Cookbook Review

Italian Family Dining: Recipes, Menus, and Memories of Meals with a Great American Food Family By Edward Giobbi and Eugenia Giobbi Bone Published by Rodale November 2005;$27.50US/$37.50CAN

It's mealtime, and the family gathers around the table. There may be a dish of pasta to start, or a bowl of soup. To follow, perhaps some tuna sausage and roasted peppers, or chicken with mint. A salad? Well, maybe, if it's a big meal. Salad at this point in the meal is good for digestion. For dessert, a piece of fruit. If the occasion is special, then a granita or a torta. Each dish celebrates the bounty of the season. And each pause between these small courses -- indeed, the entire meal -- is punctuated with lively conversation. The result? Satisfaction. Contentment. And a very healthful meal. This is Italian Family Dining.

Thirty years after the publication of his classic book, Italian Family Cooking, Edward Giobbi has joined his daughter Eugenia Giobbi Bone to share more recipes for the way we want to eat today. When a cook follows the seasons, little is needed to turn one or two ingredients into a work of art. Swordfish with Peas reveals the essence of late spring and can be made in less than 30 minutes. Come winter, Potato, Rice, and Sausage Soup might cook for less than an hour, but the result -- whether for lunch, with a salad, or as a first course for dinner -- is spectacular.

Included as well in Italian Family Dining are recipes for the big meals, the celebrations like Easter or Christmas Eve, when cooking begins with the rising of the sun and the meal ends long after the sun has set.

Throughout the book, Eugenia reflects upon meals al fresco, mushrooms and wild greens, how Italians eat pasta, fruit for dessert, and vegetables for dinner. These essays are our entrée into the life of an Italian family, and by themselves make this book worth returning to again and again.

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