Cookbook Corner: Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis

This week’s Cookbook Corner honoree is Everyday Cooking by Giada De Laurentiis. Most of you know that Giada is a well known “celebrity chef” on Food Network. I’m a huge fan of her show, so I own every one of her cookbooks. I’ve cooked from and love them all…but Everyday Italian is my personal favorite. I highly recommend this book to any cook who wants to learn the basics of simple…yes, everyday…Italian cooking.

What I like best about Giada’s recipes is that they are simple, mostly quick to make, and consistently turn out great! These recipes won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours, but they have a ton of great flavor. This cookbook features “classic” Italian dishes, but it also contains a lot of fresh, modern takes on Italian cuisine.

My two favorite recipes from the book are the yummy Salsa all'Amatriciana and the Simple Bolognese Sauce. Both take less than an hour to make from start to finish, but they are full of flavor. To make them even easier, I make both of these sauces with canned San Marzano tomatoes. Every time I serve the Amatriciana sauce to my dinner guests, they always ask for seconds. Then they rave and rave…and then they ask for the recipe!!

I highly recommend Everyday Italian to anyone looking to expand their repertoire of Italian recipes.