January 2020
November 2019
Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali was the selection for early November as we prepared for the holiday season – looking for twists on traditional recipes and gathering ideas for festive food for parties and entertaining.
While not a great book for individuals on special diets or looking to whip up fast and easy meals, Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian would be a solid choice for a selection of crowd-pleasing, buffet-appropriate appetizer, main dish, and dessert recipes for holiday gatherings or other parties.
The other recipes we sampled from the two cookbooks, in no useful order:
- Crispy Baked Tomatoes
- Chocolate Biscotti Pudding
- Mashed Parsnips and Scallions
- Cabbage Rolls Stuffed with Salmon
- Lemon and Oregano Potatoes
- Rice Balls (Arancini)
- Fig and Hazelnut Butter Cookies
- Marinara Sauce
- Eggplant and Barley Stuffed Peppers
- Baked Goat Cheese, Fava and Artichoke Dip
- Carrots (Squash) Baked in Ricotta
- Crostata with Kale, Butternut Squash, and Ricotta
- Italian Baked Beans
- Italian Deviled Eggs
- Ziti with Sausage, Onions, and Fennel
September 2019
September’s cookbook club meeting stands out because we had the author of our main selection attend the meeting! It also stands out because I never posted the photos to the library Facebook, as I’ve done with every other meeting, because I didn’t want to do a rush job of it. 🙁
Author Kate Bowler blogs at Domestikatedlife.com about festive entertaining tips, easy recipes, DIY projects and life as a new mom. Her cookbook, New England Invite: Fresh Feasts to Savor the Seasons, is now part of my personal cookbook collection.
The cookbook is organized by season and then by type of party, which is fun and a little different. For example, under “Spring”, you’ll find “Spring Garden Luncheon Menu”, “Easter Egg Hunt Brunch Menu”, and “Farmer’s Market Dinner Party Menu” – with suggested recipes and party-style set-ups for each. This can make it a little tricky to find the recipe you’re looking for, if you don’t remember the exact name of it or what menu it was in, and the index isn’t always helpful. For example, there are numerous cocktail recipes in various menus, but “Cocktails” isn’t a heading in the index. (I did eventually find it under “Drinks”.)
New England Invite has beautiful photography, all done by the author herself. The cookbook lies flat when opened to the middle, but needs a paperweight for recipes near the beginning or the end of the book. The cookbook’s New England theme (including a “Classic New England Clambake Menu” and an “Oyster Shucking Party Menu”) doesn’t rely overmuch on maple, pumpkin, apples, cranberries, etc. (except in the Autumn section!), uses ingredients that can be found in just about any supermarket, and is designed for family-friendly, home entertaining. The Grilled Pizza Dinner Party Menu sounds like fun, and what about setting up a Grilled Cheese Bar with Crispy Baked Bacon the next time you have people over?
Even though New England Invite has a lot of recipes that would need to be adapted for a gluten-free kitchen, I have blogged before about the Pumpkin Butter recipe and I’ve also made Kate’s Spiced-Orange Cranberry Sparkling Prosecco Cocktail recipe, too. Both of these are from the Autumn section. I’m looking forward to trying these recipes from the Spring section!
- Homemade Honey Almond Granola with Blackberry and Yogurt Parfaits
- Elderflower Aperol Fizz
- Cheddar Scallion Hash Browns
- Mushroom, Asparagus, Pea, and Leek Risotto
For cookbook club, I made Pecan Pie Ice Cream Sundae Topping (from the New England Thanksgiving Dinner Menu). As Kate writes in the recipe note, it’s basically a big bowl of pecan pie filling, with “more of the good stuff – that syrup-coated sweetness of crunchy toasted nuts”. Served over vanilla ice cream, it makes a perfectly decadent, gluten-free dessert for fall/winter (or year-round, for pecan pie lovers like me).
The Pecan Pie Ice Cream Sundae Topping was delicious, even though I think I overcooked it a little because it was too thick for pouring or drizzling over ice cream, especially once it cooled off. I didn’t get a good picture of it!
Check out the Domestikated Life blog to see Kate’s beautiful photos and sample her recipe style; I especially like her Ultimate Thanksgiving Recipe Round Up from November.
Happy Weekend Cooking!
Linked to Weekend Cooking, a weekly feature on Beth Fish Reads. Click/tap image for Weekend Cooking posts from other bloggers.
The new book by Lidia Bastianich has been advertised a lot — interesting that you found it so good. I haven’t really cooked from a previous purchase of one of her books, which I bought when I was watching her on TV. She has a lot of good ideas, as you illustrate.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I think it’s a good one for people that throw dinner parties or bring dishes to parties to share. Overall, it’s probably not great for someone trying to follow a low-fat, low-sugar diet, but the recipes are intended for entertaining, so those would be occasional splurges rather than everyday eating. I’ve never watched cooking shows!
I hadn’t heard of any of these authors! It is interesting to me that there are some big names that are globally known and then there are so many that are well known but only in limited countries. We have several of our own that fall into this category I’m sure!
I think Lidia is the most well known of the three.