Customer Reviews

Antonio Carluccio's Italian Feast (Great Foods)

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As a book that has been available in England for some time, I have sampled many of its delights. Don't be deceived by the simplicity of its recipes, for rarely has throwing several ingredients together tasted quite so delicious. Take the basic tomato sauce for example, who would have believed onions, tomatoes, basil and olive oil could have such flavour? And the Tiramisu is delicious, not unworthy of the finest dinner party yet so incredibly easy to make that a dessert for eight could be ready in less than half an hour. The book is made all the more unique by its contributors, for Antonio Carluccio has collected many recipes from Italian people like the cooking Count, Conte Carlo Maria Rocca. Whilst Carluccio remarks that "a cooking Count is not the kind of person you meet every day" this fact is not quite so astonishing as his monkfish, baked in layers of potato slices with fresh sage leaves and olive oil and parmesan, which is just divine. Inspiration is not hard to find in this book since Carluccio prefaces each of his recipes with a charming little anecdote. Whether he is describing the eccentricities of the wonderful people he meets, watching a recipe being made in a country kitchen, or picking local ingredients such as his `funghi hunt', Carluccio's passion for all that is Italy is infectious. When you finally taste the food that you have prepared, close your eyes and you might just believe that you are in a bustling trattoria in a hill town in Tuscany with a fine glass of Chianti, sampling traditional Italian cuisine at its best.

Antonio Carluccio is better known in UK than he is in America, largely through his very relaxed and charming TV series. He also has a restaurant in London's West End, and although not cheap even by British standards, it is worth every penny.

Carluccio's recipes are very simple, and somehow it is immediately clear how everything works. Every ingredient is there for a reason, and he attaches very little importance to superficial decoration of the dishes. The beauty lies in their gustatory quality.

Even if you are not the world's best cook, success rate with Carluccio's recipes is incredibly high, which is I suppose the ultimate praise for a cook-book.

Carlucio insists on good ingredients, and tries to show the true essence of the Italian cooking really is: food originating from the love of life and cooking tradition that is several millenia old.

Italian food needs no better ambassador than this cheerful man, formerly a wine merchant, now living in London. Buy this book, try a few recipes, and you will be hooked for life.