The New Lasagna Cookbook: A Crowd-Pleasing Collection of Recipes from Around the World for the Perfect One-Dish Meal [Hardcover]

Maria Bruscino Sanchez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2008

Maria Bruscino Sanchez has a secret: she’s just wild about lasagna. She just can’t get enough of that hearty deep-dish Italian favorite, stuffed with juicy fillings, sauced to perfection and bubbling over with cheesy goodness. But she also knows she’s not alone. In The New Lasagna Cookbook, Maria gives every lasagna lover their heart’s desire. She has scoured the world for inspiration to create a book brimming with delectable lasagna triumphs from traditional versions to classics with a twist to new-wave, meat and vegetarian varieties. Tempt the taste buds with such crowd-pleasers as Lasagne Quattro Formaggi, Artichoke and Spinach Lasagna, Pulled Pork Barbecue Lasagna, and many others. Completing the book with starters and salads, as well as some delicious desserts, Sanchez provides the tasty blueprint for a meal bursting with flavor for every craving. Her easy-to-follow and engaging style gives beginning cooks an excellent primer on lasagna basics while seasoned kitchen veterans will find themselves joining her on a culinary trip around the world. Perfect for family dinners big and small, as well as the best answer to the perennial question "What should I bring?” The New Lasagna Cookbook is destined to become a well-worn classic on the shelf of home cooks everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While the trend of single-subject cookbooks continues, one might still question an entire volume dedicated to the seemingly simple dish, lasagna. Luckily for home cooks, this title isn't just gimmick. Bruscino Sanchez, owner of Sweet Maria's bakery in Connecticut and author of multiple Sweet Maria's cookbooks, goes beyond sugar and flour in her latest collection. Straightforward, well-organized recipes are divided into easy-to-follow numbered steps (most fewer than 10), guiding even the amateur through a hearty one-dish meal. The Classic Lasagnas chapter includes just what it promises with crowd-pleasing selections such as Lasagna Bolognese and Vegetarian Lasagna. While the New Flavors chapter showcases creative gems (Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Lasagna, and Lobster Lasagna with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce), international flavor–inspired dishes such as Chinese Pork and Scallion Lasagna, and Middle Eastern Lasagna, and a surprising Breakfast Lasagna feel like a bit of a stretch, trying to cover all flavor bases. Short, yet worthy, chapters on Starters, Salads and Dressings and Desserts make it possible to create a balanced, three-course meal from this concise and upbeat title. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal

Sanchez, the owner of Sweet Maria's bakery in Waterbury, CT, and the author of Sweet Maria's Italian Desserts and two other baking books, here switches to savory dishes, with 75 recipes for lasagna and variations on the theme, as well as appetizers, salads, and a few desserts. The lasagna recipes are grouped into "classics" and "new flavors," but some of them don't really seem like lasagna: Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Lasagna, for example, made with bread instead of noodles, seems more like a strata. Some of the recipe instructions are a bit confusing, and the recipes for starters and salads are fairly ordinary. An optional purchase.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (September 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312367821
• ISBN-13: 978-0312367824
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #61 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Pasta

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the price of admission, April 10, 2009

By 

R. Walker "pseudo-savant" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Lasagna Cookbook: A Crowd-Pleasing Collection of Recipes from Around the World for the Perfect One-Dish Meal (Hardcover)

I love lasagna, and I wanted to love THE NEW LASAGNA COOKBOOK. That's why I don't enjoy giving this book a mediocre rating. I just don't find many inspiring lasagna recipes in the book. I've had this book several months, and it is not one of those cookbooks I reach for when I want to try something new and delicious. For that matter, it's not a cookbook I reach for when I need help with a delicious classic, either.

