Simple recipes, written with love.
934378
You can tell that the contributors to this recipe book were speaking from their heart, and writing with love. The recipes are simple and healthy, yet unique and creative. I can't wait to try every single one!
3466565
Beautiful pictures, easy to follow recipes, and cute little comic quips.  The author gives the reader an insight into her family and heritage.  I feel as though I am cooking alongside her.
4148500
The recipes are so easy, using all the normal basic ingredients available whenever you need them. They are really wonderful to prepare.
1869058
Lari has bravely written a book that celebrates food as we once loved it-because it tasted good. Each recipe is accompanied by a nostaligic note that enhances its flavor. There are kindly written hints with each recipe that you will hear in your mother or grandmother's voice when you read.

Your heart,soul and stomach will be satisfied.
3832197
Stories gave a nice touch. Love the recipes.
1408651
The ingredients are simple and each recipe is well illustrated and the whole family can enjoy.i will use it often.
3352634
To say I love cooking is an understatement, and it naturally follows that I would have a kitchen full of wonderful cookbooks. I received Rozanne Gold's Radically Simple from the Amazon Vine Program. Here's my take on it:

First, it's a lovely, coffee-table-sized volume with 325 recipes from award-winning chef Rozanne Gold, noted for their simplicity and ease of preparation to the use of just a few ingredients. Obviously, this is no mean feat, but Gold's preference for simple and fat dishes surpasses all others in that one would think her delectable dishes were hours in preparation.

The 340-page book contains juice blends, ten-minute salads, breakfast treats such as Palacsintas (Hungarian crepes) with Apricot Jam and Powdered Sugar-definitely on my list of recipes to try, a homemade cream cheese in the "Set Up Overnight" section, Spiced Salmon on a Moroccan Salad-a beautiful chunk of rare seasoned salmon on a bed of orange slices with red onion and oil-cured black olives. Not only are the recipes delicious sounding, they are artfully presented. Another section covers simple salad dressings, still another cold and hot soups. There's sections for pasta, fish, meat and  poultry (one dish I'm planning to try is Gold's "Almost" Confit Chicken with Melted Garlic which uses bone-in chicken thighs, allspice, nutmeg and fresh thyme.) Slow and Easy provides recipes for potatoes, rice, veggie sides such as Braised Red cabbage with Cranberries-a staple in my German-American family. Ten-minute Desserts offer fruits, flan, Chocolate-Coconut Fondue and my favorite, a simple delight using ricotta with a side of lemon curd. What could be easier?

Photographs of the dishes are liberally sprinkled throughout the book, and no recipe has more than 140 words to describe its preparation.

Buy this book, enjoy it, and you may never go back to your elaborate preparations again.

Brava Ms. Gold. We need Radically Simple recipes. A brilliant idea whose time has come.

Two floury thumbs up.
1085038
Recipes offered in this book are solid, simple, tasty recipes offered by an actor you just have to love.  Despite the simplicity, there are a lot of excellent recipes to be found in this book.  And maybe a lot of the excellence stems from the fact that they are so simple.

Plenty of pretty pictures, but not necessarily one for each recipe.  There are a lot of pictures of the actor in action (cooking, that is), plus pictures of his wife and his children.  It makes for an interesting read, in addition to a good volume of recipes to keep close at hand.  Included are his recipes, family recipes, friends recipes, some from favorite or memorable restaurants.

There are some new ingredients for me to get to know:  Puntarella, trofiette, liquid aminos, nutritional yeast, for example.

There might be a few gripes from less experienced cooks:  Instructions and ingredient lists are sometimes too brief:  Flip or turn the frittata and cook for a minute more.  Yeah, tell that to a cook making their first frittata..  Or ingredients that don't explain what they are, or don't give size:  Three zucchini; one large pompano, sea bass, grouper or red snapper, (Wow, there is a lot of leeway there!); puntarella, Mostarda di Frutta, (I had to do internet searches on those two); add whatever you like to a frittata; okay, how much can I add before it won't hold together?  But those things are not enough to affect my rating on the book.

While the recipes are simple,they are definitely not meager, and the results are luscious.  There are some not-too-simple recipes included, too.  An experienced home cook probably will have seen many of these recipes in some shape or form many times before, but the fact that they are gathered together in one book, and done with Tucci style, is a real draw.  I'm liking this book quite a lot!

There are not only Italian dishes, but also British (thanks to his wife Felicity nee Blunt).

My 'odds and ends' notes:
--Plenty of seafood recipes, beautiful meat dishes, classic pasta and rice dishes, interesting techniques.
--Some odd inclusions:  Baked beans made with a 32-ounce can of Bushs, for example.
--Some recipes in the sides chapter seem a bit too basic:  Greens with olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes; grilled spring onions with olive oil and salt; fried green tomatoes; polenta; mashed potatoes; roasted tomatoes; roasted cauliflower slices.
--The dessert chapter is full of goodness, but I think it is probably the weakest chapter.  The Tucci adults claim that they are not much into sweets.

