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Featuring family-friendly "simple to make and magnificently delicious" (Mario Batali) recipes and stunning photography, a practical cookbook from New York Times bestselling author, beloved actor, and respected foodie Stanley Tucci. Stanley Tucci's association with wonderful foods began for fans with the movie Big Night and resonated in his role as Julia Child's husband in Julie & Julia. But well before these films, he was enjoying innovative homemade Italian meals throughout his childhood, when family and food were nearly inseparable and cooking was always a familial venture. Now, in this family-focused cookbook, Tucci captivates food lovers' imaginations with recipes from his traditional Italian roots as well as those of his British wife, Felicity Blunt, tied together with a modern American ribbon. The time-tested recipes include pasta alla bottarga, mushroom-stuffed trout, pork chops with onions and mustard sauce, barbeque chicken wings, and much, much more! Nothing will make you happier to spend time with family than the aroma of a hearty Italian dish sizzling on the stovetop. Featuring 100 luscious, full-color photographs, The Tucci Table captures the true joys of family cooking. Buon appetito!… (more)
User reviews
Tucci has always loved to cook, and follows his successful 2012 The Tucci Cookbook with a new cookbook, The Tucci Table, filled with recipes from himself, his family and even some famous friends, written with his wife Felicity Blunt, sister of actress Emily Blunt.
From his late friend actress Natasha Richardson, whom he said was "an extraordinary cook who threw some of the best dinner parties I have ever attended', he shares her Pissaladiere, topped with anchovies, onions and olives.
His son Nico's Pasta with Proscuitto, Onions, Peas and Pancetta looks like a winning dish to me, and I appreciated the detailed instructions on the carbonara finish to the dish.
He also tells some funny stories, like the time he asked Felicity what she wanted to cook for a dinner party the following weekend. She decided on a suckling pig, which was problematic since neither had ever cooked one before. They got a whole pig from the butcher, but it was too long to fit on their barbeque spit. So they got out the hacksaw and tried to cut off the pig's head, when their children came home from school to see the carnage.
The book is heavy on Italian food, naturally, and I am tempted to try his Polenta Fries, which Tucci calls a great alternative to French fries. They look delicious.
Tucci formatted the book so that the directions come first, then the ingredients, which may confuse some people. This is a book for confident cooks, more casual cooks who like to go more by instinct than exact measurements. (See glug of olive oil, above)
Reading The Tucci Table is like sitting in Tucci's kitchen, and you can hear his voice as you read his stories about how his mother-in-law makes it this way, and he got this recipe on location in Atlanta for The Hunger Games.
So I was bound to love
Tucci combines his love of classic French food (which I was enjoying for the first time that month) with the bounty of food available in North America (especially in larger cities) to present a fresh take on the food that has enchanted generations of eaters.
4 stars