October 9, 2010 / Leslie

Weekend Cooking: Review: Recipes From An Italian Summer

Recipes From An Italian Summer

From The Silver Spoon Kitchen
Genre: Cooking
Published: August 2010, Phaidon Press

I know summer is ending but I still have lots of fresh tomatoes, peppers and herbs in my garden and I’m still in a summer state of mind. When I saw this big beautiful book sitting on the new books shelf in the library with it’s attractive artwork of tomatoes on the cover, I just had to pick it up and take it home.

It contains almost 400 recipes, mouth watering photos plus some gorgeous pictures of the Italian countryside. I’ve been to Italy and I can definitely say they take their food and wine seriously and love to eat leisurely outdoors. The recipes in the book range from antipasti, main courses, fish, meats, salads, sauces, vegetables and the most scrumptious looking desserts I’ve seen in a long time. There are simple salads, recipes for the grill such as fish kebobs and more exotic dishes like sweet-and-sour rabbit. Many can be served cold, be prepared ahead of time and are easy to transport to picnics or get-togethers.

The instructions are simple and easy to understand. Anyone with a little cooking experience should be able to do well if they can procure the ingredients. All the recipes call for fresh foods which can readily be found in summer and often year round if you live near a major shopping area.

My garden is still producing zucchini and their flowers, so I was interested in the fried zucchini flower recipe which I will be making if the plants cooperate. The other recipe that caught my eye was for grilled eggplant. I love to grill and veggies are a favorite food of mine.

Recipe and photo from Recipes From An Italian Summer:

Grilled Eggplants

Preparation time: 1 3/4 hrs
Cooking Time: 10-15 min
Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 eggplants, thickly sliced
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
18 basil leaves
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper

Preparation:
Put the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and let drain for about 30 minutes. Light the grill. Rinse the eggplant slices and pat dry with paper towels. Grill on both sides for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Arrange the eggplant slices in layers on a serving dish, sprinkling each layer with garlic, basil leaves, salt and pepper and drizzling with plenty of olive oil. Set aside in a cool place for at least 1 hour to let the flavors mingle before serving.

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