Solo Verdura: The Complete Guide To Cooking tuscan Vegetables - Hardcover

Bianchi, Anne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0880015438 ISBN 13: 9780880015431

Publisher: Ecco, 1997

Synopsis

Abbondariza! Tender artichokes, curly endive, plump eggplants, fragrant fennel -- these are a mere sampling of the treasures found in the fields of Tuscany, where vegetables are not just a side dish. Here Italian heritage expert Anne Bianchi shares the secretsold and new-of how vegetables are prepared in this exquisite region. As Italian chefs continually explore new ways to enjoy their country's harvest, Solo Verdura reflects the latest in today's Tuscan cooking.

Appreciated for their infinite variety., seasonal goodness, and incredible flexibility, vegetables are especially dear to the Tuscan palate. Anne Bianchicaptures the Italian passion for good food with contemporary recipes and engaging vignettes about the countrv and its people. Beginning with "Essentials," Solo Verdura includes helpful tips on how to buy, store, and clean various vegetables, from the ever-popular porcini mushroom to the relatively unknown salsify, cardoon, and celeriac. Once you know how to choose the best, Bianchi offers a variety of preparation techniques: braising, sauté steaming, frying, and stewing; roasting, boiling, baking, and grilling. She follows with eight chapters full of recipes for Tuscany's harvest: Leaves and Stalks; The Cabbage Family; Roots, Tubers, and Bulbs; Pods and Seeds, Vegetable Fruits; Mushrooms and Truffles; Vegetable Medleys; and finally, Broths, Sauces, Pestos, Oils, and Dough. In typical Tuscan fashion, these accessible recipes respect the natural flavors of vegetables without masking them in overpowering sauces. Melanzana Ripiena (Eggplant Boats Stuffed with Gorgonzola Polenta), Ravioli di Broccoli Proftanati con Limoncino e Scalogne (Broccoli Ravioli Perfumed with Shallots and Lemon Balm), and Crostata di Scarola, Cicoria e Acetosa (Bitter Greens Tart) are just a few of the dishes that will show you how to cook and savor vegetables Italian-style. Illustrated with over fifty black-and-white photographs, Solo Verdura brings a little bit of Tuscany into your home.

About this title

About the Author

Anne Bianchi is a food writer who lives in New York and the Tuscan province of Lucca. She is the owner and Director of the Toscana Saporita Cooking School and Director of Toscana Saporita Food Imports. She has written a number of books, most recently Solo Verdura: The Complete Guide to Cooking Tuscan Vegetables, Zuppa! Soups from the Italian Countryside, and From the Tables of Tuscan Women, all published by Ecco.

From the Back Cover

Abbondariza! Tender artichokes, curly endive, plump eggplants, fragrant fennel -- these are a mere sampling of the treasures found in the fields of Tuscany, where vegetables are not just a side dish. Here Italian heritage expert Anne Bianchi shares the secretsold and new-of how vegetables are prepared in this exquisite region. As Italian chefs continually explore new ways to enjoy their country's harvest, Solo Verdura reflects the latest in today's Tuscan cooking.

Appreciated for their infinite variety., seasonal goodness, and incredible flexibility, vegetables are especially dear to the Tuscan palate. Anne Bianchicaptures the Italian passion for good food with contemporary recipes and engaging vignettes about the countrv and its people. Beginning with "Essentials," Solo Verdura includes helpful tips on how to buy, store, and clean various vegetables, from the ever-popular porcini mushroom to the relatively unknown salsify, cardoon, and celeriac. Once you know how to choose the best, Bianchi offers a variety of preparation techniques: braising, sauté steaming, frying, and stewing; roasting, boiling, baking, and grilling. She follows with eight chapters full of recipes for Tuscany's harvest: Leaves and Stalks; The Cabbage Family; Roots, Tubers, and Bulbs; Pods and Seeds, Vegetable Fruits; Mushrooms and Truffles; Vegetable Medleys; and finally, Broths, Sauces, Pestos, Oils, and Dough. In typical Tuscan fashion, these accessible recipes respect the natural flavors of vegetables without masking them in overpowering sauces. Melanzana Ripiena (Eggplant Boats Stuffed with Gorgonzola Polenta), Ravioli di Broccoli Proftanati con Limoncino e Scalogne (Broccoli Ravioli Perfumed with Shallots and Lemon Balm), and Crostata di Scarola, Cicoria e Acetosa (Bitter Greens Tart) are just a few of the dishes that will show you how to cook and savor vegetables Italian-style. Illustrated with over fifty black-and-white photographs, Solo Verdura brings a little bit of Tuscany into your home.

Reviews

Vegetables are the passion of Bianchi (Zuppa! Soups from the Italian Countryside, LJ 12/95), a New York City food writer who runs a cooking school in Tuscany, where she grew up. Filled with dozens of unusual, delicious recipes, this labor of love offers a complete cooking course for vegetables from "leaves and stalks" to mushrooms. Detailed sections on equipment and essential techniques are followed by the recipe chapters, each of which opens with a personal, insightful essay on some aspect of Tuscan life today. Bianchi writes with a dry wit but obvious fondness about her fellow Italians, idiosyncratic or unbending as she sometimes finds them. The recipes are often sophisticated, but many are uncomplicated and/or provide make-ahead information, and most chapters offer a "quick and easy" listing of dozens of imaginative ideas. Valuable as both a reference and a cookbook, and fun to read besides, this is highly recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0880015438
• ISBN 13: 9780880015431
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 333