Mario Batali Holiday Food - Books - Good Grape Wine Company

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Never is the generosity and spirit of the Italian table more evident than at the holidays, when great food and good times are on the menu in every household. In his new book, Mario Batali captures all the flavors of this festive season with enticing recipes that showcase the brilliance of simple Italian food at its best.

Four complete menus offer abundant meals for the holidays, starting with the seafood extravaganza known as the Feast of Seven Fishes, traditionally served on Christmas Eve. Mario's rendition includes almost a dozen delectable fish and seafood dishes, from delicate sea bass ravioli to the indispensable baccala, here served in the Vesuvian style. A magnificent boned and rolled turkey breast stuffed with roasted chestnuts is the centerpiece of a lavish Christmas Day's menu, while an assortment of alluring finger foods and a showstopping ziti-and-meatball-filled pasta dome set the tone for a lively New Year's Eve celebration. For the relaxed entertaining of New Year's Day, Mario suggests a procession of marinated salads, pastas, and stuffed vegetables, all served at room temperature, capped off with fresh homemade sausage with sweet peppers.

One of the great pleasures of cooking at this time of the year is baking, and Mario Batali Holiday Food includes recipes for a dozen irresistible holiday cookies, some authentically Italian and others family favorites Mario has relished since childhood. You'll also find a host of delectable tortes, custards, cakes, and confections as well as wine suggestions and a refreshing aperitivo to round out each holiday menu.

Whether you're creating a full-blown Italian spread or simply adding a touch of Italy to your own family traditions, Mario Batali Holiday Food will make your holiday gatherings memorably delicious.

Amazon.com Review
With the infectious enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning, Mario Batali--who presides over a culinary empire that includes the popular Food Network television show Molto Mario, four acclaimed New York restaurants, and a wine store--presents four complete menus for the holidays and captures all the fun and festivity that epitomize Italian celebrations. True to the commitment to simple cooking evident in his first book, Simple Italian Food, the dishes here deliver maximum flavor and enjoyment without being overly complicated.

Batali's version of the famous Italian seafood extravaganza traditionally served on Christmas Eve--known as the Feast of Seven Fishes--includes no fewer than 15 enticing dishes. Marinated Fresh Anchovies are both surprisingly delectable and delightful in their simplicity. Salt Cod with Capers and Mint, Grilled Lobster with Herbs and Arugula, and Sea Bass Ravioli with Marjoram and Potatoes would each be showstoppers as the centerpiece of any meal. Served together, they comprise a truly unforgettable feast.

The Christmas Day menu is equally lavish, centering on a succulent boned turkey breast stuffed with chestnuts and prunes, while the New Year's Day spread is pure decadence. The latter begins innocently enough, with a refreshing aperitivo of tangerine juice, Compari, and soda, then proceeds through a parade of richly flavored dishes, from the hot-pepper-spiked Octopus in the Style of the Prostitutes of Napoli, to the meatball-filled "mythic pasta dome" known as Timpano di Maccheroni, to the prosciutto-wrapped Braised Pork Roll. An irresistible selection of dolci (sweets), including Cinnamon Chocolate Pudding with Pine Nuts and Waffle Cookies, rounds out the meal. New Year's Day welcomes a relaxed daylong open house replete with an ever-changing spread of antipasti, pasta, and dolci, most of which can be prepared at leisure and served at room temperature, enabling the hosts to enjoy the party as much as the guests.

Photos, along with helpful wine suggestions and practical advice on technique, accompany each menu. Throughout, Batali paints a portrait of his Italian-American family that reminds readers that the simple joy of being together is what the holidays are really about. The 60 simple yet elegant recipes can be mixed, matched, and adapted for any occasion. Served together or separately, each is cause for celebration. --Robin Donovan

Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

"Four Menus, Four Festive Meals." February 14, 2008
29 out of 32 found this review helpful

This is a compendium of distinctive recipes designed for four holidays, from Christmas eve through to New years day in elegant Italian style. The recipes make use of seasonal ingredients & shows a modest cross section of the regional variety of Italian cooking traditions. But, it is on the whole a book on the region of Campania. It includes color pictures of the food itself that are both more numerous & of finer quality than in his other books. Like many Asians, Italians truly revel in small portions of several types of dishes.

