Customer Reviews

Festa del Giardino; A harvest of recipes and family memories

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This is a wonderful cookbook, chock full of fresh from the garden recipes that have pleased my family. From soups, to slads, and other vegetarian dishes, this book reads like a dream! The history the author shares about her family is heartwarming, and any Italian/Sicilian family will relate to it whole heartedly. I enthusiastically reccommend this cookbook to anyone who loves fresh wholesome foods. I have given it to many friends and relatives, and everyone has enjoyed it immensly! Hats off to Sally! This is a quality cookbook you will turn to over and over again.

A lovely cookbook - just the kind I look for to find simple recipes and lots of inspiration. Ms. Maraventano has captured a perfect balance between memoir and cookbook. I bought it because it promised lots of practical uses for the great summer bounty of Jersey vegetables -- tomotoes, zucchini, basil, etc. I found that and much, much more. Each recipe has a simple introduction that reminded me of my own Italian family. It's the collection of recipes I wish I'd kept myself. Whether for a summer supper of beautiful vegetables or for a cozy, "safe from the storm" pasta dish that I associate with fall evenings, I found comfort, nostalgia and the desire to cook in "Festa Del Giardino." Go out and buy it! Enjoy summer. Enjoy fall. Every season. Enjoy life!

I love this book - it has wonderful personal appeal and great recipes. I was forever looking for good Italian vegetable recipes and this is the best book of them I have found.

Simple, healthy foods. Very easy to prepare. Very good soup recipes. Give this book a try I know you will enjoy!

My wife and I were paging through your cookbook last night and she remarked that your recipes are exactly how we eat. Your prelude left me with a tear in my eye and a nostalgic longing for my extended family and family dinners in Brooklyn and Queens, where I grew up. I'm really afraid that unless our generation holds on to some of those traditions they will be lost in 25 years.

Sally Maraventano drew from her own Italian family history to showcase 125 delicious and healthy recipes for Festa del Giardino: A Harvest Of Recipes And Family Memories. All of these recipes are prepared without animal fats and are arranged in a classic Italian menu format, including antipasti, first course, main course, side dishes, and desserts. From Insalata Mista (Mixed Green Salad with Oil and Vinegar Dressing); to Pappardelle con Salsa alle Verdure (Wide Ribbon Pasta with Hearty Vegetable Sauce); to Pizza alle Melanzane (Spicy Eggplant Pizza); to Polenta alla Pizzaiola (Cornmeal Squares with Spicy Tomato Sauce), these are truly wonderful, "kitchen friendly" dishes that would grace any table and satisfy any appetite.

The artwork and the recipes take me to Italy! I keep this cookbook displayed on a shelf above my baking center to remind me of my own fever for Italy. It's a perfect selection for an "Italian" gift basket.

I have used a sign in my kitchen that read "This kitchen is closed due to illness. I am sick of cooking!" Since receiving my copy of "Festa del Giardino" the sign has been removed. I have many favorites in your book. A stand by and regular in my kitchen is "Fusilli alla Primavara." It is a marvelous Spring recipe, but I use it year round with whatever fresh vegetables I can find in the market. The vegetarian in my family compliments me every time I serve it as well as any company I prepare it for. The soups are great too. Thank you for sharing your family memories and especially their recipes with me and my family.

I love it. The memories, the recipes all brought me back to my own childhood.