Celebrations Italian Style: Recipes and Menus for Special Occasions and Seasons of the Year

From Publishers Weekly Host of PBS's Ciao, Italia, author of the companion cookbook and Nella Cucina, the enthusiastic, irresistible Esposito could put even the most curmudgeonly of readers in a holiday mood. Covering all courses and many holidays, she offers recipes and menus for traditional holiday fare, e.g., the meatless, fish-centered Christmas Eve meal, including recipes for Stewed Cod and Fried Eel. There are a variety of Christmas cakes (Panettone, Pandoro, Panforte di Siena) and for Easter, Columba, a yeast bread in the shape of a dove carrying an egg. For Thanksgiving Esposito suggests a pumpkin risotto; for a birthday, gnocchi; for a picnic, a rustic Sicilian spinach pie. A towering Cookie Wedding Cake is a particularly tempting variation on the expected. Recipes are best suited to cooks with some experience; chapters are arranged according to courses, e.g., "Antipasti" and "Frutte e Dolci." A final chapter covers simple, unusual gifts such as Prosciutto and Rosemary Breadsticks. Menu suggestions (Vegetarian Summer Buffet; Christmas Eve Dinner) are offered in sidebars; Tomie de Paola illustrates accompanying holiday folktales. Author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Esposito, host of the long-running PBS series Ciao Italia and author of two popular collections of her own homestyle cooking, Ciao Italia (Hearst, 1991) and Nella Cucina (LJ 5/15/93), now offers recipes and menus for special occasions and seasons of the year. This larger-format book presents festive but mostly easy traditional dishes for weddings, holidays, and other celebrations.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.