Ciao Italia Family Classics: More than 200 Treasured Recipes from 3 Generations of Italian Cooks [Hardcover]

Mary Ann Esposito (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 25, 2011

A beautifully conceived cookbook representing the best of Italian cooking brought to us by the trusted host of the longest-running television cooking show in America

On Ciao Italia, which has been airing on PBS for more than twenty years, Mary Ann Esposito has taught millions of fans how to cook delicious, authentic Italian dishes. In her previous books, she has shown us how to make a quick meal with just five ingredients, helped us get dinner on the table in just thirty minutes, and encouraged us to slow down and take it easy in the kitchen while re-creating the rich aromas of Italy. Now Mary Ann returns to her family's humble beginnings to bring us a treasure trove of more than 200 time-honored recipes. They represent traditional, everyday foods that she regards as culinary royalty—always admired, respected, and passed down through generations. Even better, they are easy to make and guaranteed to please. You'll be dog-earing the pages to try such classics as:

- Sicilian Rice Balls
- Spaghetti with Tuna, Capers, and Lemon
- Risotto with Dried Porcini Mushrooms
- Lasagna Verdi Bologna Stylegnese
- Homemade Italian Sweet Sausage
- Veal Cutlet Sorrento Style
- Roasted Sea Bass with Fennel, Oranges, and Olives
- Almond Cheesecake
- Orange-Scented Madeleines

Georgeously designed with appetizing full-color photographs of recipes and homespun essays about Italian cooking and family traditions throughout, Ciao Italia Family Classics will have fans old and new pulling it off the shelf again and again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This collection epitomizes the tradition and love that goes into all of Mary Ann Esposito's cooking. Like her award-winning TV series, this book will live on for years with all of those who cook her delicious recipes. My kids love everything Mary Ann cooks!"

—Mario Batali

 

"A primer for authentic Italian cooking from the host of the long-running PBS show Ciao Italia. 

Esposito (Caio Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites, 2009, etc.) returns with Italian recipes both familiar and unfamiliar; her section on sauces not only includes recipes for pesto and tomato sauce, but also Salmoriglio, a Sicilian sauce made with lemon and olive oil. The author provides a helpful resource for cooks wishing to deepen their knowledge of the principles behind Italian cooking, while simultaneously broadening their repertoire of Italian dishes. Esposito begins with an introduction to “Italian Pantry Basics,” a helpful encyclopedia of the ingredients that appear most often. Organized according to different main ingredients and rife with anecdotes, history and additional information about techniques, the book emphasizes local, seasonal and organic produce and meat. Even so, most ingredients can be easily found in any chain grocery store. Recipes range in difficulty but are clear and easy to follow. Readers who wish to use store-bought pasta are accommodated, as are those who want to try their hand at homemade Spinach Pasta. Most recipes are well within the range of a moderately experienced cook. Uncooked Cherry Tomato Sauce could easily be put together by a child, and Creamy Cauliflower Baked in a Mold, though requiring more skill, would undoubtedly make an impression at a dinner party.

Complete, authoritative and accessible guide to Italian ingredients, cooking and cuisine."

—Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

MARY ANN ESPOSITO is the host of the long-running PBS series Ciao Italia. She is the author of eleven successful cookbooks, including Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites, Ciao Italia Pronto!, and Ciao Italia Slow and Easy. She lives in Durham, New Hampshire, with her husband, Guy.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (October 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312571216
• ISBN-13: 978-0312571214
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #106,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Ann Esposito is the creator and host of public television's Ciao italia, a cooking show devoted to Italian food and culture. The show has been on the air for 24 years giving it the distinction of being the longest running cooking show ever. Ciao Italia is seen in all major markets across the U.S.

Mary Ann has written 12 cookbooks. Learn more about her at www.ciaoitalia.com and sample the more than 1000 recipes on her site.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars High Quality Hardbound Book with Excellent Photographs and Truly Classic Recipes January 26, 2012

By christinemm - The Thinking Mother TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I'm not of Italian descent but grew up in Connecticut with a large Italian immigrant population. We had access to Italian import grocery stores and family run restaurants were everywhere. I married an Italian American man who loves to cook so my exposure expanded and I began to cook more and more Italian "slow food" at home. When I moved to Texas last year I realized I'd taken access to these foods for granted now that I have a hard time finding high quality ingredients and imported Italian foods. I can't even find decent restaurants that make authentic type Italian food or even a decent pizza. So we're cooking slow food at home now more than ever before.

My first impression of this cookbook was one of familiarity, because it is has over two dozen recipes that our family already enjoys eating at home or in favorite Italian restaurants. Now that we have the recipes we can make these at home. The other 150 recipes are new to me and I can't wait to go through the book and try some. Esposito explains that some recipes are from her grandmothers, some are newer recipes served at gourmet restaurants in Italy and some are her own creations using classic Italian ingredients.

I want to stress the word classic that's in the title. There is a whole chapter on pastas and another on sauces, a chapter on bread and pizza, and I'm thrilled to have a chapter on risotto. In the Introduction she mentions family dinners served in courses and eaten leisurely over multiple hours' time. The recipes in the book are meant for this purpose, so it starts with antipasti and then goes through the courses: soup, bread/pizza, pasta and sauces, rice, fish, meat, vegetables, salads then desserts. Of course not all of us eat long meals in courses so we often take one food or two, and eat it as the whole meal (pasta, pizza, or a meat or seafood entrée with a small salad on the side). The recipes stress using high quality ingredients. Many don't use many ingredients at all, yet these are slow food recipes and some take work (risotto and handmade pasta) or long cooking (sauces, soups). That's just the nature of slow food, and it is worth it.

