The award-winning chef of two of New York’s most celebrated restaurants presents his fresh, vibrant approach to Italian cooking with recipes that reveal the secrets behind his most acclaimed dishes.
Scott Conant, chef-owner of L’Impero and Alto restaurants in Manhattan, has been thrilling diners and impressing critics since L’Impero opened in 2003. Now he translates his inspired combination of the best of New American cooking with the best of Italian cuisine into more than 130 sophisticated but easy-to-follow recipes. Here are the dishes that have garnered national attention and unanimous praise, including melt-in-your-mouth beef short ribs, the creamiest polenta, intoxicatingly fragrant roast chicken, and a deceptively simple Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce that transforms an everyday meal into something sublime.
Because Scott understands that home cooks don’t often have as much time to spend in the kitchen as they’d like, his New Italian Cooking includes many dishes that suit hectic weekday schedules—meaning they can easily be made in 45 minutes or less—such as Seared and Slow-Roasted Sirloin of Beef or Grilled Shrimp with Mint, Orange, and Fennel Couscous. When he slows things down for the weekend, it’s with luxurious braises and roasts that require more time but not necessarily more effort, including Oven-Braised Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Vinegar and a sumptuous, long-simmering Bolognese Sauce.
Featuring 30 captivating color photos, new insights on Italian ingredients, and friendly yet meticulous instructions, Scott Conant’s New Italian Cooking is a book to turn to again and again for the best of contemporary Italian cuisine.
Scott Conant is the chef-owner of L’Impero, which was honored with a James Beard award for best new restaurant in the country in 2003. In the spring of 2005, Scott opened Alto, which focuses on the cuisine of northern Italy. Named one of the ten best new chefs in the country in 2004 by Food & Wine, Scott cultivated his cooking style in some of Manhattan’s finest Italian kitchens, including San Domenico, Il Toscanaccio, and Chianti.
Joanne McAllister Smart is the co-author with Gordon Hamersley of Bistro Cooking at Home and editor of Fine Cooking’s Cooking New American, both IACP award winners. A regular contributor to Fine Cooking magazine, she lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children.
