Catherine's Italian Kitchen - Catherine Fulvio (Gill & Macmillan)

Picture from Gill & Macmillan

The lovely people at Gill & Macmillan contacted me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would be interested in receiving a copy of Catherine Fulvio's first cookbook prior to it's release date.  Would I? WOULD I?  Do they even have to ask?!  With a cook book addiction to feed and having maxed out my credit card recently with a full Amazon trolley I replied in the affirmative.  A few days later a lovely package fell with a thud through my letter box.  I get postively giddy when the post man arrives with a parcel for me and it was only seconds later that I had ripped the package open to reveal what lay within.  Instantly I knew I would love it.

The cover is beautiful, a table set for al fresco dining under clear blue skies, with Catherine looking radiant, ready to serve her dining companions.  I was busy right at that moment so vowed to sit down that evening to look through it properly.  But you see it kept calling to me from the kitchen table and so there I was, 5 minutes later, with my feet up and a line of drool running down my chin. Wah?!  I hadn't had lunch yet and I could almost taste the delights in each picture.

I actually don't think there was 1 recipe in the book that I thought to myself, "nah, I don't think I fancy that".  Everything looks and sounds delicious.  I found myself earmarking pretty much every page with a day on which to try it out, I eventually gave up on that and just resolved to give them all a bash, and soon.  This is a rare occurence for me as I usually find a few recipes in each book that either seem a little too complicated, have ingredients that are not readily available or that use a combination of ingredients just that little bit too adventurous for my humble taste buds.

Some of the things that I really like about Catherine's Italian Kitchen are:

• The book is visually stunning.  The pictures are beautifully styled, the food looks completely delicious and there are pretty, decorative elements throughout.
• Conversion tables have been included at the front to allow the reader to easily convert from metric to imperial if they so wish. 
• The introduction to the book includes some of the unwritten rules of food and cooking in Italy.  My personal favourite: "Chi la sera i posti li ha fatti, sta agli altri lavare i piatti" ("If one cooks the meal, then the others wash up")  I think this should be adopted as law in all countries.
• Recipes are grouped into sections eg. Antipasta, starters and salads, Soup, Fish, Sides etc.  Nothing ground breaking here but this is my preferred layout in cook books.  Some books follow a format of grouping complimentary starters, mains and desserts together and I have to say I have never cooked all three courses at the same time.  
• 'E' (Easy) and 'F' (Can Be Frozen) symbols accompany many recipes throughout the book.
• Catherine introduces each recipe explaining a little about it's history or her reason for liking it.
• An additional note follows each recipe with a tip to help with preparation or a suggestion for an adaptation to the recipe.

I have had this book in my possesion for a week now and already I have baked from it and made a beautiful dinner.  Both were really simple to make, were very quick to prepare and tasted delicious.  I am really looking forward to working my way through the rest of the recipes and I know that it will become one of my favourite 'go to' books when I am entertaining. 

Catherine Fulvio has suceeded in producing recipes that are accessible and achievable for all.  The book follows on from Catherine's hugely popoular RTE tv series of the same name, a second series 'Catherine's Roman Holiday' will air in September, and I have no doubt that the book will prove equally as popular.  Catherine's Italian Kitchen is published by Gill & Macmillan on August 27th 2010 and is priced at €19.99.  (Psssst, if you follow the little link there you can avail of a very generous 20% discount from Gill & Macmillan)