Posted in #Recipes

Feta Shrimp Skillet

Whether recalling memories of a Greek island getaway or planning a Mediterranean adventure, a feta shrimp skillet adds flavor to your daydreams. This vacation recipe starts with onion, garlic, oregano and juicy tomatoes, which provide a classic regional flavor base. If you like, let them simmer in white wine before adding briny shrimp, fresh parsley, and salty feta.

The slightly acidic sauce poaches jumbo shrimp evenly, so you can feel confident that you’ve fully cooked the raw shellfish without overdoing it. The feta and tomato contrast and support each other, yet neither smothers the taste of the shrimp. Serve this shrimp feta recipe as an appetizer or as a one-dish skillet meal on a busy night, with slices of crusty bread to mop up the sauce.

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Posted in Book Reviews

The Italian Slow Cooker: 125 Easy Recipes for the Electric Slow Cooker


Finally, a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a bestselling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food.


Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.


Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

Continue reading “The Italian Slow Cooker: 125 Easy Recipes for the Electric Slow Cooker”
Posted in Book Reviews

The Italian Slow Cooker: 125 Easy Recipes for the Electric Slow Cooker

The award-winning, bestselling author of The Sopranos Family Cookbook “presents unintimidating recipes that serve up hearty dishes with a minimum of fuss” (Publishers Weekly).

Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a bestselling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food.


Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.


Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description
Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a best-selling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food. Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection.

Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

Recipe Excerpts from The Italian Slow Cooker
Chicken Parmesan Heroes
The Butcher’s Sauce
Chocolate Truffle Cake

From Publishers Weekly

Scicolone (The Sopranos Family Cookbook) turns her attention to the slow cooker (or crockpot) for preparing homey Italian dishes. In this accessible cookbook, she presents unintimidating recipes (which often suggest the ingredients simmer around 165 degrees for six to eight hours) that serve up hearty dishes with a minimum of fuss. The wide variety of main dishes—seafood, meats, veggies and legumes—and corresponding soups and sauces, capitalize on the flavor that only slow-cooked food can deliver. The sauces are the book’s standouts, with recipes for ragus made with chunky pork shoulder or spicy Tuscan sausage, for example. She also includes recipes for a creamy polenta with gorgonzola and mascarpone; risotto-style farro with parmesan; seafood couscous made with halibut, shrimp and scallops; and braised beef with anchovies and rosemary. While her approach is certainly inventive and appealing, some recipes make one wonder whether a slow cooker is actually necessary (the stuffed peppers might be baked just as easily). That said, this cookbook will certainly relieve the time pressure on busy family cooks. (Dec.)
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