Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes

There are SO MANY PHOTOS of the author in this supposed cookbook it's laughable. And a little scary. And they are all cleavage shots. There are often as many as THREE photos of Giada splashed across just 2 pages {so that you are forced to see three shots of her just to look at one recipe...}. And there are full-page photos of her as well ! I was so sick of looking at Giada's cleavage and her face I ended up tearing the recipes I wanted out of the book, and throwing the "photo album" part of it away. I think if you were to just clip all the photos out this book would weigh 60% less if you actually weighed it. Many of the recipes sounded just great and I can't wait to try them though. Too bad Giada's ego basically ruined an otherwise interesting cookbook. You'd have to see it to believe it.

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This is an excellent book. The food is easy to produce and very tasty. The instructions are easy to follow.

My wife told me never buy her anymore cookbooks, but she liked this one because the recipes are realistic. They contain ingrediants you have in your kitchen and don't take all day.

I come from an Italian family, so sauce, lasagna, chicken cacciatore, were dishes we grew up with. But I longed for more, I wanted to know how to make marinara sauce, vodka sauce, risotto and many others. This fantastic book was just perfect for me. Many of the recipes are so easy and quick and delicious that for the first time I actually enjoyed cooking. I recently purchased three other cookbooks, but this one is by far my favirate.

Thirty-five years old when she published her first cook book, Giada de Laurentiis went from anthropology at UCLA to culinary school in Paris and after a successful run at LA's now defunct Spago, "Everyday Italian" began airing on the Food Network in 2003. Since then, Giada has published three more cookbooks (Giada's Family Dinners, Everyday Pasta, Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites), hosted three more shows on the Food Network (Behind The Bash, Giada's Weekend Getaways, Giada in Paradise) and had a baby girl in March of this year. "Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes" is the quintessential Italian cookbook for beginners and for those who couple the book with her television show, they get a glimpse of just how easy everyday Italian really can be.

The book begins with a foreword by renowned Italian-style chef Mario Batali that is imbued with humor, insight and is highly complimentary of Giada herself. He states that "simplicity is bandied about by nearly every cookbook author under the sun...but simplicity is truly present here; most of the recipes don't require more than a half-dozen ingredients or a half-page of notes". The introduction has Giada herself giving a little background on her family, her classical training at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the direction her career took afterward.

Perfect for the budding chef, Giada blends the fanfare of Italian cuisine with easy-to-make recipes that have modest-sized ingredient lists and simple instructions. "Everyday Italian" is all about the basics and Giada guides the amateur cook each step of the way by showing them the foundations of Italian cuisine before proceeding into the upper echelons of dinners with showmanship (and even those are a snap to make). The book is broken down into chapters, and the chapters into several sections; it almost takes a "For Dummies" approach by explaining what things are and some of their origins before moving on into the recipe itself. An example of this is the "Antipasti" chapter and the section concerning "Everyday Frittatas". The introductory page to frittatas describes what a frittata is, how's it made and/or served and some of the variations on ingredients.

Though Giada may be petite and beautiful, don't take her slim figure for good genes. There's a reason she looks the way she does, so you CAN trust a skinny cook! Not only are the recipes within "Everyday Italian" surprisingly easy and full of good flavor, the vast majority of them are also incredibly healthy. Giada uses a wide variety of fresh ingredients and lays low on saturated fats. The notable exceptions to this rule are her fettuccine alfredo (which requires 6 tablespoons of butter and 1.5 cups of heavy cream) and her béchamel sauce (5 tablespoons of butter and 4 cups whole milk). Everything in moderation, people. The book covers appetizers (Everyday Antipasti), Sauces and Pestos, Pasta/Polenta/Risotto dishes, Entrees, Contorni (side dishes and salads) and Desserts. There are nine different tomato-based sauces, two of which utilize turkey meatballs in one (a much leaner choice than beef, one small example of Giada's low-fat frame of mind) and tuna in the other (another lean choice packed with beneficial omega-3 acids).

