The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen

Book excerpt: With a bounty of regional Italian dishes, the authors of La Tavola Italiana serve up “inspiration for the mind as well as for the kitchen” (Booklist). Italian cooking draws its inspiration from the roll call of seasonal ingredients that pass through its kitchens, and in this splendid volume Diane Darrow and Tom Maresca share the simple secrets of making the most of the best fresh, top-of-the-season foods from farm and woodland, lake and sea. The Seasons of the Italian Kitchen presents two hundred recipes according to the four seasons and the traditional courses of the Italian meal: antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno, dolce. All are wed (as they always are in Italy) to the wines that best match them, and the recipes have been tested and adapted to seasonal ingredients readily available in the United States. Richly stocked with delightful anecdotes and culinary lore gathered from the authors’ long love affair with Italy, they invite both amateur and expert to experience the Italian genius for making the most of the moment. “If you can read or even browse through this book without running straight to the kitchen, you’ve got more willpower than we do.” —The Wine Investors “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.” —Library Journal