Customer Reviews

The Italian Slow Cooker

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After spending a mouthwatering hour perusing this wonderful cookbook my wife and I went out and bought a slow cooker. Easy and delicious stocks, soups and a splendid turkey bolognese sauce were our first efforts. We will be soon be on to other sauces, vegetables, stews and desserts.

Michele Scicolone's instructions are always accurate and easy to follow. Her invention and taste sense make this book a total delight.

I have to admit I'm a great fan of Michele Scicolone. I got one of her cookbooks long ago, baked the best cookie I've ever had, and have been addicted to her wonderful recipes, stories and style ever since. This book continues her tradition of crafting perfect cookbooks. Why do I say perfect? Well, I'm not a professional cook, yet I can follow her recipes and create fantastic meals. Many cookbooks have recipes that are tricky or simply don't come out at all. Michele's books are totally trustworthy. Her recipes work flawlessly, deliciously. I just opened my copy of Italian Slow Cooker, found the recipe for Chicken Ragu, and looked at the outside temperature. It's only 10 degrees above zero in the Catskills, but I'm tasting her ragu tonight and the world is warm and comfy.

I recommend this book to everyone.

Brian O'Rourke

I got this book for christmas and just love it! I am a pretty experienced cook and have been looking for a good crockpot cookbook that does not call for a can of cream of mushroom soup and frozen chicken breasts, but that also uses ingredients I would have in house. Had the cauliflower and potato soup tonight and even my "meat and potato" 15 year old son admitted it was pretty good! Also, made the beef barolo over the weekend, one of the best pot roasts I have had in a long time. Looking forward to trying more! Great book!

These long winter months are a great time to use that slow cooker your received as a gift, or to dig it out of a cabinet. Hearty stews and hot soups are delicious, comforting meals for cold evenings.

For my money, this is the most enticing slow cooker cookbook out there right now. The author, Michele Scicolone, is well-known as an Italian cookbook writer. Italian cuisine, with its soups and stews and other braised dishes, is well suited to the low, steady heat of the slow cooker.

Unlike the majority of slow cooker cookbooks out there, this one does not use highly-processed shortcuts of dubious origin like condensed cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix or pre-mixed spice packets. The results are far more flavorful and authentic.

Hint: For those of you with crockpots that don't have a programmable timer, you can buy a programmable electric outlet timer that will cut off the power to an outlet after a set time, so the food won't be overcooked.

This is a WONDERFUL cookbook! I have made most of the recipes in it and have enjoyed each one. They come out delicious (not the grey mush that most crock pot recipes turn into) and are relatively easy. I also like that they don't all need a million ingredients. A lot of these recipes use things you likely already have on hand. TWO THUMBS UP!

I bought this book in hopes it would have real recipes with out using canned soup or the dump method of slow cooker cooking. I don't mind a bit of up front work if the dish comes out tasting like I had spent all day on it. This book fills the bill. Great pictures, which I love, great recipes with easy to follow instructions for those first time cooks. I also love any details about a recipe, where it came from, what to serve it with, and such. I have made the Italin Peppery Stew with tons of black pepper and served it over the Italian White Beans and both recipe were wonderful. My family loved how the stew was different and the beans were an unexpected surprise. We loved them. I would place this recipe right up there with Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon which I have made twice now.
People who want to make a recipe and not spend time creating it will always dislike recipes that have details. But the details are the "devel in the details" if you will. Browning the meat before you place it in the crock pot makes a huge flavor and texture difference in the end product. I want my dinner to have depth of flavor and character.
I encourage you to take the time and recreate these recipes and make your family a wonderful sit down meal they will not forget.

There are several imaginative recipes in this book. Cooking an entire chicken and then having great meat for chicken salads and other uses is a great idea. I've always simmered it on top of the stove, but that requires my attention. The polenta works well. I haven't tried the risotto yet - maybe this weekend. . . The lamb shanks with beans and gremolata currently my family's favorite.

Some have complained that the recipes are not just 'dump and run' and require some prep time. This is true. The prep time is rarely more than 5 minutes. If you don't do them, the food will still be good and nourishing, it will just miss being pretty by being browned and some of the deeper flavors won't develop. Decide whether 5 mins or enhanced flavor is important to you and go with it.

I was given this cookbook because I love Italian food and love the ease of the slow cooker; but I must have other prerequisites for what I consider the main purpose of a slow cooker's easy cooking than what this author does; despite the statement on the back cover;" Plug it in, walk away and cook like an Italian grandmother". I really love to cook but to me a slow cooker is for, yes slow cooking but the wonderful ease of plopping ingredients in and coming back hours later to a satisfying meal, and the front cover says easy - which does not lead my mind to think of multiple preparations. That is not what most of these recipes are, so if your ideal of what a slow cooker's purpose is; just know before you get this book, that out of the total 113 recipes I counted, 53 require you to get out the skillet first and cook or brown food before you put it in. That includes more than chicken, which many say they would rather brown first; or browning-cooking onions. Personally, the chickens I have done in a slow cooker have been fine without the browning first, so I was shocked to see so many recipes say get out the skillet; and that doesn't count the ones that said " in a saucepan cook....".
The book is very tightly bound and I had a hard time getting it to lie flat. I had to weight it with canisters on each side. The recipes are one to a page and there are quite a few pictures.
It contains recipes for: soups, sauces for pasta, risotto, polenta, grains, seafood, eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, veal, pork, lamb, vegetables, dried legumes and desserts.
So, just know that this is not the typical throw it in and let it slow cook book. The food is good and it's nice to have that slow cooker bubbling away keeping things warm; but for most recipes in here you are going to have to do some extra preparation.

Saturday:
I am an experienced home cook, and have made risotto the old-fashioned way countless times with 100% success. If you're looking for creamy, al dente risotto made with a slow cooker, avoid the Risotto with Calamari recipe! After the specified 1 1/2 hours of slow cooking on high, the risotto absorbed maybe half of the liquid. It was definitely NOT DONE. I could have left it in the slow cooker for an unspecified amount of time and hoped for the best. Instead, I strained out all of the rice and onion and transferred into a pan and finished it up like nonna, adding small amounts of the cooking liquid and stirring until the rice released its starch and plumped up and became creamy. It took about ten minutes. I then added the calamari, tomatoes, and parsley to the pan, and cooked until the liquid was incorporated. Almost perfecto. I would have also salted the cooking liquid earlier in order for the calamari to absorb the flavor. I also may have substituted fish stock or clam juice for some of the water--again, in order to add some flavor. I'll try some other recipes from this book, but will stay clear of the risotto recipes.

Sunday:
Made the Spareribs and Italian Sausage recipe. Absolutely marvelous and couldn't have been easier to make. A real winner.

This is one great cookbook. The recipes are easy to read and follow, and the final product is awesome. What I like the most is that they require very little in prep time and are very fast to do for people who work outside of the home. You do not have to sacrifice taste for speed. The recipes include are for: soups, sauces for pasta, risotto, polenta, grains, seafood, eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, veal, pork, lamb, vegetables, dried legumes and desserts.

Some of the recipes that I tried were: Creamy Cauliflower and Potato Soup (page 21), Pasta Fagioli -- my husband's favorite (page 35), Mussel, Saffron, and Fennel Stew -- takes a longer time (page 100), and Pesto Chicken (page 125).

All the recipes turned out delicious and I am not a great cook (but I can follow recipes). About half the recipes require a longer prep time but I thought that it was worth it since they turned out very good. I highly recomend this cookbook for everyone.
The Italian Slow Cooker