It seems like only the other day that I was writing that I had finished cooking through Cantina and now here I am also having finished Made in Italy by Silvia Colloca! Admittedly I only had eleven recipes left to cook when I started but I am still pretty proud of myself! The cover claims “more than 80 authentic recipes from the heart of Italy”. Of the…I’m not going to count them, so let’s just call it 80 recipes, I made 34 so I’ve cooked 42.5% of the recipes contained therein.
Made in Italy – The Summary
Made in Italy contains fairly standard Italian fare, which is probably the reason why a) I cooked so many recipes from it and b) why I was able to do the last few quite quickly – the ingredients and the techniques are familiar to most home cooks. The dishes include pastas, pizza, breads, cakes, salads, and seafood. Not to mention delicious little snacks/appetisers like these Olives All ‘Ascolana!
It also contains gorgeous photos of the areas in Italy that the book covers (Marche, Abruzzo and Molise so would also make a lovely gift for armchair travellers!
I also liked that many of the recipes were really quick and easy to prepare. This was particularly refreshing coming on the tails of Cantina where pretty much every recipe was either incredibly elaborate to cook or had had to come by ingredients.
My Favourite Recipes
These were the recipes that got over 4.7 (out of 5) in my personal rating scale. The ones marked with an asterisk are my absolute favourites.
Sides, Salads and Appetisers
- Broccolini cooked with chilli and garlic
- Crostini with lemon, ricotta and spinach
- Grilled primo sale and vegetable salad (The primo sale is homemade cheese and was delicious)*
- Olives All’ascolana*
Main Meals
- Calamari with tomatoes and wine
- Fresh pasta strips with slow-cooked goat sauce
- Lasagna, Marche style*
- Chard Tart*
- Herb frittata with Goat’s curd
Desserts
- Celebration sponge cake
- Apricot and olive oil cake*
- Bear’s cake
Made in Italy – My least Favourite things
The St Martin Rolls were not good at all – I suspect this was due to the use of self-raising flour rather than plain flour. I didn’t rate any of Silvia’s slices of bread but these were by far the worst.
And, whilst the landscape and food photography was beautiful there were a few too many pictures of Silvia looking impossibly thin. Then again, if I looked that good, I would want to be showing my perfect figure off in many photos too!
Overall, I would rate this book 4.5 stars out of 5. It is a very nice addition to the genre of Italian cookbooks and one that I know I will cook from over and over!
If you are looking for a last-minute gift idea for a friend who has been to Italy I can recommend Made in Italy as both a lovely souvenir of a trip and a great cookbook. Be prepared to pay though. Even used copies on Amazon are selling for upwards of $50! Let me know if you want any of the recipes listed above, I can scan them through for you.
Next Tasty Reads book I will be cooking through is Hugh Fearnley Whitingstall’s River Cottage Light and Easy – this will be a welcome counterbalance to the rich food after Christmas so I am looking forward to it! I have 33 recipes left to cook so it is likely to be a full year effort!
And tell me…what is your favourite Italian cookbook?
Have a wonderful week!
