Customer Reviews

Umbria: Regional Recipes from the Heartland of Italy

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Having just returned from eating our way through Umbria and Tuscany this book was like reliving everything we'd experienced. The recipes were simple, fresh and filling. the photography and text captured the essence of Umbria completely. A joy of a cookbook for those who enjoy cooking with fresh, healthy ingredients.

The sights, sounds, and aromas of the diverse regions of Italy are the things memorable vacations, travel videos, and cookbooks are made of. When done properly, dishes virtually leap of the page and onto your plate. But when the cooking starts and the unique elements of Umbrian cuisine waft through your home, you realize that purchasing Julia Della Croce's book was a very very good idea. Beautifully illustrated with photographs by John A. Rizzo, this book provides easy to follow recipes and just enough back stories to make any meal you prepare even more special. For a dinner with friends, we prepared the Pasta with Asparagus Sauce as a second course followed by the Stewed Salt Cod with Tomatoes, Raisins, and Pine Nuts served at the table in a large paella pan. For those who wanted meat, we served the Lamb Fricco.

Some of the entries are both complicated and potentially impractical for a family with time demands. The beauty of this book, however, is that each dish is placed in a context as if we were invited to a family table in this region to savor this cooking. This allows for a certain level of creativity and substitutions that make virtually every dish approachable even if not exactly prepared according to the recipe. Is this the first Italian cookbook you should buy? No. But because of its exceptional presentation of this region, you should carefully consider it for the second.