title: Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes
author: Nigella Lawson

publication date: February 12, 2013
publisher: Knopf Canada

What I am is an Englishwoman who has lived in Italy, who loves Italian food, and has been inspired and influenced by that: my food and the way I cook demonstrate as much.
— Nigella Lawson (Nigellissima)

Many of the recipes in Nigella Lawson’s previous cookbooks are Italian-inspired, so it wasn’t a complete surprise to learn she was releasing a book dedicated to Italian cooking.

The book doesn’t stray far from her signature cookbook style – simple fonts, gorgeous photography, clear recipe layous and the recipes are all introduced with some background information and/or a personal story from Nigella.

Although it’s not integral to the ‘cooking’ part of the book, I love these personal stories before each recipe. I could sit down with a cup of tea and read through cookbooks this way! It’s always fun to read how authors were inspired to create certain recipes or how certain foods take them back to a childhood memory.

Quick Calabrian Lasagna

the first nibble:

There are lots of Italian dishes that I recognize, like lasagnas, meatballs and semifreddos, but lots of other completely new-to-me recipes that look promising, like struffoli, saffron orzotto and panettone squares.
On my first pass through the book, five recipes that jumped out as ‘must try’:

• Mini Macaroni & Cheese All’Italiana, pg.14
• Pasta Risotto with Peas & Pancetta, pg.43
• Tagliata for Two, pg.70
• Vanilla Panna Cotta, pg.156
• Italian Breakfast Banana Bread, pg.188

 
the nitty-gritty:

number of recipes (as stated by book): “120 straightforward and mouthwatering recipes”

recipe list? No, but there is an Recipe Index at the back of the book

table of contents:

photography: Every recipe in the book is accompanied by a beautiful colour photograph of the resulting dish (and a few recipes have step-by-step photos). The backgrounds are almost exclusively black or white, letting the colours of the food take centre stage.

photo to recipe ratio*:  out of 114 total recipes**, 114 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 1)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted

recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? no
– recipe format: paragraphs

Ingredients are well laid out and instructions are clear and broken down into short paragraphs, with the start of each paragraph in bold.

Each recipe is accompanied by a short introduction, which generally includes things like comments about the ingredients, the history of the dish or a personal story from Nigella.

The recipes are written in a clear, easy-going style and are just as pleasant to read for pleasure as it is to follow in the kitchen.

Italian Tray Bake

the last bite:

I’m a little biased when it comes to Nigella’s books, as I have a pretty good success rate with her recipes. With Nigellissima, I found some of the ingredients listed were new to me, but I’m sure it’s nothing that a trip to our Italian grocery store won’t fix. The recipes are all very easy to understand and nothing in this book looks intimidating to attempt.

I didn’t really need the “Christmas section” – even though Paul is half-Italian, I don’t think I would ever specifically look for dishes to cook that are Italian-specific for the December holidays. Considering I already own Nigella’s Christmas-themed cookbook, this section seemed a little unnecessary.

With the exception of the Christmas section, the book flows nicely and it’s easy to flip through and be inspired to cook something from every section to put together a delicious, Italian-inspired meal.

cooking the book

Spaghettini with lemon & garlic breadcrumbs

what worked: This was a super, simple pasta dish that I could easily put together with things I already had in my kitchen. No need to run out for any special ingredients.
what didn’t work: Nothing really. Paul wasn’t a fan of the lemon-flavoured pasta, but I really enjoyed it.
did your dish look like the one pictured in the cookbook? Very close, I think!
ease/expense of ingredients: I had all the ingredients on hand, and they are all things that I would normally have in my kitchen.
would you make this again?: Probably. The only reason I wouldn’t would be because, as I mentioned above, Paul didn’t really care for it. But I really liked it, so maybe I’ll make it for my work-lunches.

Click here to purchase Nigellissima from The Book Depository (free worldwide shipping) or Amazon.

Crab Crostini

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