This is cooking from scratch, no breezy shortcuts here. But, the instructions are direct & the results are very worthwhile. The sixty recipes are adaptable so that they can be mixed & matched for any occasion one wishes. From the Christmas day turkey breast stuffed with Prunes & Chesnuts to the vibrant Tangerine juice Aperitivo, you will find all these recipes mouth watering. Lastly, the wine suggestions helped in the celebratory enjoyment that is the "heart & soul of Italian cuisine."

5 out of 5 stars

A Treasure! January 21, 2008
I just re-ordered this book as I lost the first one I bought. Contrary to what some other reviews have said, I like the fact that it is a small book with special or holiday recipes. I have several other Italian cookbooks, including the Silver Spoon and Essentials of Italian Cooking, and while I really like those books, the volume of recipes is often overwhelming when I am looking for a special holiday dish. So far I have made the broccoli saffriti, spaghetti all cozze (spicy spaghetti with mussels), Strangulapreti all sorrentina (Gnocchi with tomato sauce and Mozzella) and the pizzelles and they have all been great! Since I haven't made the other dishes I can not say how they will turn out, but so far I have not been disappointed. As for the book itself, it is truly beautiful and I enjoy looking at the pictures and reading about Mario's personal holiday experiences.

Based on my experience with this book, I am eager to buy Mario's other cookbooks.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent as always January 18, 2007
While we ultimately didn't have the opportunity to make any of these recipes for the holidays, my wife and I read through most of them and they look wonderful. We own every cookbook Mario's written and we've eaten in two of his NYC restaurants, so we're very familiar with his style and the quality of his work. In fact, the "Feast of the Seven Fishes" in the book is very much like his Christmas Eve menu at Lupa, his place on Thompson St. in the Village.

Very high recommendation from real Italian "foodies" (we spent 3 weeks in Italy last year....)

4 out of 5 stars

Fabulous cookbook on Italian holiday food January 2, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I was really surprised by this small cookbook. Now when I saw small, it means that it isn't your typical full sized cookbook with in excess of 200 pages, it is a nice hundred pages or so cookbook. Some wonderful features of this cookbook are the pictures, the wonderful recipes, and the text that is written with the recipes.

Perhaps you are like me and enjoy cookbooks with vivid pictures. I like to know what my efforts are going to look like. This book has some of the best food photographs that I have seen. Some of this is the chosing of attractive dishes, some of it is just fabulous photography.

While I really enjoy the photographs in this book, some of that is the skill of the photographer, while the larger part of that is the choice of recipes. Mario Batali, seems to like earthy, rustic food. I like that you do not have to measure everything so exact. I like that there are natural flexibilities added into the recipes, like if you don't have xxx, use this instead. Italian cooking is all about the freshness of the ingredients, and you see this theme throughout his book.

I also like that he explains why he chose those recipes, what the significance of those recipes are. This is helpful is chosing what drinks you will serve with the food, what side dishes or desserts you will pare with the food and so much more.

I highly recommend this book to you, it really isn't just about holiday food, but more. I rate this book with 4 stars simply because the book is smaller, and for the money, if your just starting out with him, I would go with one of his standard cookbooks if you are looking for a greater resource of Italian recipes.

5 out of 5 stars

Lots of great recipes October 6, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I enjoy Mario Batali's quality work, both his interesting/funny TV shows and his interesting/beautiful books (the photographs are beautiful). Often when you buy quality Italian cookbooks with traditional recipes you get the feeling that it's been produced for professional chefs only. The recipes are too advanced and time consuming, and often require access to an Italian food market in order to get all ingredients. The recipes in this book range from uncomplicated to advanced but is "possible" for regular hobby chefs. Most of the ingredients are available at regular grocery stores. However, this doesn't mean that the food and all the dishes are too basic or uncomplicated; it's just that they are "within" reach for us regular guys. I'm sure that both hobby- and more advanced chefs also can appreciate and learn a lot from this book.