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Fabio’s Italian Kitchen:
Over 100 Delicious Family Recipes {Cookbook}

66 Comments

Fabios Italian Kitchen (cover)

Fabio's Italian Kitchen: Over 100 Delicious Family Recipes

by Fabio Viviani

Publisher: Hyperion

Publication Date: April 2013

Buy on Amazon

Featured Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup (Zuppa del Matrimonio)

In his gorgeously illustrated cookbook Fabio’s Italian Kitchen, Fabio Viviani shares the best of Italian home cooking while telling the story of his hardscrabble childhood, his success as a chef in the United States, and the women in his family who inspired him. In more than 150 delicious recipes, Viviani takes us from his family home, where his great-grandmother taught him to make staples like Italian apple cake and homemade ricotta, to the kitchen of a local trattoria, where he honed his craft cooking restaurant favorites like gnocchi and the perfect tiramisu, and then across Italy, where he studied each region’s finest recipes, from Piedmont’s braised ossobuco to Emilia Romagna’s perfect meat sauce. Fabio’s Italian Kitchen is a celebration of food and family that brings to your kitchen all the joy, fun, and flair that Fabio Viviani embodies.

Cooks&Books&Recipes Editors {Dee}, on Fabio’s Italian Kitchen:

Honest-to-gosh, I’d never heard of Fabio Viviani until I picked up this cookbook. How can that be? As noted in the bio above, he’s EVERYWHERE. I suppose the reason is that although I love cookbooks and recipes and chefs and cooking, I actually watch very little food-related TV. So I had no preconceptions when I started flipping through this book. After less than an hour, I was a bona fide Fabio fan. I probably still won’t watch the TV shows, but this cookbook is on my bedside table and will stay there a while longer. Why? I’ll quote Fabio himself: “My food is meant to be made and eaten. That’s it. It’s not meant to impress, it’s meant to feed people.” That’s my kind of cooking. Recipes that I enjoy cooking and that people enjoy eating. Recipes that cover a range of Italian favorites, with none of them (from what I can tell) requiring the knowledge or skills of a professionally trained chef.

The bonus is that Fabio helps us along, for instance by explaining what caramelized actually means (“when you can see color”) rather than giving a certain number of minutes for cooking. He offers notes from his kitchen and recipes for the basics (“Baby Steps”). And how can you not like a chef who devotes a chapter to the tried-and-true recipes of his mother, who didn’t even like to cook? The icing on the cake — or, rather, the chocolate on the tiramisu — consists of Fabio’s stories of his background and experiences. So yes, this one is still on my bedstand so that I can (1) try to prioritize which of the post-it-noted recipes (2/3 of the book) I’ll make next, and (2) finish reading Fabio’s story. “Is good time.”

The Cookbook Basics:

Paperback (7.2 x 9.2 inches); Kindle

304 pages; 150+ recipes; color photos of most recipes

Chapters and Sections: Baby Steps; Appetizers; Soups; Pasta, Gnocchi, & Risotto; Meat; Seafood; Chicken; Salads & Vegetables; Desserts; My Mom’s Bragging Rights; Fundamentals & Breads

Next-to-Try Recipes: Fried Rice Balls; Gnocchi with Sausage and Leeks; Butternut-Squash-Filled Roasted Pork Tenderloin; Grandma’s Canned Tuna; Hen with Sage-Garlic Sauce; Broken Potatoes with Burnt Lemon and Parmesan; Poached Pears with Ricotta and Balsamic Vinegar

In the Press: Salt Lake Tribune; Chicago Tribune; Publishers Weekly

About the author: Fabio Viviani is perhaps best known for his appearance on season 5 of Bravo’s hit reality series Top Chef in 2008, earning the “Fan Favorite” title. Viviani returned to Bravo in 2010 to compete in their Top Chef All Stars edition and a spinoff culinary reality show, Life After Top Chef. A gregarious host and entertaining guest, Viviani has appeared in a number of television cooking segments and is a recurring guest on television shows such as Good Morning America, The Talk, The Chew, Ellen, Good Day LA, and Access Hollywood, and he hosts a regular spot on the QVC channel with various kitchen appliances and products. He is also the host of the award-winning web series Chow Ciao! on Yahoo!, the #1 lifestyle and food show on the internet.

Cookbook Trailer:

Cookbook Giveaway

Thanks to publisher Hyperion, I get to share my (behind-the-times) “discovery” by giving away one copy of Fabio’s Italian Kitchen to a lucky Cooks&Books&Recipes reader. Enter below.

Giveaway Notes:

There are six ways to enter the giveaway, but it’s not necessary to do all six entries. Choose whichever one(s) you like, and you’ll be entered in the giveaway. The winner, to be randomly selected and notified by e-mail, must claim the cookbook within one week. Giveaway ends at midnight (EST) on Friday, June 21.
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Disclosure: Cooks&Books&Recipes receives books for possible review, though we make no promise that all books received will be featured. We highlight only those cookbooks that we feel will interest our readers. For this giveaway, we received a free copy of the book from the publisher. We received no monetary compensation for our review or giveaway.

Fabios Italian Kitchen (cover)

Fabios Italian Kitchen

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. We’re big fans of Fabio Viviani at our house since his appearances on Top Chef and other shows. Not only is he personable and likeable but he really knows his stuff. I’d be stoked to win us a copy.

    Reply

  4. Not gonna lie, I’ve had a tiny crush on Fabio since his appearance on Top Chef. And his demos on Yahoo are pretty good too! Needless to say, I’d love to win this book!

    Reply

  13. Pick me! Pick me! My Birthday is in July and I am unemployed this will be a great gift to myself! :)

    Reply

  28. I have this book on my Amazon wish list! Thanks for this chance to win a copy. It looks like a great book.

    Reply

  32. I love cookbooks. I find new things in them each time I look through them. I really hope I win this one!

    Reply

  52. Fabio makes cooking fun and he is so cute and nice to watch with his vino and recipes, love to have a cookbook, and bring out the Italian in me thank you

    Reply

  53. Whoops delete that last entry for me, I did not know I had enetered before, but Fabio has me overwhelmed…sorry

    Reply

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