Product Description

Rick Tramonto, one of America’s most renowned and award-winning chefs and author of Amuse-Bouche, among other titles, now has written a cookbook showcasing the best of Italian cuisine, the food he grew up eating and has explored in depth on his extensive travels throughout the country. The little plates in Fantastico! are all tempting, tasty dishes that can be mixed and matched for relaxed cooking and dining in true Italian style..

Italians have traditionally enjoyed this small-plate way of eating and now Americans have caught on. Increasingly, restaurants specializing in this kind of experience have been opening across the country. With Fantastico! fans of Italian food have the opportunity to reproduce at home the irresistible dishes served at enotecas, osterias, trattorias, pizzerias, and ristorantes throughout Italy, for quick weeknight meals or innovative entertaining.

Fantastico! is the ideal source for a stunning array of antipasti, assaggios, salumis, and cheeses, the perfect accompaniments to a variety of wines and surprising additions to everyday and formal meals. Tramonto’s terrific recipes, accompanied by wine recommendations and his tips on buying the best ingredients, provide readers with the inspiration and the know-how they need to make a big impression by thinking small. The selection includes such festive recipes as Tramonto’s Razor Clams Casino and Roasted Medjool Dates with Gorgonzola, Bacon, and Toasted Walnuts; innovative ideas for grilled breads with robust toppings (bruschetta) and little toasts with refined toppings (crostini); an extraordinary variety of panini, along with wonderful Venetian-style, open-faced mini-sandwiches (cicchetti); and a delightful assortment of simple-to-prepare dishes—including a spectacular canned tuna salad with a caper and herb vinaigrette—Tuna Conserva Cicchetti—that will enliven traditional antipasti platters and serve as the centerpiece of a light meal for family and friends.

With more than 100 simple recipes and beautiful full-color photographs, Fantastico! will inspire anyone who loves the casual charm of Italian cooking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #298920 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-06
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Tramonto, four-star chef, partner in five Chicago-based restaurants, including the highly acclaimed Tru, and author of Amuse Bouche, presents a tasty look at the Italian version of tapas—small bites and little plates that serve as appetizers and entire meals. Easy-to-prepare dishes with mouth-watering photographs whet the appetite and are perfect for entertaining. Tramonto covers all the bases with chapters on crudo, bruschetta, crostini, panini, antipasti and more. Recipes such as Grilled Shrimp Wrapped in Pancetta with Lemon Aioli offer a classic preparation as well as a shortcut using prepared mayonnaise. Mini Veal Meatballs with Caramelized Onions and Crostini with Chopped Egg and Asparagus provide a new twist to some old favorites. Tramonto also highlights traditional Italian dishes such as Creamy Soft Polenta with Meat Ragu and Rick's Basic Bruschetta. The chapter on cheese offers tantalizing alternatives to dessert, such as Gorgonzola Dolce with Roasted Pears and Spiced Walnuts. Full-color photos. (Nov.)
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Review

“FANTASTICO!, the new book by Rick Tramonto, is truly delightful. With simple recipes for small bites and little plates, Rick unfurls some of the best and tastiest of Italian recipes. This is a book that will have you salivating before you start cooking.”
— Lidia Bastianich, chef and author of Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen

“Small plates is how I love to eat—after all, I grew up eating Chinese dim sum. Rick’s recipes remind me of dim sum, with their focus on flavors and comfort. Dim sum means “to touch the heart” and this cookbook, filled with great recipes and stories, will do just that.”
Ming Tsai, chef and owner of Blue Ginger, host of Simply Ming

“Rick is one of my favorite chefs, and when I need a great Italian fix and can’t make it to Italy, his osteria in Chicago is a favorite stop. There, I enjoy the crudo, crostini, his pastas, and antipasti. Sitting at a table crowded with small plates of beautiful food and wine with friends is such a perfect way to spend an evening. Rick’s dishes are simple but all possess brilliant flavors and a striking authenticity. How wonderful that he now has a whole book filled with these recipes!”

— Barbara Lynch, chef and owner of No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters, The Butcher Shop

“Rick Tramonto’s ability to reinterpret the classic Italian table in the American vernacular is nothing short of Olympian! The integrity of these small plates evokes the true soul of Italy and inspires me to cook them at home for my family. FANTASTICO! is truly magnifico!”
— Mario Batali

About the Author

RICK TRAMONTO
Recognized in 1994 as one of Food & Wine’s Top Ten Best New Chefs and in 2002 as Best Chef: Midwest Region by the James Beard Foundation, Tramonto has garnered international attention and a host of prestigious awards for his work at Trio, Brasserie T, and his renowned four-star, Relais-Gourmand restaurant Tru in Chicago. Tramonto, who has written four previous cookbooks, has appeared on Oprah, Today, CBS This Morning, and on the Food Network’s Iron Chef. In 2006 he founded Cenitare Restaurants, a restaurant-management and development company, with concepts including Osteria di Tramonto, Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood, and RT Lounge. He lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Eileen, and their children.

Mary Goodbody is a nationally known food writer and editor. Her credits include Tru and Amuse-Bouche with Rick Tramonto, and Taste Pure and Simple with Michael Nischan. The editor of the IACP Food Forum Quarterly, she lives outside New York with her daughter.

Customer Reviews

Assertive, flavorful Italian tapas
"The only hard-and-fast rule for these small taste treats is that the ingredients be the best you can find." Award-winning Chicago chef Tramonto ("Amuse-Bouche") celebrates small doses of assertive, fresh Italian flavor in which a mouthful or two is enough. Dishes are arranged within chapters so they move forward from spring to winter using seasonal ingredients; the photos are gorgeous and wine advice accompanies each recipe.

He begins with assagio (a morsel), intense little dishes like Marinated White Anchovy and Dandelion Salad or the Italian pickled vegetables Giardiniera, then moves on to crudo (raw, salted and marinated) - Oysters with Red Wine Vinaigrette; Crusted Ahi Tuna with Pomegranate Vinaigrette - and bocconcini (small simple plates) like Baby Artichokes with Lemon-Garlic Bread Crumbs.

There are chapters for bruschetta with "robust" toppings like Fennel and Green Olives and crostini with "refined" toppings like pureed Chicken Livers and Balsamic. Then comes panini - Truffled Scrambled Egg and Bacon - and cicchetti (mini Venetian-style sandwiches) - Fresh Ricotta and Sun-Dried Tomato.

And finally the antipasti (little plates before the pasta) - Creamy Soft Polenta with Meat Ragu; Abruzzi Swordfish Roll-Ups - and the cheese course - Scamorza with Arugula and Oranges.

What all the dishes have in common is a mouthwatering attention to detail, by which I mean the finest ingredients and no shortcuts. The Taleggio (cheese) with Quince Paste and Marcona Almonds, for instance, requires you to make the quince paste. If you have ever tried this, you will know what I mean by laborious, if you have not, well, the directions are clear and brazen.

Many dishes, however, are quite simple, though never slapdash and often requiring several steps. This is a book for those who like to cook, not just get food on the table.

Great many recipes
So many are so easy to make and you don`t need fancy stuff, which is sometimes hard to get