Verdura: Vegtables Italian Style - Hardcover

LA Place, Viana

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688087647 ISBN 13: 9780688087647

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1991

Synopsis

An inspired collection of nearly three hundred classic and original recipes, Verdura translates the Italian passion for food into an endless celebration of vegetables.

"A good salad tomato should be firm, plucked from the vine just before it is fully ripened, and heavy with the spicy scent of its foliage." With exquisite attention to the pleasures of cooking fresh food, Viana La Place introduces the basic Italian principle of cooking with herbs and vegetables. Many of these recipes pair simple vegetables with unusual preparations, transforming classic dishes into new masterpieces. Here you will discover revelatory antipasti, like Baby Artichokes Marinated in Lemon and Herbs (Carciofini al Limone e alle Erbe); innovative salads like Romaine and Gorgonzola Salad with Whole Wheat Crostini (Lattuga Romano e Gorgonzola con Crostini al Pone Integrate); and such tantalizing pastas as Butterfly Pasta with Fennel and Balsamic Vinegar (Forfalle ai Finocchi) and Tiny Pasta with Ten Herbs (Tripolini alle Dieci Erbe)--dishes characterized by their earthy, intense fragrance. Viana La Place's brilliant and original recipes will make Verdura a permanent guide to cooking vegetables the Italian way in your kitchen.

About this title

Reviews

" Verdura means vegetables," writes cooking teacher and food columnist La Place ( Cucina Fresca ). It "represents a style of cooking directly related to nature." By scouring the homes and restaurants of Italy, here she proves her case with 250 recipes and 50 menus featuring "vegetables in all their remarkable variety"--antipasti, salads, sandwiches, soups, pastas, risotti, tarts and stews. As in her previous books, ingredients fall into unexpected combinations--carrots with porcini mushrooms, fried yellow peppers with mint. Whimsy is also revealed in recipes for "olive oil from hell" and "angry rice." Mainly, however, common sense and creativity combine forces. The roster of Italian vegetables is well represented, from olives to peppers to artichokes, and now-familiar foods like pasta are given new life (e.g., tubetti with diced tomato and avocado sauce). La Place tells us that "it is through vegetables that I have found my greatest expression." Verdura is the proof. Illustrations not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The co-author of those sprightly Italian recipe collections Pasta Fresca (1985) and Cucina Rustica (1990) single-handedly takes on Italian ways with vegetables here, as she roasts, fries, stuffs, tosses, and even smashes them against the table in a variety of antipasti, soup, stews, pastas, salads, sandwiches, and rice and polenta dishes. (She cheats a bit on desserts, using mostly fruits instead.) The simple, snappy style established in the previous books continues, to generally bright and tasty effect, though you might be moved to wonder (while perusing, say, the countless fresh green salads spelled out for people who can't think of their own combinations) how many variations on the fresh, fast Italian theme our shelves and menus can absorb. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

La Place is the coauthor of Cucina Rustica ( LJ 3/15/90), Pasta Fresca ( LJ 11/15/88), and Cucina Fresca (Harper, 1985). Like her previous books, this offers a collection of bright, vibrant dishes, this time with the emphasis solely on vegetables--as antipasti, in salads and soups, as main dishes, with pasta, rice, or polenta. Mint Frittata with Tomato Garnish, Inflamed Green Olives, and Pasta with Fennel, Tomato, and Red Onion are just some of La Place's fresh, unpretentious, and unusual creations; an excellent ingredients guide and a sampling of fruit desserts round out the book. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688087647
• ISBN 13: 9780688087647
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 388