Synopses & Reviews
Sauces and Shapes showcases some 150 straight-forward, flavorful, and very Italian recipes for sauces, soups, and handmade pasta, adapted with a minimum of compromise for the American kitchen. And every recipe features the right shapes to accompany the sauce. Why tagliatelle for Bolognese? Why linguine for spicy tuna sauce? Some recipes will be familiar while others may surprise, such as a sauce of spareribs with horseradish or the real Alfredo, but everywhere ingredients rule. As a bonus, the book features 100 illustrations of ingredients and pasta-making techniques and no-nonsense instructions for stocking an Italian pantry, cooking al dente, stuffing ravioli, and choosing cheese. No other cookbook combines such rigorous authenticity with such user-friendly, delicious recipes.
Review
"There are no better experts on the ideology of pasta--the union of a noodle and its proper condiment--than Oretta and Maureen. contains a smart balance of history, tradition, and love. The recipes are easy enough to prepare at home but not yet ubiquitous in American kitchens. It's a work I look forward to exploring." Mario Batali, chef/owner of Otto, Babbo, and Del Posto Restaurants, New York
Review
"With everything we Americans have done with, and to, pasta and sauce, there's a sublime goodness and rightness in the thousands of ways Italy has paired the two for a very long time. Each dish evolved from individual communities; each of those groups' culinary instincts was shaped by different experiences. This book is as much a fascinating lesson in Italian character as it is generous with dishes rarely tasted beyond their home kitchens." Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of American Public Media's The Splendid Table®
Review
" could well be the book that retires all other pasta books. The table of contents alone reads like the most tantalizing trattoria menu from which you just can't decide which dish to order." Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table
Review
"Once again I've been schooled by Oretta Zanini De Vita. And without the help of Maureen B. Fant this information would still be lost on me...Together they are the ultimate crusaders for Italian authenticity protection." Mark Ladner, executive chef of Del Posto Restaurant, New York
Review
"Zanini De Vita and Fant's accomplishes the impressive feat of presenting a thoroughly Italian perspective on pasta in a package that all American cooks can use and understand. Packed with information and advice, their recipes for classic dishes are definitive." Mitchell Davis, executive vice president of the James Beard Foundation and author of Kitchen Sense
Review
" is the perfect, curated Italian cookbook. If you like Italian cooking, will become a timeless, cherished companion." Amanda Hesser, cofounder of Food52 and the author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook
Review
"Starred review. Picking up where the (2009) left off, this manifesto on Italian noodles is meant to provide recipes for home cooks preparing dishes in modern kitchens. While the previous work focused on cataloguing and describing Italian pasta, this book is meant to help those out outside of Italy cook like Italians." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A glorious selection of sauces and soups with suggestions for the pasta shapes that go best with them." BookPage
Review
"Spend a little time with and instead of asking why anyone might need yet another pasta cookbook, you might find yourself wondering why you would keep all those others." Russ Parsons
Review
"Sauces & Shapes could well be the book that retires all other pasta books. So many of these soul-satisfying recipes are familiar from visits to Italy—and here they all are, in their most authentic, authoritative, and accessible form. The table of contents alone reads like the most tantalizing trattoria menu from which you just can’t decide which dish to order." Danny Meyer, author of < em=""> Setting the Table < m="">
Review
"Sauces & Shapes is the perfect, curated Italian cookbook. You’ll learn a handful of delicious sauces made with canned tuna, a pork ragù with a sly and secret ingredient (horseradish), and the techniques for cutting and shaping dozens of pastas. If you like Italian cooking, Sauces & Shapes will become a timeless, cherished companion." Amanda Hesser, cofounder of Food52 and the author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook
Synopsis
Winner of the 2014 International Association of Culinary Association (IACP) Award The indispensable cookbook for genuine Italian sauces and the traditional pasta shapes that go with them.
Synopsis
Pasta is so universally popular in the United States that it can justifiably be called an American food. This book makes the case for keeping it Italian with recipes for sauces and soups as cooked in Italian homes today. There are authentic versions of such favorites as carbonara, bolognese, marinara, and Alfredo, as well as plenty of unusual but no less traditional sauces, based on roasts, ribs, rabbit, clams, eggplant, arugula, and mushrooms, to name but a few.
About the Author
Oretta Zanini De Vita was born in Bologna, where she learned the art of pasta making as a child in a local convent school. A respected Italian culinary historian, she has written more than forty books on Italian food and its traditions, including the James Beard Award-winning Encyclopedia of Pasta (2010) and Popes, Peasants, and Shepherds: Recipes and Lore from Rome and Lazio (2013), both translated by Maureen B. Fant. She lives in Rome.Maureen B. Fant, a native of New York, is a writer and translator who came to live in Rome in 1979 believing that her future lay in classical archaeology. She now writes mostly about Italian food. She is the coauthor of Women's Life in Greece and Rome and Dictionary of Italian Cuisine, among others. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Gourmet, and other periodicals, and she lectures on the food of Rome and ancient Rome.