The Wine Lover Cooks Italian (Wine Lovers) [Paperback]

A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook acquisitions. However, I feel that this book is a nice addition to any cookbook library.

The book is subdivided as follows:

Introduction

.....Italian Wine: The New Renaissance

.....Matching Italian Wine and Food

.....About this Book

.....Glossary of Italian Wine Terms

Italian Wine and Food

.....Northwest: Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy

.....Northeast: Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia

.....Central: Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio

.....Adriatic: Emilia-Romagna, Marches, Abruzzo, Molise

.....South: Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania

.....Islands: Sicily, Sardinia, Lipari, Pantelleria

.....Desserts

Foundations

.....Building Blocks

.....Olive Oil

.....Italian Cheese

If you love Italian wine and good food this is a nice book to add to your library. The information on Italian wine alone is worth the price of the book. I thought that I was very familiar with Italian wine and I learned quite a bit from this book. The book covers all the major Italian wines in reasonable detail. Many of the minor Italian wines are also covered, a few I had not yet discovered.

For each major wine the author spells out the following information:

1. Narrative regarding a history of the wine

2. Typical aromas and Flavors of the wine

3. Tips to Successful Matches for that particular wine.

For each recipe that is included in the book the author offers two wine selections. The recipes are solid, mostly classics but some with a spin. Many of the recipes are simple Italian fare, but some of them have more of a gourmet twist. There are dishes in this book for carnivores and vegetarians a like. There are even a few vegan dishes in the book. The recipe for Polenta, Pesto and Red Pepper Terrine was excellent even without the goat cheese, which I omitted to make the dish vegan. Most of the recipes have a corresponding full color photograph of the finished dish. The recipe directions are clearly written and easy to follow.

If you love Italian wine and good food I think you will enjoy this book, I know I do.

This lovely cookbook is also a valuable reference guide for anyone interested in learning more about wine and the art of wine-pairing with food. Italy grows a vast variety of wine grapes and produces many different types of wine, a fact which can be incredibly intimidating and confusing to those unfamiliar with the country's wines beyond the now ubiquitous Chianti and Pinot Grigio. This book takes a look at each of the regions of Italy, the primary wines produced in each, and typical dishes from the region that pair well with these wines.

The writing is easy to follow and the history behind some of these wines quite fascinating. I wish I'd had this book before a recent trip to Florence, as it would have helped me tremendously with deciphering wine lists and making good choices of wine pairings. The recipies range from simple salads to more complex roasts, but should not be too intimidating to most people with some cooking experience.

The only thing that might have been nice to include would have been a breakdown of wine labelling as used on Italian wines, to help the reader understand how to find all the information on what can sometimes be complicated labels--especially for those who do not speak or read Italian.