Elisa Celli's Italian Light Cooking

If you think that America's cuisine is authentic Italian food, you are in for a delicious culinary surprise. Classic Italian cooking uses only fresh vegetables and herbs, durum semolina pasta, and the finest olive oils and cheeses. Add to these an abundance of fresh seafood, chicken, veal, or beef, and you have a cucina not only exciting to serve and eat but naturally low in fat and good for you!

Working, as she says, "in close accordance" with American Heart Association and National Cancer Society nutrition guidelines, the author of The Pasta Diet here serves up interesting and flavorful Italian dishes. Recipes opt for light and fresh, and calorie counts are given, but this is not a diet book. Lamb chops in white wine and mustard sauce, swordfish with Sicilian sauce and veal scallopini with lemon-herb sauce are among the enticing low-calorie recipes. Those who can indulge might explore eggs with fresh herbs, cheese and two sauces; pheasant in wine and mushroom sauce; or pasta shells stuffed with pesto and cheese, at 847 calories per portion. An imperious tone and an occasional flourish do not disguise the fact that most of the text is ordinary. For example, one of the "five secrets of the great cooks" is that thick, dry sauce can be thinned with oil, wine, water, tomato sauce or stock. Also unexceptional is the wine chapter, including a "regional wine guide" that offers only color and degree of sweetness. Decorative color photos are included. Major ad/promo; Better Homes and Gardens Book Club alternate; author tour.
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