My Very First Italian Cookbook

by Rosalba Gioffre

Book Overview

Children will delight in preparing some of Italy's typical dishes themselves! The Young Chef's Italian Cookbook contains fifteen easy-to-prepare recipes each with step-by-step instructions, easy-to-follow photographs, plus tips and warnings for safety in the kitchen. Each recipe includes interesting facts about the culture of Italy and a special section features the traditions, costumes, food, and fun of the festival of Carnivale. Recipes include:...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0778702936
• ISBN13: 9780778702931
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Crabtree Publishing Company
• Length: 40 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 9.3" x 11.8"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Making a tradition

Today was my great-niece's tenth birthday. One of the things she wanted to do on her birthday was cook supper for the family. I have all four of the cookbooks in the "I'm the Chef" series: Italian, French, Chinese, and Mexican. The choices of likely-to-be-eaten dishes for her, her brother and sister came from the Italian book and one from the French book. So-o-o-o, we sat down, selected the dishes, listed the ingredients to buy, and off we went to the grocery store. The cooking event was going to be a sibling thing, but the nine-year-old brother chose to ride his bike instead of shop. Go figure. We took the three-year-old. She was happy as a lark, singing and riding in the grocery cart. BD girl selected all produce, meat, and drinks (with guidance). At home we lined out everything and began. We had work stations for all three children. Sometimes they switched out, going from the pounding cutlet station to dicing tomatoes to swishing cutlets in egg wash and rolling them in bread crumbs. I did all the hot grease work. I didn't figure they were ready for that yet. The little one rubbed garlic on sliced French bread, then picked up the garlic chips to place on the bread. She also sprinkled bread crumbs on the cutlets. When the adults were seated, both the older ones poured wine, lay out silverware, and served plates. The dinner was a smashing success. All three were so proud of themselves and a new tradition was born. Oh, the menu? Here it is in its simplicity and probability factor to be eaten. The two older ones loved everything! Bruschetta (the adults LOVED this, no child ate it) Cotolette alla milanese (We couldn't find veal, so substituted beef cutlets) It may come as a surprise (it did to me) that Wierner Schnitzel is not Austrian in origin but Italian! Fried potatoes (cheated and heated frozen ones). Gratin de macaroni (from the French cookbook) These children mostly eat yellow and brown foods. I'm just the aunt. My goal is to please. Torta al cioccolato (chocolate torte with buds of whipped cream around the perimeter). It wasn't made because the aunt was too tired by this time. So we sprayed whipped cream from a can into our mouths. That was really fun. All the other adults left the table. Extra note: I cannot honestly recommend this cookbook for completely inexperienced young cooks. However, under watchful supervision and in the method described above, this is a great way to start. Still highly recommended.

Delicious, Easy, and AMAZING!!!

This book was so COOL!!! I could actually do the recipes by myself! I am the daughter of Meher Darakshan and the recipes turned out to be deeeeeee-licious!!! When my father indulged in that first bite of the tiramisu he said I have a REAL cooking talent!!! But I have to give some of the credit to the book, too because I tried to make an omelette once and it turned out sloppy and that wasn't with the great help of the book.The recipes are not even that basic. I totally recommend this book to anyone under 14 years of age!!! If you like this book you will like the other ones, too. There's chinese, italian, and french. In each book there are appetizers, soup, main meal, and dessert. Enough for a four course DINNER!!! This is another great reason I love this book. It gives a substitute for alcohol and they have GREAT pictures and not like the model-photos and closeups of Giada de Laurentiis in her italian book. Gotta LOVE this book!!!