached apricots in spiced syrup

  • FJT on June 22, 2020

    Made with lime zest instead of lemon and slightly less sugar. Easy and very tasty.

• Panna cotta

  • FJT on July 09, 2022

    I love panna cotta. This recipe has just the right amount of gelatine to create just the right amount of wobble.

• Kitty's vanilla ice cream scented with citrus

  • twoyolks on May 21, 2022

    The lemon adds a really nice note to the vanilla and makes it a better ice cream.

  • FJT on June 02, 2026

    Left the lemon peel / coffee beans in for a whole day - my husband said it tasted like an ice cream wafer. Really liked it.

• Sweet yeasted buns (Maritozzi)

  • twoyolks on March 24, 2020

    These are simple, slightly sweet yeasted buns. I preferred them with the whipped cream filling (which made them messy to eat) because it helped balance the buns better. I proofed them at 85F and it only took 30 minutes and then let them rise at the same temperature for the same time.

• Pasta and chickpea soup 2 (Pasta e ceci 2)

  • hirsheys on April 03, 2022

    This is the recipe my dad has been making for years and it is fantastic. Very authentic and hearty. Perfect winter meal.

• Leite's Culinaria

  Her opinions are punctuated by charming glimpses of everyday life and, natch, recipes. And her emphasis is on proper techniques...

  Full review