Customer Reviews

Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent cookbook for creating simple pasta meals that are a little adventurous and very tasty. The author has several sections - vegetarian dishes, seafood dishes, and meat dishes - with enough recipes in each section to make this a very usable book no matter what your eating habits. That is, unless you've gone gluten free. Even then, I suppose you could use this book with non-gluten pastas.

Another thing I like about this book is that the recipe requirements are not out of the ordinary. I tried the pasta alia puttanesca bianca and I had all the ingredients. I also had all the ingredients on hand for several other meals. I think this is a great book for a quick, delicious meal on a busy night or even if you're having company over.

Thirty Minute Pasta is the perfect "quick fix" addition to Giuliano Hazan's excellent Italian cookbook collection. A beautiful book that is easy to use. I liked the layout and the pictures. It is good as a primer as well as for the seasoned cook. I used the the helpful Pasta Pantry section to update my own inventory. The three-page primer on pasta covers which pasta shapes work with which sauces, and why. I used the Ideal Pairings info to find recipes for whatever pasta I had on hand. There are some quick versions of classics, like Spaghetti Carbonara and Tagliatelle with a Quick and Simple Meat Sauce, as well as new combos like Penne with Fresh Tuna and a Saffon Cream Sauce, and Farfalle with Fresh Salmon. My favorite recipe in the book is Linquine with a Pink Shrimp Sauce. The mixture of chopped as well as whole shrimp gives the sauce a wonderful consistency and helps make the intensify the flavor.

Giuliano Hazan's newest cookbook delivers what it promises - and more. With just a few ingredients and these simple preparations, you truly can make trattoria-quality pasta in only half an hour. The bonus: these dishes will have everyone at your table ooo-ing, aah-ing, and thinking you've spent hours cooking for them.

Hazan's teaching skills are evident in his clear, concise recipes, making this a perfect book for cooks just learning the beauty of genuine Italian cooking. But, it's even better for old cooks (like me) who want to stir up a delicious Italian dinner in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta.

The photos are simply beautiful, the pasta and pantry info is concise and thorough, and each recipe includes interesting notes on the dish's history and ingredients. My favorites so far: Fettucine with a Savory Veal Sauce, Linguine with a Pink Shrimp Sauce, and Fettucine with Spring Vegetables (good in any season). I use this book several times a week, and can't wait to try all 100 recipes - a real challenge, since I can't stop repeating my favorites!

By Bill Marsano. Giuliano Hazan's latest book, which follows his "Classic Pasta Cookbook", "Every Night Italian", and "How to Cook Italian", serves two widely separated audiences. One is the younger crowd, new to cooking, pressed for time and dependent on take-out. With this book and a little encouragement they can learn to feed themselves at home with better food and save a bundle at least twice a week--while loving what they eat. Own up, Take-Out Junkies: don't you sometimes--often--dread looking at those menus and trying to find something you want to order? And aren't you a little embarrassed by your dependency? This book is your ticket to freedom--don't miss it. The other audience is experienced cooks--folks who know their way around a kitchen because they cook often and well. There are plenty of useful reminders of pastas past for them (this book will be like a refresher course), and they'll doubtless find new dishes as well. (For my part, Hazan changed my mind about vegetarian dishes.)

There's good basic stuff in here, too--the primer on pasta shapes and the sauces that go best with them
will be useful to anyone including those (like me) who reflexively choose certain shapes (such as penne rigate and
spaghetti/spaghettini) and don't think about trying others. There's advice on cooking equipment and stocking your pantry so you'll always be ready, too. Hazan has his own cooking school in Verona, which means that lovely northeastern Italy city has another attraction besides opera in the Colosseum and the "Romeo and Juliet" story, and it demonstrates the essential seriousness that underlies his gently and encouraging teaching manner. For my money, that's nowhere better expressed in this book than in his making the distinction between "parmesan" and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which is the difference between grated pencil erasers and the King of Cheeses. Do as Hazan says--dress your pasta with the real McCoy--and you'll be grateful. He's a thinking cook, too. Most recipes for, say, pasta with shrimp sauce, call for cooking the pasta and then adding whole shrimp. Very good, but Hazan's Linguine with Shrimp calls for both whole shrimp--which provide visual appeal and bursts of flavor--with chopped shrimp, which integrate sauce and pasta into a single splendid whole.

