Ciao Italia Pronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen [Hardcover]

Mary Ann Esposito (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2005

What could be better than an authentic Italian dinner like this that takes only thirty minutes to prepare?

Little Ciabatta Toasts with Ricotta and Salami
Skillet Breaded Pork Chops with Rosemary
Cherry Tomatoes with Leeks and Thyme
Dried Figs in Red Wine


From years of cooking in her Ciao Italia television kitchen, Mary Ann Esposito understands what many people with busy lives, as well as those just beginning to learn their way around the kitchen, want to know: How do I prepare an authentic Italian meal without spending hours in the kitchen? In Ciao Italia, Pronto!, Mary Ann shows everyone how to prepare an authentic Italian meal in thirty minutes with more than eighty mouthwatering recipes from the entire gamut of Italian cuisine. She's gathered together a treasure trove of antipasti, soups, pasta dishes, main courses, vegetable side dishes, pizzas, calzones, and deserts that make easy and delicious meals for family and friends. Besides recipes for dishes like quick chicken cacciatore, macaroni with a rich lamb sauce or Cornish game hens with tomatoes and potatoes, Mary Ann shares her how-tos of cooking Italian quickly and authentically:

· how to maximize your time in the grocery store

· how to create a Pronto! pantry filled with staples

· how to have a cooking plan and multitask as the preparation gets underway

· how to get several meals out of a single preparation

· how to use seasonal fruits and vegetables to greatest effect.


For good measure, Mary Ann adds a dozen Pronto! menus to show readers how to combine the dishes, as well as a select list of mail order and online sources for specialty items. So, instead of bringing home fast food or prepared frozen dishes from the grocery story, involve the whole family, spend thirty minutes with Mary Ann, and bring a little la dolce vita---as Italians would say, "the good life"--- to your kitchen. Without fuss or bother, Mary Ann Esposito shows you how to bring an authentic taste of Italy to the table for your friends and family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After writing seven Italian cookbooks, Esposito, host of the PBS series Ciao Italia (now in its 15th season), has successfully devoted one to cooks who are time-pressed but still want to enjoy authentic Italian flavors. It covers antipasti, pasta, sauces, meats, sides, pizzas and desserts, with bolstering chapters on time-saving techniques (e.g., using leftovers effectively), stocking ingredients for the "pronto pantry" and planning menus for various occasions (most of Esposito's recipes are impressive enough for entertaining). Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Orange Marmalade Sauce manages to capture a roasted-all-day taste in 20 minutes, and would make a lovely meal when accompanied by one of Esposito's several appetizing salads. Making a large batch of the Tomato Sauce and freezing it—a favorite activity of Italian-American home cooks—proves worthwhile as it is a frequent ingredient in numerous recipes, including Lazy Lasagna, and Layered Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole. Italian food is by nature simple, and Esposito's everyday fare perfectly exemplifies that minimalism. 8-page color photo insert. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Cooks pressed for time will love Esposito's newest volume. Here she focuses on dishes that take less than half an hour to get to the table. For a super quick appetizer, Esposito stuffs dates with Parmesan cheese and nuts. Frozen prepared puff pastry makes possible tartlets filled with cheese and bits of ham. A host of pasta dishes can all be prepared very quickly. Bucatini all'Amatriciana needs only a few minutes on the stove, and any pasta with pesto needs no cooking save for the pasta itself. Esposito even constructs a speedy "lazy lasagna" using no-boil noodles. Quickly sauteed fish pick up flavor and texture from cheese and almond coating. Neapolitan Potato Pie moves quickly to table if one has some leftover mashed potatoes on hand. Store-bought bread dough makes short work of both pizzas and calzones. A food processor expedites anise cookies for a homemade dessert. As with other cookbooks promising fast-prepared food, this book assumes that one maintains a wide range of Italian foods in one's pantry and refrigerator. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (September 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312339089
• ISBN-13: 978-0312339081
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #440,377 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 20 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 11 cookbooks. Learn more about her at www.ciaoitalia.com and sample the more than 1000 recipes on her site.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More confusing than inspiring, September 30, 2007

By 

Penumbra (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ciao Italia Pronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen (Hardcover)

"Ciao Italia Pronto!" is a better cookbook in theory than in practice.

Italian food? Check! Thirty minute meals? Check! Sounds like just the thing to make a nice meal and still have some time between getting home from work and bedtime. That would be a false assumption.

American kitchens are certainly more sophisticated since the days when Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee owned the Italian cooking franchise. However, many of the ingredients called for in these recipes are still on the exotic side in my corner grocery. Sure, we have farmers markets, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, even an Italian specialty market or two but, if I have to fight traffic gridlock after work to go destination shopping for ingredients, it defeats the purpose of the Thirty Minute meal. The author recognizes this problem and provides a four page directory of mail order houses to obtain some of the required ingredients. This immediately makes about 40 percent of these recipes more trouble than they're worth.

If you do manage to find the ingredients, know that these recipes are neither simple, nor fast.

The recipe for "Lazy Lasagne" requires eight ingredients, and bakes for 30-35 minutes. That's cooking time only, and does NOT include prep time. Oh, and the tomato sauce for the lasagne is a recipe on a separate page. The sauce requires an additional eight ingredients and 20 minutes of cooking time.

Another main dish, "Fresh Tuna with Artichoke, Capers and Chickpeas," requires 12 ingredient and we're advised to make it early in the day, or a day ahead.

Some of the dishes are unfamiliar and pictures of the prepared food would have been a big help. There are only eight full page color pictures located in the center of the book, one appetizer, one soup, two main dishes, two salads, and two desserts.

If you're interested in this book for quick, convenient recipes, look elsewhere. This is far more complicated and time consuming than the advertised "....30 Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen." Not recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really good book, March 2, 2011

By 

tmp "tmp" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ciao Italia Pronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen (Kindle Edition)

I'm really surprised by the bad reviews. There is nothing wrong with this book. It's full of simple, delicious recipes that work and I don't find that the ingredients are too difficult to find. Granted, I have an extensive pantry full of Italian products so I don't have to work as hard as some because I already have most of the ingredients on hand already. That's the point though, isn't it? If you have a well-stocked pantry, you'll probably only have to get your proteins and produce. If you grow fresh herbs like I do in the summer, you'll have to work even less. She has a whole section in the beginning of the book that discusses what types of products to have on hand, and if you do, it's rather easy to whip up a meal. Maybe the book is not for people unwilling to hunt down and keep good Italian products around. I cook Italian food most of the time so for me, this book works. I find the recipes to be rather easy as well.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Spoiled by Cooking Magazines?, May 7, 2008

By 

M. Amundson "MMAmundson" (Rochester, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ciao Italia Pronto!: 30-Minute Recipes from an Italian Kitchen (Hardcover)

I subscribe to a few cooking magazines...and very much look forward to curling up on the couch and browsing for new recipe ideas. I have a dear friend who is an accomplished cook and loves authentic Italian food. After her husband was in a tragic accident, I purchsed this book in hopes of finding ideas for easy italian meals that I could bring to her family. But, I guess I just took for granted that this cookbook would live up to its name. I saw the television show, and they made it look so easy! It would help a lot if there were pictures in the book to give you some idea of what the final product should look like. The meals are neither quick, nor easy. I was very disappointed in this purchase. This book will not last long in my kitchen. Sorry!