Italian Immigrant Cooking

by Elodia Rigante

Elodia takes us to an era when the "old timers," those born in Italy but living in America, grew figs in their backyards and made wine in their basements, a time when her mother made pasta by hand on the kitchen table and picked fresh herbs from the kitchen garden to create traditional, aromatic, and mouth-watering meals.
Here you will find her tips on how to cook a rich man's dish on a poor man's pocket, and her time-saving shortcuts for making traditional Italian fare quickly, so that you can enjoy the taste of the Old World while keeping up with the fast pace of the New. Elodia shares her secrets here, including her wisdom about the "hand of the cook," the crucial ingredient treasured in Old Italy that makes the difference between passable food preparation and truly great cooking.
There are surprises here for the health conscious, too. The cuisine that her parents brought with them from the Old Country was centered around the fresh fruits and vegetables that grew in their region of southern Italy, and around the abundant seafood available there.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

Hardcover

First published October 15, 1996

Reviews

[Kara]

This is one of my favourite cookbooks of all time. It belongs to my boyfriends father, and everytime I go for a visit I always end up at the table after dinner, relaxing with a cup of tea, and flipping through this cookbook. I have probably read it from cover to cover a dozen times. My favourite kind of cookbooks are one's that are very personal, and written in such a passionate way as you really feel the atmosphere the in which the food was originally cooked. This book makes me feel the same was as I do when I flip through my own grandmothers German recipes.

My boyfriends family has made almost all of the dishes from this book and they are always delicious. There's some beautiful dessert recipes, and an anecdote about the grandfather dipping slices off a peach into his red wine after dinner paving the way to a red wine soaked peach recipe always sticks out in my mind. My only wish is that my boyfriends dad wouldnt covet it so much so I could steal it for myself, wahaha.

Also, the writer, Elodia Riganta, is ADORABLE. I just want to hang out with her all day and watch her make cannoli's.

Beautiful book, I definitely recommend it!

[Carrie]

I've only made a couple of the recipes in this book so I'm not sure how it rates as a cookbook, but I love the stories and photos of this Italian family interspersed in the pages. The pictures of the dishes are mouthwatering as well.

[Msdldavies]

We love this cookbook. It is truly immigrant cooking. We have made so many recipes from this and we cook them exactly the way the instructions say. I use the Brooklyn gravy recipe for homemade tomato sauce from our garden. Everything I have made is delicious!

[Laura]

my absolute all-time favorite cookbook...my sister-in-law treat this as our Christmas dinner bible!

[Karen]

I love Ms. Rigante's passion for cooking. Directions are detailed and easy to follow.

[Robert Johnson]

Hands down, the best Italian cookbook out there! Just like Nonnie used to make!

[Carol Sutphin]

Loved it! Wonderful recipes.

[Mindy]

Obsessed with old-school Italian food. This cookbook is my absolute favorite, bar none. Thank you, Mom!

[Cathleen Coombs]

I love the recipes in this cookbook! I received it as a gift many years ago and it is a most treasured cookbook.

[Stephanie]

One of my all time favorite cookbooks....

[Tara Malone]

This is the best Italian cookbook of all times! Brings me right back to my Grandmother’s kitchen. The recipes are totally authentic and delicious but the photos & personal anecdotes and stories are what makes this book truly special. We refer to this cookbook as the “bible” for our Italian Christmas Eve Feast. Wish I could contact the author to let her know how special she & her book are.