**I received a temporary download of this book from the publisher.
258595
Love the way she makes the recipes simple to follow and not high end fancy ingredients. A common sense book.
3250291
My sister wrote this book, so many of the recipes are near and dear to my heart.  Roe not only has seven, (not six) kids, but is the oldest of a family with eleven kids.  As the eldest, Roe was (and is) a terrific big sister, over-the-top in the hospitality department, and also a fabulous cook.  Whenever I visit from Maine, which is as often as possible, I will find Roe trying a new recipe, probably doubled or tripled so she can feed the small army that always seems to surround her.  I recommend this book for its simple and delicious recipes, as well as for the stories shared throughout that will warm your heart and help you to want to make your own family memories around favorite recipes and traditions.
3605955
I love the simplicity of the instructions here as well as the inclusion of the preparation and cooking time. I am a very busy person. But I love to eat as well. This appliance and the recipes in this book make great partners for me in the kitchen.

Recommended!
1835021
I love his passion and his love for simplicity.  Many of the recipes are simple and I thought wow, I forgot about that!  But he inspires me and reminds me of the joy of preparing simple food but with love and passion.  I will make many of the recipes included here and enjoy just sitting down and reading his stories.
32685
Simon Hopkinson is a venerable English chef and newspaper columnist who enjoys pushing for simple, home-y food. This cookbook, originally published in London in 1994, is a small but useful collection of Hopkinson's favorite recipes, along with personal stories and asides to accompany each one.

My husband is a retired chef and his most basic meals are my favorites. Not that I don't love the rolled and stuffed game hens or the complex pat&eacute;s, but nothing compares to his beef lentil soup and his roast chicken with garlic buttermilk mashed potatoes.

In Roast Chicken and Other Stories we find a celebration of simple home cooking. There's plenty of butter, cream, and other "no-no's" to be found, but very little processed pre-cooked and microwaved food. This book celebrates fresh food, be it potatoes, chicken, or calves brains. It is simply organized around Hopkinson's favorite ingredients, and while many of them are not appetizing to an American taste (i.e., kidneys, tripe, sweetbreads) there is enough that is universal enough to suit us all.

Hopkinson writes in a very conversational style with many cooking tips in the prose and not in the recipes, so it is important that you read the entire book and then bookmark the recipes you like. For example, he tells us that boiling is better than steaming for vegetables to maintain color and texture (just don't overdo it) and that canned Italian tomatoes will work better in most stews and sauces than fresh Western tomatoes.

My favorite recipes? The Eggs Florentine, the Chocolate Tart, and the ubiquitous Roast Chicken. But again, don't just buy Roast Chicken and Other Stories for the recipes - but for the prose. Witty, warm, and interesting tales will make you feel like you are in the kitchen with a good friend who also happens to be great cook, and who doesn't like that?
4317941
Clearly written, down home, cozy, feel good recipes.  Includes suggestions for sides and sauces.  Nothing complicated.  Just good home cooking--with a flair.

The book is nicely bound with a ring type plastic binding, allowing the pages to open completely and the book to lie flat while trying to read the recipes.  Hardcover allows the book to stand on its own, or slide neatly, into the book shelf

Artwork on the cover makes this a pretty entry on the kitchen shelf.
4001285
I had the honor to be a recipe tester for this book, so I got a sneak preview of some of the recipes ... and I liked what I tasted!

For my part, I tested and fell in love with the Pineapple Fried Rice (a brilliant blend of flavors), Kevin's Carrots (maple glazed, yum!), and the Dilled Pan-Roasted Carrots (can you tell I like carrots?).  Time wise, I still haven't managed to make my way through the many recipes I want to make, such as the Wholesome Snack Muffins, Spaghetti and Meatball Soup, Hoisin Chicken, Everyday Barbecue Sauce, Molasses Chewies, and the Incredible Apricot Coffee Cake (with a name like that, how can I pass it up?). But, considering how easy her recipes are to throw together, I will likely find myself reaching for this cookbook to whip up one of the many dinner recipes when we are down to the basics in our cupboard and fridge.

Linda keeps it simple with recipes that use everyday pantry items and have relatively few ingredients.  In fact, it is easy to picture her kitchen: your basic selection of easy to find dried herbs and spices; necessities such as white and wheat flour, brown and white sugars, cooking oil, dairy-free margarine, vinegar, rice, broth, canned fruits and vegetables, inexpensive dried fruits, and a small assortment of pasta shapes; and some "shortcut" condiments that you can find in nearly every grocery store, such as bottled garlic and ginger, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, Dijon mustard, and perhaps a jar of sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil. Add some fresh fruits and vegetables to your cart, along with some chicken and beef, and you can make most of the recipes in this book while keeping well within (even below) budget!

As for the vitals, the cookbook is a handy size (roughly 8.5" x 5.5"), contains 115 recipes, and covers the basic range of soups, salads, meals, vegetables, breakfast items, snacks, and desserts.  Linda moves away from the norm, taking a practical approach to chapters.  Rather than "entrees" the chapters are broken down to type, like Beef, Chicken, and Pasta, and rather than "desserts" you will find chapters for Cookies and Cakes. Those few that don't possess a sizable enough category, fit snuggly into the Miscellaneous chapter.  The layout is extremely neat and tidy, with just one recipe per page (many with room for notes).
660929
The recipes are clearly written.  The book is well organized.
3064392
Beautifully written and photographed. Ahearn's clear passion for food, farming, and cookery is inspiring. Her descriptions are thoughtful and interesting. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I look forward to preparing the recipes for family and friends.