Product Description

Italy and its wonderful flavors have always had a major influence on Jamie Oliver's food and cooking. In Jamie's Italy, he travels this famously gastronomic country paying homage to the classic dishes of each region and searching for new ideas to bring home. The result is a sensational collection of Italian recipes, old and new, that will ensure that Italy's influence reaches us all. Italy has inspired Jamie Oliver throughout his career. His ambition has always been to travel across the country on a quest to capture the very essence of Italian cooking -- and to produce the best and simplest Italian cookbook for everybody anywhere to enjoy. Jamie's Italy is the result of that journey -- and it's a land of plenty. As well as providing more than 120 brand-new recipes for everything from risotto to roasts and spaghetti to stews, structured as traditional trattoria menus, Jamie takes you all over Italy to cook with and learn from the real masters of Italian cuisine: the locals. Far from the standard "lemons and olives" version of Italian cooking, Jamie's Italy is a cookbook by the people for the people. From Sicily to Tuscany, it's about the local fishermen, family bakers, and, of course, the "Mamas," sharing their recipes and the tips that have gone into their cooking for generations. But it's not only mouthwatering food that Jamie brings back home: it's also the spirit that makes cooking and eating absolutely central to family life, whichever part of Italy you're in. Bursting with the warmth and hospitality of real family life, this is both asuperbly accessible cookbook and a unique travelogue and diary, in which you'll find the authentic flavor of Italy and the people who live there. If you love quality food prepared with genuine passion -- you'll never want to leave Jamie's Italy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14560 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-14
• Released on: 2006-10-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Oliver, television's Naked Chef, may have been born in Southend-on-Sea, but he turns out to have an Italian soul in this collection of recipes from all over the Boot. As an outsider, Oliver has great reverence for the traditions of Italy, and he offers some surprisingly deep insight about how a lack of choice and a massive working-class population have kept those traditions alive. This is no sugar-coated fairy tale, however: Oliver doesn't hesitate to get down-and-dirty, as in a description of Palermo street food served by hand from a "chain-smoking, dirty-looking bloke," and he cogently explains why he insisted on including a "graphic and gruesome" photo of a slaughtered sheep. Indeed, Oliver enthusiastically encourages British and American readers to familiarize themselves with foods less common in their home countries such as rabbit. Nonna Giusy's Fish with Couscous reflects the African influences of Sicily, and Altamura Pea Soup with fresh peas and broken spaghetti perfectly represents the Italian genius for making something out of almost-nothing. Desserts include a simple Pear Sorbet with grappa. Candid photos such as one of Oliver's mentor's father, a 96-year-old who cooks for himself every day reinforce the personal feel of this collection, and the impression that Oliver has a deep affinity for Italian food, no matter his British roots. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Andrew Scalvani, New York Times
"His books make me want to shop, cook, and sit down to eat."

About the Author
Jamie Oliver grew up in his parents’ country pub, the Cricketers in Clavering, where he started cooking at the age of eight, before studying at London’s Westminster Catering College. He then went on to work with some of the top chefs in England -- namely Antonio Carluccio at the Neal Street Restaurant and Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Café. He writes for the Sunday Telegraph and News of the World and has columns in magazines all over the world. Jamie is now running Fifteen restaurant, one of the best restaurants in London, and he started and continues to be involved with the Fifteen Foundation, which provides training and mentoring for disadvantaged young people. He lives in London with his wife, Jools, and their daughters, Poppy and Daisy.

Customer Reviews

Jamie Oliver Italy
Love his new book and great ideas. Have not made anything as yet. Love my cook books.

WOW amazing receipes
This is a brilliant cook book (my favorite from Jamie thus far) . I have cooked about 20 of the recipes either for guests or for my girlfriend and myself and all have agreed that the food tastes wonderful. This is a highly recommended book with easy and simple instructions on each dish. The ingredients also are quite easy once you have your own little herb garden, the rest is pretty basic. have really enjoyed cooking from this book.

simplicity italian style
In keeping with his philosophy that cooking should be about minimal preparation of the freshest seasonally available ingredients Jamie Oliver has given us a treatment of Italian cuisine that shows the reader how easy it is to create delicious authentic Italian dishes. His writing style is relaxed and funny, (if you've ever seen Jamie on television you'll hear his charming voice as you read), and the photographs are gorgeous. Most importantly, the reader comes away not only with a catalog of wonderful recipies, but an understanding of the basic principles of Italian cooking that will let the reader create his or her own Italian dishes using whatever is seasonally available at his or her own local market. I was able to do just that a few days after finishing the book. I took one of the book recipes for silk handkerchiefs with pesto and used fava beans, (which had just come into season), fresh thyme, and parmigiano reggiano instead of pesto. The result was one of the best meals I have ever cooked. Jamie Oliver gives you the confidence to modify his recipes according to the principles of Italian regional cooking, (or simply invent you own!), with wonderful results.