Carbone's Cookbook :

Rating:
Summary: A superb guide for cooks of all skill and experience levels
Review: Collaboratively presented by Jane and Michael Stern (with recipes by Gaetano Carbone and Vincent Carbone) Carbone's Cookbook: Old-World Elegance And The Best Italian Food In The Northeast is an impressive cookbook collection celebrating popular favorites of Carbone's restaurant with utterly delectable Italian old-world culinary creations. Taste and customer-tested dishes include Gorgonzola Salad, Spinach Pie Nicola, Chicken Diavola, Salmon in Phyllo, Pumpkin Cake and more. An informative introduction offers a fascinating glimpse into the colorful history of Carbone's, and the recipes themselves each have a brief overview of the dish and its highlights in addition to extensive, easy-to-follow instructions. Carbone's Cookbook is a simply superb guide for cooks of all skill and experience levels seeking to create true restaurant-quality Italian food.

Rating:
Summary: Tried and true Italian
Review: Hartford's family-run, Italian restaurant celebrates its third generation with a compilation of favorites, from Fried Eggplant, Cheese Fondue, Pepper Steak, and Green Noodles with Hog Jowls, to Fettuccini Alfredo, Duck Orzo, Pear and Gorgonzola Salad, and Conch and Squid Stew.

There's a chapter on "Stone Pies" (pizza), which includes Clam and Pancetta, and Grilled Pear with Stilton Cheese and Foie Gras, but for the most part, the food is solid and traditional and mouth watering. The sauce chapter includes an Anchovy and Caper Sauce, several wine sauces and a Gorgonzola sauce as well as pesto and tomato sauces. A must-try is a sauce no longer offered at the restaurant - a pesto made with salted peanuts.

There's cannelloni (made with real crepes), risotto and ravioli, Veal Marsala, Piedmont Beef and Chicken Cacciatore. There are also lots of family specialties and dishes inspired by customers and friends over the years. A fine addition to the series of restaurant cookbooks put together by regional food experts Jane and Michael Stern.