The book opens with an explanation of what a well-stocked pantry for Italian cooking should look like. The plea to use high quality ingredients and the comment about using only real cheese is made (and I agree with both as being a firm foundation for good Italian meals). There are some stories in the book and some explanations about some of the food such as telling about her visit to the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese making factory which make this an enjoyable read not just a book of recipes.

The book is hardbound and high quality. The pages are sewn into signatures which are longer lasting than binding with just glue. The pages are thick and glossy (and not see through). There are a lot of full color, full page photographs that tempt me into wanting to make everything. The ingredients are in decent sized font down the margin edge for easy reference with the directions taking up most of the page. The over 200 recipes span 450 pages which makes this a hefty book.

Mary Ann Esposito has over twenty cookbooks on the market but this is the first book of hers that I've read. I enjoyed Ciao Italia Family Classics so much that I am curious about her prior publications. Esposito is the host of the PBS cooking show by the same name - Ciao Italia which boasts as being the longest running cooking show on television.

I highly recommend this book for slow food cooks who want to know how to make classic Italian dishes and to learn some new twists using classic Italian food staples.

I rate this book 5 stars = I Love It.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars "Family Classics" = tasty recipes March 8, 2012

By A. Stein VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Length: 1:47 Mins

I was so excited to receive this book that I didn't wait very long to start cooking. First of all, I really enjoy the family stories that Mary Ann writes. I felt so connected that it invited me to cook these classic meals.

As I flipped the pages, I began to mark the recipes of the pictures that looked delicious. My family was anxiously waiting for the first attempt.

I have put together a video with pictures of the 12 recipes that I tried. In the video I only show the meal and page so here are the notes to each one of them. They appear in the order cooked.

- Spinach Pasta: Very easy to make. Very pretty color and delicious. The picture shows different shapes of pasta. I hope it is clear on how much it yields. I set the book just behind it to have a perspective on size.

- Cheese cylinders: Probably my favorite antipasti ever! They were absolutely delicious. The flavor of the marinated beans combines so perfectly with the cheese. I have to say that the amount is a bit too big for one. Teen daughter and I shared one. Another side note is that the recipe is not written correctly. It states that you need 2 ˝ cups of cheese, then use ˝ cup to make the first cheese cylinder. After that it says: "make 5 more". The total should make 6 cylinders, uh? I know it's not a big deal but you need to be sure you have the right amount of cheese. I was afraid to burn the cheese so I took it off the skillet a bit too soon. I'll brown it a bit more next time.

- WW Spaghetti with tuna: Nice and filling. The recipe calls for 4 oz of pasta per person. That's too much for us. Most of us in our family can only eat 2 oz and even my husband only eats 3 oz if the pasta is our main dish. The flavor is very good though.

- Frittata: Very simple and easy to make. I did not flip it over like she recommends, but broil the top in the oven. I added some sausage to make a hearty brunch. It was delicious.

- White Sauce: Very basic. You can play with it a lot to enhance flavor. I really liked it. I mixed it with other pastas, shredded chicken, and made a terrific lunch with garlic bread.

- Baked Ziti: The flavor of the meatballs is the best part of it. As the picture shows, the yield of sauce does not seem to be accurate. The book picture shows way more sauce than what I ended up with. It was delicious but again, I ended up with leftover pasta which made a next day lunch (I added more sauce).

- Russian Salad: Very pretty and tasty. Simple to make. Maybe the hardest part is to guess how much salt and pepper you want! Very good and very appealing to the eye.

- Fritters: Tasty and simple: The picture shows half of the recipe.

- Hazelnut Cookies: It tastes more like a butter cookie than anything else. This recipe was a bit off in the amount of cookies and instructions. It states that you should put the cookies ˝ inch apart. Some of them I put to almost 1 inch and they melted together (you can see in the picture that some of them look almost square). Also, it says to use a teaspoon and that you would end up with 2 ˝ dozen cookies. I used a teaspoon scooper and ended up with 47 cookies! Next time I probably would add some flavoring like chocolate hazelnut extract. Oh and the recipe does not call for salt. It needs it.

- Lamb stew: I am always looking for ways to cook lamb since we buy a whole lamb every year. This meal was very good maybe a bit lemony to eat by itself. We ended up pouring it on top of rice. Now it was good. I wish they had some kind of advice of how to combine some of their meals for the average non-Italian. :)

Overall, I think this book has a few hiccups in the writing part but the recipes taste pretty good. As you cook and bake, you might end up adjusting according to your family needs. It is fun to try new things and my family really enjoyed the different flavors. I hope this review is helpful.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Traditional recipes from an experienced hand January 27, 2012

By Federico (Fred) Moramarco VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Mary Ann Esposito describes herself as "both a traditionalist and a minimalist" so it's nbot surprising that this cookbook is filled with traditional Italian family recipes prepared with a minimum of fuss and "gourmetization." There are ask quite distinctive recipes here such as Baked Sardinian Bread and Cheese Soup (a Sardinian version of panzanella, a classic Italian peasant dish), Molded Fava Bean and Parmegiano-Reggiano cheese salad, Roasted Sea Bass with Fennel, Oranges and Olives and more, but I found myself drawn to the more basic and familiar Italian dishes: Sicilian meatballs, Classic Risotto Milanese, Lasagna Verde Bolognese, Neopolitan style steak, and a wonderful recipe from her grandmother, Nonna Saponto's Egg Plant Rolls, which is a nice variation of eggplant parmesan. Esposito, the dust jacket tells us, is the host of America's longest running cooking show and she has written a dozen cookbooks, so you can be sure you are getting recipes from an experienced hand, who knows her way around Italian cooking. This is an important addition to my already overflowing collection of Italian cookbooks.