| more conservative
chef, in favor
of a slightly bad boy image that either grates on you or delights,
depending on your viewpoint.
Until last year, I could literally take him or leave him.
His cookbooks that I flicked through, seemed to be formulaic
and much more about style than substance. So I have avoided
adding to the column inches expended on extolling Mr. Oliver's
virtues, until now that is. My conversion to an Oliver groupie,
came via one of his latest books - “jamie's italy”.
This pretty and stylish book is what cookbooks are supposed
to be like. It is a transporter to another world of beautiful
peasant food, so far removed from our jaded impression of
Italian fare that it literally blows away your taste buds.
The recipes that Oliver offers in his book are authentic and surprisingly simple to make. There are over 120 of them ranging from risotto to roast, with a detour through spaghetti and stews. The book is bursting with pictures of both the food and the places that it comes from. It's an accessible and easy cookbook that encourages you to try both new dishes and revise the things that you thought that you knew how to cook.
In my travels for The Restaurant Review, I have heard over
and over that Italian cooking has continued to evolve beyond
chicken Parmigiano and spaghetti Bolognese. For some reason,
we don't seem to want to see these traditional dishes evolve
and would probably set up a picket outside any Italian restaurant
that tried some of these recipes here. It's OK though –
in the privacy of your own home you can do what you want.
Try some of the frittelle di spaghetti (spaghetti fritters
to us) and you will realize just what I mean.
This is a great cookbook. Good recipes, easy to cook and easy
to create great results with. As we cooked dishes for the
review, we were struck over and over again how innovative
and authentic they appear. If you love good food, especially
Italian food, then this is the book for you. |
