The Italian Slow Cooker [Kindle Edition]

Michele Scicolone (Author)

Book Description

Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a best-selling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food. Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.

 

Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description
Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a best-selling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual "crockpot" fare into the dimension of fine food. Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.

Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, "stir-crazy" dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

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Recipe Excerpts from The Italian Slow Cooker

Chicken Parmesan Heroes

The Butcher's Sauce

Chocolate Truffle Cake

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From Publishers Weekly

Scicolone (The Sopranos Family Cookbook) turns her attention to the slow cooker (or crockpot) for preparing homey Italian dishes. In this accessible cookbook, she presents unintimidating recipes (which often suggest the ingredients simmer around 165 degrees for six to eight hours) that serve up hearty dishes with a minimum of fuss. The wide variety of main dishes—seafood, meats, veggies and legumes—and corresponding soups and sauces, capitalize on the flavor that only slow-cooked food can deliver. The sauces are the book's standouts, with recipes for ragus made with chunky pork shoulder or spicy Tuscan sausage, for example. She also includes recipes for a creamy polenta with gorgonzola and mascarpone; risotto-style farro with parmesan; seafood couscous made with halibut, shrimp and scallops; and braised beef with anchovies and rosemary. While her approach is certainly inventive and appealing, some recipes make one wonder whether a slow cooker is actually necessary (the stuffed peppers might be baked just as easily). That said, this cookbook will certainly relieve the time pressure on busy family cooks. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• File Size: 5968 KB
• Print Length: 242 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 054700303X
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Original edition (January 7, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004GTLVLS
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,255 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #11 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian
  • #17 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Meals > Soups & Stews
  • #38 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Meals > Soups & Stews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 91 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars authentic and better than most slow cooker cookbooks April 15, 2010

By datura2002 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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.

121 of 126 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Patience Rewarded: Slowly Wonderful Cucina Italiana January 11, 2010

By Michael Strasser

Format:Paperback

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.

170 of 181 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brian O'Rourke January 11, 2010

By Brian M. Orourke

Format:Paperback

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

More About the Author

MICHELE SCICOLONE

Michele Scicolone is an award winning food writer and the author of 18 cookbooks. Her latest book, THE MEDITERRANEAN SLOW COOKER, was published in January 2013. It is a collection of 125 recipes inspired by the food of the countries around the Mediterranean including Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco and several others.

THE FRENCH SLOW COOKER was published in January 2012. It is a collection of classic French recipes adapted for use in the electric slow cooker (Crock Pot). Dorie Greenspan, author of Around My French Table wrote, "I'd bet that if French cooks could get their hands on Michele Scicolone's FRENCH SLOW COOKER, which is filled with smart, practical and convenient recipes, they'd never let it go."

Michele's previous book THE ITALIAN SLOW COOKER, was published in January 2010 and immediately became a bestseller. She was also one of the editors of the 75th Anniversary edition of the classic, Joy of Cooking, and writes about food, wine, and travel for many publications, including Every Day with Rachael Ray, Prevention, The Washington Post, The Wine Spectator, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit. Previous books include The BLT Cookbook with Chef Laurent Tourondel, The Sopranos Family Cookbook, a #1 New York Times Best Seller that was published in 9 languages and a sequel, Entertaining with the Sopranos, both co-authored with Allen Rucker. She has also written 1000 Italian Recipes, and Pizza--Anyway You Slice It!, co-authored with her husband Charles Scicolone, an Italian wine (and pizza) authority.

Michele's television appearances include Emeril Live, The CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, and Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, as well as many local television and radio programs She teaches cooking at schools around the country including De Gustibus at Macy's, Sur la Table, and the Institute for Culinary Education and is a consultant to many restaurants. Michele has been a spokesperson for the Italian Trade Commission and Williams Sonoma, and lecturer on Italian culture and cuisine at Hofstra and Henderson State Universities, and The Smithsonian Institute. Michele is also a consultant for several restaurants and food companies.

Together with her husband, Michele hosts culinary tours to Italy several times a year. Visit her website at www.MicheleScicolone.com.