Lucinda's Rustic Italian Kitchen

Even the writing has an irresistibly Italian flavor in this cookbook by Lucinda Scala Quinn, a cohost of Everyday Food and head of the food department of Martha Stewart Living. Quinn presents fifty-two delicious, easy-to-prepare Italian recipes from her  Italian-American childhood and her extensive travels throughout Italy. Gorgeous color photos tempt you to cook up everything from appetizers to desserts. Mangia! |

Quinn, head of the food department for Martha Stewart Living and one of the hosts of the PBS series Everyday Food, made her cookbook debut with Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen, "an ode" to a place she loves. Her new title includes favorite recipes from her childhood: Italian American classics like Fettuccine alla Carbonara and Grilled Calamari. The book has the same attractive format as her first one, with color photographs of many of the dishes, but the recipes are very familiar, and most can be found in any Italian cookbook. For comprehensive subject collections. (Library Journal, March 15, 2007) In this small but tasty collection of Italian recipes, Quinn, host of the PBS series Everyday Food and author of Lucinda's Authentic Jamaican Kitchen, draws on her travels and ancestral past for classic home-cooked dishes. In bringing rustic Italian food to the busy American table, Quinn cuts out several steps such as homemade stock and freshly rolled pasta (although she does include a recipe for pizza dough that can be topped with escarole and Gaeta olives or served Margherita-style). Technique is perhaps not as important as ingredients: Her "Notes to the Cook section" covers some basic territory such as how to control the flavor of garlic, the merits of salted capers and her secret dredging weapon, Wondra flour for gravy. Though selections like Carolina's Wine Taralli (cookies) and Tuna Gremolata Dip have a sophisticated flair, there are plenty of earthy, elemental pleasures, like Polpette (a meatball in Italian, but Quinn turns it into a meatloaf), which is baked with mortadella slivers and pistachios, and Tuscan kale sautéed with olive oil and seasoned only with salt and pepper. Along with plenty of color beauty shots by Quentin Bacon, Quinn's book demonstrates that even at its very humblest, Italian cooking yields extraordinary flavors. (Apr.) (Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2007)