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Books: Cooking by Cuisine -> Cooking Italian
Umbria: Regional Recipes from the Heartland of Italy
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by:
Croce, Julia della
Rizzo, John A. (Photographer)
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Publisher:
Chronicle Books
Published: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0811823512
Format:Paperback
Pages:168
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Book Description
From Publishers Weekly
The central Italy region of Umbria offers earthy dishes heavy on black truffles and pork products, and della Croce (The Vegetarian Table: Italy) manages to do it justice in this slim cookbook that serves as a useful overview.
Chapters are clearly organized but brief: a chapter on breads includes only five recipes, one of them a master recipe used in the others. First courses include soup made with the famous lentils of Castelluccio and Spaghetti alla Norcina with
reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms, sweet sausage and cream. For a land-locked region, Umbria offers a surprising number of fish and shellfish dishes, using locally found items such as snails and trout from freshwater streams. Ingredients sometimes
seem impractical or out of reach: Trout with Truffles calls for two black truffles. Photographs are enticing, and della Croce scatters bits of Umbrian history and folklore throughout. Her prose is awkward in places, though, and there are strange touches,
like a description of ordering trota ai ferri in Todi that is, for no discernible reason, presented in the form of a letter to the author's daughters. A selection of three desserts, a recipe for hot chocolate and another for candied orange peel (not used
in any of the three dessert recipes) makes for an odd finale. After an abbreviated guide to hotels and restaurants and a hazy list of local festivals, the author lists a handful of cooking schools, and takes the opportunity to plug her own
classes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description:
With food like Fried Chicken Marinated in Sage, Rosemary, and Garlic, and some of Italy's most gorgeous countryside, it's little wonder Umbria is becoming such a
popular tourist destination. Home to beautiful hill towns such as Deruta, Perugia, and Assisi, plus a culinary history that dates back to the Etruscans (Italy's oldest and perhaps most fascinating civilization), Umbria rejoices in hearty dishes rooted in
vegetables, legumes, grains, and farm-raised meats and redolent of herbs and bold sauces. Acclaimed cookbook author Julia della Croce takes us on a stunning visual and gastronomic tour with recipes for dishes such as Penci with Sausage, Lemon, and Nutmeg
Sauce and Lorella Puccetti's Lentils with Seafood, which perfectly illustrate Umbria's simple, everyday style of cooking. Her 56 recipes are spiced with photographs of the food, the countryside, the markets, and the people, with local lore and insider
tips on the best Umbria has to offer. An invitation to the heartland of Italy, Umbria is a gourmet feast for the eyes and the palate.
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