The book jacket states there are recipes for 75 "lasagna variations," which is a bald-face, uh, inaccuracy. There are 51 lasagna recipes, several of which are actually not lasagna. For example, a baked rigatoni recipe named "Lazy Lasagna" is counted as lasagna as are several non-lasagna casseroles. (I guess if you name it "lasagna," you can include it in your lasagna cookbook regardless of the ingredients.) There are three fresh pasta recipes and five recipes for various sauces and fillings that are used repeatedly in the lasagna recipes. The remaining recipes have nothing to do with lasagna (that's about one-fourth if you're keeping count. And I did. :-) ) Several of the non-lasagna recipes look delicious; I'm just noting that they are not lasagna!

The book includes one of my least favorite cookbook tactics. There are only eight pictures (all color), and they are grouped together in the middle of the book. It's hard to believe that they did this for cost savings because one of the biggest strikes against this book is the value. It actually cost me more than several other cookbooks I own that contain dozens more recipes and color pictures.

For me, the most interesting recipe in the book is actually a family salad dressing recipe. In fact, a quick search on the term "lasagna" on any of my favorite free recipe Web sites delivered better results (in quantity and interest) than this book provides, unfortunately. It just isn't worth the cost. Lesson learned: no more single-subject cookbooks.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some recipe gems, but also a lot of filler, July 31, 2009

By 

Chicago Book Addict (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Lasagna Cookbook: A Crowd-Pleasing Collection of Recipes from Around the World for the Perfect One-Dish Meal (Hardcover)

If you're interested in this cookbook I imagine that it's because you, like me, are a lasagna lover. Perhaps you also share my interest in finding recipes beyond the standard that include fusion flavors or unique ingredients. Because of this The New Lasagna Cookbook: A Crowd-Pleasing Collection of Recipes from Around the World for the Perfect One-Dish Meal was very appealing. Unfortunately my experiences with the cookbook have not quite lived up to my expectations.

On a positive note, there are a lot of interesting lasagna recipes in here ranging from the more traditional to fusion such as a short rib lasagna that uses tortillas instead of noodles. There were also quite a few vegetarian lasagnas as well as ones that could easily be made vegetarian. I also appreciated that the author provided recipes for fresh pasta. Most of them are similar to what you would find in a pasta or Italian cookbook like The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles so if you have a lot of cookbooks these may not be new or novel to you. However they are helpful if you would prefer to refer to only one book.

As much as I like a lot of the lasagna recipes in this book I do have a few complaints that keep it from being a 5-star review. The first is that there seems to be a lot of what I would consider filler in this book. We get recipes for salads and desserts that are not lasagna in any way. Granted, it's nice to be able to round out the meal but if I were looking for Italian salad and dessert recipes I would turn to a general Italian cookbook rather than one specific to lasagna. Also, calling some of the recipes in this book lasagna seems like a stretch. The most glaring example is her breakfast lasagna which is pretty much a strata, a dessert that uses puff pastry, and some dishes that are basically just baked pasta casseroles.

I also would have liked a little bit more background on lasagna. She does give some general tips on successful lasagna making but I would have also liked to hear more about the history of the dish and perhaps even about the differences between Italian lasagna and Italian American lasagna. She also gives some interesting recipes with international flare and it would be nice to know if these are fusion recipes she created herself or recipes that are actually traditional to the country, perhaps under a different name.

Overall this is an okay book. It has some unique recipes that I will definitely make, but overall it's the kind of cookbook I would check out from the library and cook from rather than keeping for my collection. I would instead recommend a book like The Complete Book of Pasta and Noodles. It's not lasagna specific but does have some great lasagna recipes as well as a wealth of other delicious pasta recipes and tips. This is a book that is definitely worth previewing before buying.

5.0 out of 5 stars good cooking, January 11, 2012

By 

Brigitte Burns "Joyfulness" (Westminster, Ca. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Lasagna Cookbook: A Crowd-Pleasing Collection of Recipes from Around the World for the Perfect One-Dish Meal (Hardcover)

This a great cook book for someone who has never prepared lasagna before. Easy recipes to prepare and great to eat.