The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen

Two hundred recipes are divided according to the basic categories of the Italian menu--antipasto, prima, secondo, contorno, and dolce--and by the four seasons. By the authors of La Tavola Italiana.

This culinary collection, arranged by season, offers much more than 200 recipes. With wit, humor, and enthusiasm, each dish is prefaced with a note about ingredients, comments on its name, and/or asides about just-in-time preparation. Plus, each includes specific recommendations for wines. The essays interspersed among the recipes provide inspiration for the mind as well as for the kitchen: a three-page discourse on tomatoes, for example. Barbara Jacobs

Darrow, a food writer, and Maresca, a wine authority, are also the authors of La Tavola Italiana (LJ 2/15/88), a regional Italian cookbook with an emphasis on wine. Here they offer more of their favorite recipes, this time organized seasonally, each with a wine suggestion. Lengthy headnotes and boxes include culinary history, preparation, notes, and information on ingredients and Italian specialties such as gnocchi and granitas. Many of the recipes are exquisitely simple, while others are more involved and time-consuming. Italian cookbooks abound, and some of these dishes will be familiar, but the authors' text is well written and informed, and there are some unusual regional specialties here, too. For most collections.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.