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Manhattan's Mangia restaurant provides busy yet discerning diners with delicious daytime food.
The Mangia Cookbook offers readers more than 200 recipes for freshly made fare--sandwiches, unusual salads, hearty soups, and home-baked treats paramount among them. The dishes, which are easy to make and fit into a range of menu slots, work equally well with family or guests. Readers searching for a collection of relaxed yet stylish dishes drawn from diverse ethnic sources--what might be termed American light fare--should welcome the book.
Beginning with "The Bakery Table," a section devoted to Mangia's much-admired breakfast and dessert specialties, the book then provides chapters on soups and entrees in addition to the foods mentioned above. Winners among these include Fresh Corn Soup with Smoked Chicken, Chicken Salad with Hazelnut Sauce on Ciabatta Bread, Grilled Orange-Marinated Salmon, and Apricot Almond Triangles. Included also is a chapter on sides and condiments, such as Pickled Vegetable Relish, designed to complement many of the Mangia dishes but good with a wide range of cooking. With suggestions for preparing dishes ahead and other useful tips, the book should encourage good simple cooking and superior everyday eating. --Arthur Boehm
From Publishers Weekly
When the upscale New York City lunch spot Mangia opened in 1982, it was one-of-a-kind: a place where office workers could buy freshly made sandwiches and soups and select from an innovative salad bar. As Diaz and Jessup (food director and executive chef, respectively) point out, almost all the food at Mangia's now multiple branches is served at room temperature, meaning that almost every simple-yet-special recipe in this book can be prepared in advance. Throughout, surprising ingredients and special touches perk up familiar favorites. In the soup chapter, such innovation results in Scallop and Roasted Tomato Soup; under sandwiches, Mustard Meat Loaf with Sauted Mushrooms on Brioche Bread; and, in the entres section, Octopus with Red Pepper Salsa. Mangia's luxurious and varied salad table is well-represented here with Roasted Baby Artichokes with Garlic and Parmigiano Shavings and a Thai Tabbouleh with lime juice and pickled ginger. Helpful tips, such as an explanation of which salads keep well and which don't, add to the generous tone. Even without its connection to the specialty shop, this would be a solid effort bursting with fresh ideas. (June)Forecast: Mangia is a phenomenon in New York, but this book may have limited appeal outside of the area.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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