Customer Reviews

The Italian Farmer's Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy

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The Italian Farmer's Table is more than cookbook, it's a journey through Northern Italy. The Italian Farmer's Table is a paperback cookbook measuring 8 1/2" x 8" and contains 320 pages. This cookbook contains 150 authentic recipes and local lore from different areas of Northern Italy. It has eight chapters each of which focusses on a different area in Northern Italy.



The chapters included are Liguria, Piemonte, Valle D'Aosta, Lombardia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Each of these chapters includes a beautiful colored map so you can see exactly where each area is in Northern Italy. There are several paragraphs at the front of each chapter that describe that region along with a number of beautiful photographs.



The recipe title is written in both English and Italian which lends to the exotic feel of the cookbook. Each recipe offers a list of ingredients with the measurements in both metric and U.S. equivalents. The instructions are well written and very easy to follow. There's a nice variety of types of recipes including main dishes, soups, salads and desserts.



Some of the recipes call for meats that some cooks may not be familiar using like rabbit and duck. There are a few gourmet cheeses that may be difficult for some cooks to find but substitutions (when available) are listed next to the ingredients list. Throughout the cookbook, there are a number of discussions of wines of the region. The photograhs included are not only of the dishes themselves but of the area farms, kitchens, produce and animals.



The 150 authentic recipes include: Swiss Chard and Ricotta Tarts, Fried Butternut Squash Ravioli, Lavender Encrusted Chicken with Pancetta, Rabbit with Olives and Pine Nuts, Frozen Chocolate Ricotta Cream Cake, Carpaccio with Gorgonzola Sauce, Pears and Walnuts and many more succulent appetizers, side dishes, main courses and desserts!



This cookbook is easily a collector's item. The Italian Farmer's Table will wow you for not only the photograhps and articles but for the scrumptous Italian recipes it offers. It's one of those cookbooks I curl up in a chair with to read.

I recently devoted a day to preparing a 6 course meal from this cookbook for a dear friend and his family whose roots are from this region. While I was a little nervous about throwing a dinner party with recipes I had never tested or tried I am happy to report that it was a great success. The recipes were easy to follow and all were delicious. This is a great addition to anyone's culinary library. Thanks Matt and Melissa for sharing your story. I hope your future plans include a trip to another region of Italy and another volume of equally special recipes.

I had put The Italian Farmer's Table on to my wishlist and kept longingly looking at it, wondering if it would be worth purchasing or not. I finally bit the bullet and was pleasantly surprised when it arrived at my home. Being of Northern Italian descent, I was not only enamored by the beautiful photographs, but the intimate stories and cherished recipes that these agriturismos shared with the authors. I have always wanted a core group of recipes from the region that my family descends, but it is difficult finding them online. With this book, you are afforded variety and substance with the many recipes they provide; there really is something for everyone. I am looking forward to making my way through all of the recipes in this book.

If you are a fan of travel, authentic recipes, beautiful photographs and endearing stories and lore, please pick up this book. It is well worth purchasing and makes a great addition to any home library.

this is a very unique cookbook. we have already made the vegetable strudel several times and everyone who has tried it loves it. the photos in the book are spectacular and truly capture the beauty of italy. cannot wait to try more delicious recipes from this authentic book!

I purchased this book almost 2 years ago and find myself returning to it again and again for not only the original farm-to-table recipes, but for simple inspiration. The beautiful full-page photographs and stories of the farms, food, and people are enticing on their own. But the delicious and easy-to-deliver recipes are what really keep me coming back. The instructions are detailed and very user-friendly. In the recipe for Vegetable Soup with Ditalini Pasta, the first paragraph alone addresses how to cut, blanch and peel a plum tomato. I've made this soup for my son's school a couple of times and received many great reviews (the secret, I believe, is in the addition of the rind from the Parmigiano Reggiano). I've also had great success with the Chocolate and Ricotta Tart, and the Barley with Dried Porcini Mushrooms -- a simple, healthy, original dish that even my seven year-old loves!

In originality and usefulness, "The Italian Farmer's Table" far surpasses all of the traditional pasta-filled Italian cookbooks on my shelf. The authors are gifted culinary instructors and storytellers and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to cook up an authentic Italian homestyle dish, or simply enjoy (with a glass of chianti!) a colorful tour through the farms of the Northern Italian countryside.

This book took the authors all through Italy while they gathered new, exciting, and authentic recipes, most of which I have never seen the likes of. I wish I could have traveled this Italian trail and experienced these recipes first hand. If had to keep only five of my one hundred cook books, mostly Italian, this would be one of them.

You can't imagine how many cookbooks I have read and I must say that the authors truely dedicated their life to publishing an outstanding authentic Italian recipe book. This is the first time I have ever wrote a review on Amazon but I was so impressed with the recipes I had to let everyone know. DO NOT HESITATE TO BUY THIS COOKBOOK WELL WORTH THE MONEY...REALLY!

Great cookbook have tried several recipies and they work. My roots are from there and I can testify to their authenticity.

I would highly recomend this book

































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I had the pleasure of meeting Matt & Melissa at a recent event. Their enthusiasm for and knowledge of Italy is contagious. Beautiful photographs, taken by the authors, combined with the wonderful recipes and stories about the farms and regions they visited, make this a memorable cookbook.

After a spectacular trip to Italy this fall, where I enjoyed authentic and, in some cases, medieval Italian food (recipes from the 13th to 17th centuries) I searched for a way to replicate the culinary experience. The Italian Farmer's Table was the book recommended, and it is a winner. Besides giving recipes from soups to desserts, it also includes basic recipes such as gnocchi and pasta. And for foods not found or difficult to find outside of Italy (such as wild boar or a regional wine), the authors recommend substitutions. My goal is to try every recipe in the book! Bravissimo!