One thing's for sure if you're interested in purchasing "Everyday Italian" - you gotta love your vegetables. This is a through-the-garden recipe collection using heaps of tomatoes, onions, potatoes, asparagus, spinach, bell peppers, celery, carrots and a myriad of Italian herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary) with the added zing of fresh lemon juice. You will also find yourself using quite a bit of olives, prosciutto, capers, cannellini beans, tuna (packed in olive oil) and sun-dried tomatoes along with a wide variety of cheeses (mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano), so keep your pantry and fridge stocked. Good olive oil is a staple of Italian cooking and purports to have many heart-healthy properties so you need not own any other oil when choosing recipes from this book. For those who've never had any other pasta other than spaghetti or macaroni, "Everyday Italian" opens one's eyes to dry pastas (ziti, orecchiette, farfalle, penne, rigatoni, and fettuccine) and stuffed pastas (tortellini, manicotti, and ravioli). She does not forget the Classic Lasagna and also offers up a Vegetarian Lasagna which sports tons of garden vegetables (carrots, onions, zucchini, squash, asparagus, spinach) as well as white beans to replace the protein lost from the absence of meat.

When proceeding to the Pasta and Entrée sections, one thing cannot be denied - this is all good ol' comfort food. Here are some of my favorites:

Basic Risotto
Rice, shmice. You ain't had an excellent rice dish until you've sampled the sophisticated flavor of a classic risotto, which blends the sweetness of onions and white wine, the nutty flavor of Parmesan cheese and the oh-so creamy texture of arborio rice infused with chicken broth and lightly smothered in butter. You'll be eating bowl after bowl and the Wild Mushroom Risotto with Peas recipe that follows it will be a whole other wonder for the playful palate.

Roasted Chicken with Balsamic Vinaigrette
My husband loves the sweet bite of vinegar, so this was a prime choice for a household that picks a roast chicken clean. There is a heaping ½ cup of balsamic vinegar used in this recipe along with a ¼ cup of Dijon mustard and frugal use of a lemon (zest and juice) that has this bland bird bursting with flavor. A hint of garlic and a generous garnish of fresh flat-leaf parsley make for a wonderful presentation and mouth-watering aroma.

Classic Italian Lasagna
This lasagna blends the creaminess of béchamel sauce with the tartness of Giada's own marinara sauce, the richness of a three-cheese blend (ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan) and a little bit of greens (spinach) to form a hearty and filling pasta dish. Surprising to me was the addition of eggs to help hold everything together (my lasagna always ends up pretty sloppy and/or falls apart and now I've realized why - the eggs are a nice little "glue" to help with serving as well as presentation). Giada states that "if you serve it family style with a simple green salad as a side, you can feed a whole crowd while not spending more than five minutes in the kitchen during your party - literally only five minutes". She then quips that "it can take longer just to give directions to the pizza-delivery guy".

But that's not all, folks. Giada makes good use of leftovers as well. Leftover risotto is used for an entrée one night (Grilled Seafood Risotto) or an appetizer the next (Risotto Al Salto, Arancini di Riso). Pork Milanese becomes a sandwich and leftover steak becomes an entrée salad. The whole book sports some artsy, appealing photographs by Victoria Pearson which feature not only some of the entrees but also some contemporary still-life photos (there is a picture of a dozen lemons within a wicker basket). There are also some candid B&W photos of Giada at work in the kitchen (pouring oil in a food processor, tasting something with a wooden spoon, grating cheese over a pot with a microplane) that give it that casual, "everyday" feel that the book seeks to accomplish.

Bottom line: "Everyday Italian" makes a wonderful addition to any cook's library, be it the cook with a hectic schedule, the cook just taking the reigns in the kitchen or anyone whose palate leans heavily toward Italian cuisine. It will only serve to rev you up for her other publications with undeniable zeal.