The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
150 recipes from northern Italy’s agriturismi, with beautiful full-color photographs. The Italian Farmer’s Table is a sumptuously illustrated cookbook featuring authentic recipes from more than thirty working family farms in northern Italy.
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(out of 9 reviews)
List Price: $ 19.95
Price: $ 10.70
Review by Ellen P. Lafleche-christian for The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
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The Italian Farmer’s Table is more than cookbook, it’s a journey through Northern Italy. The Italian Farmer’s Table is a paperback cookbook measuring 8 1/2″ x 8″ and contains 320 pages. This cookbook contains 150 authentic recipes and local lore from different areas of Northern Italy. It has eight chapters each of which focusses on a different area in Northern Italy.
The chapters included are Liguria, Piemonte, Valle D’Aosta, Lombardia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna. Each of these chapters includes a beautiful colored map so you can see exactly where each area is in Northern Italy. There are several paragraphs at the front of each chapter that describe that region along with a number of beautiful photographs.
The recipe title is written in both English and Italian which lends to the exotic feel of the cookbook. Each recipe offers a list of ingredients with the measurements in both metric and U.S. equivalents. The instructions are well written and very easy to follow. There’s a nice variety of types of recipes including main dishes, soups, salads and desserts.
Some of the recipes call for meats that some cooks may not be familiar using like rabbit and duck. There are a few gourmet cheeses that may be difficult for some cooks to find but substitutions (when available) are listed next to the ingredients list. Throughout the cookbook, there are a number of discussions of wines of the region. The photograhs included are not only of the dishes themselves but of the area farms, kitchens, produce and animals.
The 150 authentic recipes include: Swiss Chard and Ricotta Tarts, Fried Butternut Squash Ravioli, Lavender Encrusted Chicken with Pancetta, Rabbit with Olives and Pine Nuts, Frozen Chocolate Ricotta Cream Cake, Carpaccio with Gorgonzola Sauce, Pears and Walnuts and many more succulent appetizers, side dishes, main courses and desserts!
This cookbook is easily a collector’s item. The Italian Farmer’s Table will wow you for not only the photograhps and articles but for the scrumptous Italian recipes it offers. It’s one of those cookbooks I curl up in a chair with to read.
Review by R. Boulia for The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
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I recently devoted a day to preparing a 6 course meal from this cookbook for a dear friend and his family whose roots are from this region. While I was a little nervous about throwing a dinner party with recipes I had never tested or tried I am happy to report that it was a great success. The recipes were easy to follow and all were delicious. This is a great addition to anyone’s culinary library. Thanks Matt and Melissa for sharing your story. I hope your future plans include a trip to another region of Italy and another volume of equally special recipes.
Review by foodie for The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
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this is a very unique cookbook. we have already made the vegetable strudel several times and everyone who has tried it loves it. the photos in the book are spectacular and truly capture the beauty of italy. cannot wait to try more delicious recipes from this authentic book!
Review by CT reader for The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
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I had the pleasure of meeting Matt & Melissa at a recent event. Their enthusiasm for and knowledge of Italy is contagious. Beautiful photographs, taken by the authors, combined with the wonderful recipes and stories about the farms and regions they visited, make this a memorable cookbook.
Review by Suellen Kolbo for The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy
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I love this book. Full of complicated but nevertheless easy recipes, I have been using it as bedside reading. Since I live on a ranch in California and have recently come back from my first trip to Italy, this is a travelogue for me as well, reminding me of the universality of rural living and good food…OK, Italy is better than my podunk Northern California area. There is enough commentary about the region and visits to cheese makers, butcher shops, and accomodations from fancy lodges to humble farms to make it simply good reading. I wish it didn’t have the matte-finish pictures now common in cookbooks…glossy is so much prettier. However, I’d recommend this book highly.