Oh--there's a third audience for this book: Real Cooks. Real Cook are those marvelous people we lesser cooks aspire to be, the ones who don't need cookbooks because they simply root around in the kitchen for a few minutes getting ideas as they go, then throw together in a matter of minutes a dish they just made up but is delicious anyway. They should buy this book and give it to their friends--especially to Take-Out Victims.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning writer on wine, spirits and travel who goes to Italy often and always returns with a suitcase full of local pasta.

When it comes to Italian cuisine, learn from the very best teacher...Giuliano's heritage truly shines in this cookbook full of versatile recipes suitable for quick family meals or entertaining friends. There are plenty of vegetarian options, and I'd bet these recipes have been kid-tested since Giuliano has two young daughters. Best of all, these recipes are cost effective, healthy and require simple ingredients, so they're easy to make without lots of planning (so long as you properly stock your pasta pantry - Giuliano provides a helpful guide in this book). Buon appetito!

Great book,filled with simple, elegant, and appealing recipes meant to be accessible to busy cooks. Most can be assembled in the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta.
I like his approach to recipes which is relaxed and no-nonsense. He says, "Recipes sometimes make cooking-which should be a spontaneous and fluid activity-into a disjointed one. One of the principal culprits is the need to stop and measure." To avoid this, most of his recipes list onions by half or quarter, rather than number of tablespoons, or garlic by the clove instead of teaspoon. This is a method with which I heartily agree.
Many of the recipes have no more than 5 or 6 ingredients including the pasta. If you've ever eaten pasta in Italy, you'll know this is how most pasta there is served; in a simple preparation showcasing the freshness of the ingredients.
The book is lushly photographed. I admit to being someone who at times, chooses a recipe based on a picture, just like I may sometimes choose a wine based on a label. I am only human after all. Cookbooks written like a textbook are fine, and I have many like that, but when I'm looking for a meal inspiration, I like photos. I think this cookbook is perfect for someone just learning how to cook and looking for ideas and instruction. The recipes aren't complicated and I'd recommend it to my friend who always says to me "I only know how to cook 8 things."
If you'd like to read more of my review, or see how I made one of the recipes (Fusilli with Butternut Squash), please check out my blog post; [...]

Newcomers to Italy or Italian cuisine are often surprised at how few ingredients it takes to make a truly memorable pasta sauce. Guiliano Hazan's new cookbook provides 100 recipes using just this formula: a few good,fresh ingredients brought together in about the time it takes to heat the water and boil the pasta. I love the linguine with pink shrimp sauce; it alone is worth the price of admission--and it doesn't stop there by a long shot! Many of the recipes call for fresh tomatoes which concerned me at first as summer has gone. Not to worry. I got a bag of the available ones at the supermarket, and they tasted delicious when cooked according to the recipes which often have you adding them last to the sauce. I have tried several of the vegetarian recipes and found every one of them scrumptious as a either the main course or a fabulous side dish with a meat or fish dish. Since I am an English teacher as well as a foodie, I need to tell you that this cookbook is very beautifully laid out, the photographs are striking, and the author/chef's voice is authentic and engaging. What more can I say. You must get a copy, try some and get ready for the compliments.

I just ordered the Thirty Minute Pasta, sight unseen, because I have enjoyed Giuliano Hazan's "The Classic Pasta Cookbook" more than any other cookbook I have owned. I've given it as a gift many times. It's always on my kitchen counter. I learned the American way to cook Italian food from my Mom and Grandmom. I learned the Italian way to cook Italian food from Hazan; simple, fresh, pure ingredients. This guy is good.

This cookbook has lots of reasonable recipes that are delicious. I have cooked 5 of the recipes successfully and I'm not an avid cook. Only complaint is some of the recipes call for too much salt. Since I'm not an experienced cook I follow the recipe exactly. I'm learning how to judge if the salt is too much for me and my family.

I bought this book almost as an afterthought. I have been pleasantly surprised. First of all it is beautiful with great photos. The print is contrasted well on quality paper and easy to read. The recipes are gourmet and imaginative, yet simple with commonly found ingredients. All of the recipes I have tried so far have been quick (less than an hour) and tasty.

I would highly recommend this book.