Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California's Wine Country [Hardcover]

Michael Chiarello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 29, 2010

Michael Chiarello's fans have watched him on Top Chef Masters, the Food Network, and PBS. He's an Emmy Award winner and award-winning author, with combined cookbook sales of over 400,000 copies. Chiarello returns to the kitchen with a cookbook inspired by the soulful Southern Italian-style menu at his new Napa Valley restaurant, Bottega. It's rich with more than 120 photographs that convey the Bottega experience and 100 amazing recipes for Southern Italian specialties, which, with signature Chiarello style, are designed for the home cook to have as much easy joy cooking as eating. Bottega is Michael Chiarello at his best.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Chiarello, author of six cookbooks and chef/owner of Napa Valley's acclaimed Bottega restaurant, brings his culinary creations to the masses in this vibrant and alluring collection. Chiarello shares not only a wealth of appealing recipes but also his cooking philosophy, believing that cooking is craft and home cooks can replicate the quality of his dishes through practice. He advocates starting with a well-stocked pantry of staples, with recipes for stocks, oils, crème fraîche, and duck prosciutto. He includes mouthwatering snacks and antipasti such as a bruschetta trio, green eggs and ham, and torn figs and burrata cheese. His potato gnocchi ravioli with egg yolk and sage brown butter is worth the price of the book alone. He also provides appetizing soups and salads, fish and shellfish, and side dishes. While he includes numerous tempting meat and poultry dishes, Chiarello's pork offerings are especially notable, particularly the crispy roasted pork shanks and whole-roasted pig porchetta. Stunning with more than 120 photographs, the book also provides a useful chapter on libations, which contains recipes for lavender limoncello, among others. Home cooks will appreciate Chiarello's clear, concise instructions and wide array of dishes that will whet any appetite. (Nov.) (c)
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Review

Bottega's pages are filled with vivid recipes not shy in flavor or seasoning. This is bold Italian food graced with refinement and white-tablecloth-restaurant techniques. It's proof why Chiarello is one of California's most popular chefs. -- Houston Chronicle, Best Cookbooks of 2010

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (September 29, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811875393
• ISBN-13: 978-0811875394
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 1.1 x 12.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Cookbook for foodies September 28, 2010

By Jonathan

Format:Hardcover

I dined at Bottega last month and had the most incredible meal of my life. I had the best version of four dishes that I have ever had: caprese salad with balsamic caviar, short ribs, duck confit, and pork belly. They were all mind-blowing. All but the pork belly are in this cookbook. He more than makes up for it though with a spectacular roasted suckling pig recipe which the book calls the "7 O'clock pig" because they run out by that time every time they run it on special. This may not be a cookbook for the beginner, but it isn't that difficult for a foodie home cook, besides it is coffee-table quality. The directions are precise and he adds anecdotes throughout. The pages are glossy and colorful.I have about 200 cookbooks, most on technique or celebrity chefs and this one is already in my top 5. It is that good. Chiarello's passion for food comes out on every page. I am very thankful that he is sharing his secrets for the food that I know first hand is incredible. If you enjoy cooking all afternoon and wowing your friends at a dinner party, you will love this book.

edit: You can now "Look Inside" this book. Check out his Introduction then peruse the Index. This should get your juices flowing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you cook? - Then You Simply MUST HAVE THIS BOOK - a MASTERPIECE - 5 STARS !!!! March 23, 2011

By A Customer TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

If you are considering the purchase of this book it is usually because you are a cook yourself and you already own several cook books, and maybe more than that. I have perused hundreds of cook books, and own several dozen. Like yourself, I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy knowing how to cook. It helps to ground me as a human being. We probably separate our cook books into different classes. There are those books that are written by celebrity chefs, others by acknowledged culinary masters who are not as famous, but this one in my opinion is in a league all its own.

Very simply - this book is EXTRAORDINARY

Master chef Michael Chiarello has chosen to take us on a journey through the creation of Napa Valley's exquisite restaurant BOTTEGA. He has thought through the experience of the cook book as no other chef has taken the time to. What he has done is unique and very much worthy of both admiration and emulation. I sensed it the moment I read a small print dedication to his mother where he promises to work less, and that he misses her, and that she lives in the fabric of his spirit, and everything he touches. These are not just words from his mind, but an outpouring of affection from his heart and soul. It was apparent immediately that the rest of the book would follow suit, and so it does.

There are ten chapters to the book, and they include:

* Make your own

* Tantalizing Snacks

* Before the Meal

* Soups and Salads

* Pastas and Risottos

* Fish and Shell Fish

* Meats and Poultry

* Side dishes

* Desserts

* Libations

A VISUAL Delight Awaits You

I don't know your needs in a cookbook, but for me, there must be pictures, fantastic pictures, and I would not think of owning a cookbook and using one, that did not show me beautiful pictures of the presentation that I am trying to create. There is simply no way to do this except through exquisite and magnificent pictures. This book is second to none when it comes to presentation of the finished product through a visual presentation. There are more than just pictures of foods in this wonderful book. There are also pictures of the experiences that the author is trying to create within his now world renowned Bottega restaurant. People at beautiful tables, and the staff interacting, how the mood is set and then evolved, Chiarello truly understands that dining out can be theatre, and elegant.

You Too Can Cook Like a MASTER

This point is made over and over again throughout the book. The author believes that you can learn to master these recipes. Does he believe that you will completely duplicate what his fellow master chefs have done for the last 20 years at Bottega - maybe not? At the same time, 90% isn't bad, and certainly you can learn to achieve that. He tells you how. He wants you to try a recipe 3 dozen times without deviating from the recipe itself. Just do what he does, no more and no less. Once you have it down pat, he wants you to duplicate the recipe without looking at the book. You should be able to do it from memory. Once that is achieved, start changing it if you wish, but first master the Bottega way of doing it.

He also tells us and I would never have realized it that most of us only know about a dozen recipes and we cook them over and over again about 75% of the time. He would feel honored if you would just adopt about five of the more than 100 recipes that are presented in this extraordinary book. Let's look at it this way, for about $25 you can own this book and make it your own. It's tough to get any kind of decent meal in a restaurant for that kind of money. Here are just a few of the recipes with the page numbers that I found spectacular when I sampled them in my kitchen. I am sure you will have your own selection but this will give you feel for what's in the book.

* Grilled Rib-Eye Tagliata (141)

* Grilled Swordfish (120)

* Over Roasted Cornish Hens (162)

* Angry Prawns with White Bean Passatina (136)

* Solo Shrimp Pasta (108)

* Grilled Fennel Spiced Lamb Chops (142)

* Braised Lamb Shanks (144)

CONCLUSION:

As Chef Michael Chiarello likes to say, it's not about the fancy tools or the training. It's about PRACTICE, PASSION, and PATIENCE. You too can learn to cook, but to learn from a master, ah that's something, and that is what you will do with this book. I promise you that you will love every minute of it, and every page you read, for this book is a treasure to keep and to learn from in the years ahead, and I thank you for reading this review, and of course Bon Appetit.

Richard C. Stoyeck

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reading material November 15, 2010

By K. Lovejoy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a great fan of Michael Chiarello, and have all of his cookbooks going back to his first ones. This is a great read and sounds exactly like him for those who watched Top Chef Masters. However, don't plan on cooking many things at home as it is restaurant fare...but beautifully done.