Recipes Blog

Recipe for Roasted Dorade with Fennel and Tomatoes from A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely cookbook inspired me to try some new dishes, including this fish. Its bright flavors will spice up your dinner menu. And the writing is charming. There are directions in this recipe to cook the fennel when the water begins to gallop. See? Charming. Next on my list: Honey Roasted Chicken, Polpette alla Ricotta, and Aunt Effie’s Oat Bars.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine (Bloomsbury)

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Recipe for Grilled Fish with Mint Sauce from Cucina de Amalfi by Ursula Ferrigno

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Reading this book was an armchair visit to this beautiful part of Italy. I loved the recipes and am ready to try: mini parmesan pancakes, grandmother’s spinach bread, and chicken cacciatore. After that, next on my list are two kinds of pistachio biscotti—one chocolate, the other with fig and apricot.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Cucina di Amalfi: Sun-Drenched Recipes from Italy’s Most Magical Coastline by Ursula Ferrigno, Ryland Peters & Small, Photography by Nassima Rothacker © Ryland Peters & Small 2023

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Recipe for Lemon & Chicken Soup from A Bowl of Soup by Hannah Miles

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book will inspire you to expand your list of soup menus. There’s the adorably-named Sunshine soup, a spicy eggplant soup, and a garlicky-mushroom version. Plus, lots of popovers, focaccia, and muffins to serve on the side. Next on my list: a roasted cauliflower soup that is sprinkled with almonds, and some cornbread.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from A Bowl of Soup: Over 70 Delicious Recipes Including Toppings & Accompaniments by Hannah Miles, published by Ryland Peters & Small, Photographs by Alex Luck © Ryland Peters & Small

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Recipe for Giulina’s Risi e Bisi: Rice and Peas from Veneto from Pasta Grannies Book Two by Vicky Bennison

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Cook your way through Italy with some pasta grannies. I love this simple variation of risotto. It’s perfect for dinner on a cold evening. Next on my list: this Nonna Honey is going to make Anna Maria’s Ziti alla Genovese and Ida’s Chocolate Bunet, a pudding with caramel.

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Recipes excerpted with permission from Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking by Vicky Bennison, photos by Emma Lee, published by Hardie Grant Books.

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Recipe for Pesto from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This amazing cookbook combines two of Marcela’s classic books. The classic pesto recipe is one to make over and over. I got lost in the pasta sauce chapter. You will too. Next on my list: Chicken Fricassee, Cacciatore Style; Green Beans Pasticcio; and apple fritters.

Enter the Giveaway of: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition and Welcome Home Basket on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 10/9 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing [email protected]

Recipe excerpted with permission from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Marcella Hazan. Copyright © 1992 by Marcella Hazan. Foreword copyright © 2022 by Victor Hazan. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Pletzel from The Savory Baker

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Pletzel is an onion-poppy seed flatbread, which bakeries apparently don’t make any more. It’s time that we home bakers do! Although the dough is somewhat sticky and difficult to work with, it’s worth the challenge. I added the water a little at a time, and ended up using less than noted in this recipe. Try it, it’s a fun, stuck-in-the-house-day project. Then, go on to bake through this book, which is bursting with amazing recipes for all sorts of hand pies, stuffed breads, and even a savory tarte tatin, made with apples and fennel. Next on my list: spinach pie, cheese bread, and another tart, this one covered in smoked salmon and leeks. Oh, and one more—a rustic pie made with phyllo dough, stuffed with tomatoes and eggplant. 

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Savory Baker (America’s Test Kitchen)

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Recipe for Mezzi Rigatoni with Raw Tomato Sauce from Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Our friends, Lidia and Tanya, have created another gem of a cookbook. This one is filled with simple one-pot meals. Try this easy pasta dish that has the bright taste of basil mixed in with the tomatoes. Throw in some chicken or tuna, and you have a one-dish dinner. I would be happy to have the leftovers, cold, for the next day’s lunch. Next on my list: Italian wedding soup, skillet sausages with fennel and apples, and a bread pudding with berries.

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From Lidia’s a Pot, a Pan, and a Bowl by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Copyright © 2021 by Tutti a Tavola, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for Turkey Leftovers from Betty Crocker Best 100

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I love old-fashioned recipes that work today. After the holiday, try this wonderful pot pie instead of another turkey sandwich. Then, bake some sweets from this amazing cookbook. Perhaps a pumpkin loaf, studded with chocolate chips; an apple bread glazed with caramel; or some rainbow-frosted doughnuts.

Recipe excerpted with permission from BETTY CROCKER BEST 100: Favorite Recipes from America’s Most Trusted Cook © 2021 by Betty Crocker. Photography © 2021 by General Mills. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

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Marcella Hazan’s Tomato Sauce from The Essential New York Times by Amanda Hesser

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This amazing cookbook is bursting with over one thousand recipes. You will be cooking through the book for years. Buy the book to get the marinara recipe. Your repertoire needs that one too. Next on my list: baked mushrooms from 1877; sweet potato Cecelia; Lee Lum’s lemon chicken; the classic purple plum torte; and the world’s best chocolate cake.

Excerpted from The Essential New York Times Cookbook: The Recipes of Record, 10th Anniversary Edition. Compilation copyright (c) 2021, 2010 by The New York Times Company and Amanda Hesser. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Recipe for Ricotta and spinach gnudi in burrata and burnt sage butter from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Try this delightful dish for a cozy dinner by the fire. Next on my list: asparagus and sugar snap pea risotto; smoked tuna with fennel, chilli, and grapefruit; and cantuccini biscuits for dessert.

Recipes excerpted with permission from The Italian Deli Cookbook by Theo Randall, photographs by Lizzie Mayson, published by Quadrille Publishing, March 2021

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