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Summary: Bravo
Review: A delightfully refreshing cookbook of Italian fare. This coookbook is loaded with beautiful color photos. The recipes are simple to prepare and delicious to eat. I especially enjoyed the cooking tips and family anecdotes. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoyes Italian food.This book will greatly enhance your cookbook library.
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Summary: Fantastic
Review: Finally a cookbook that I can use! I made the pizza on the cover and it was absolutely delicious. I will never use canned pizza sauce again. I find the recipes to be easy to prepare with common ingredients. The pictures and stories are an added treasure. Thank you for taking the time to make meal preparation tasty and simple!!!!
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Summary: Cookbook Collector
Review: I am a collector of cookbooks and have found Tony Casillo's Family Cookbook a much welcome addition to my collection. The receipe's are simple to prepare and made with all fresh ingredients. Tony's tips are also very helpful. The family pictures are great and are part of the simplicity and warmth of the Italian tradition. I highly recommend this book to any collector and to those who love italian cuisine.
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Summary: Passing along a family heritage.
Review: I have been collecting cookbooks for over 30 Years. At first, I joined a cookbook club in order to expand upon the cooking experience I had both at home and at school (back when Home Economics meant learning how to sew a button on a shirt and make a white sauce). From there I progressed to cookbooks that let me learn how to cook for two (I come from a BIG family ) to how to economically feed a family of four. My collection includes the requisite Fanny Farmer Cookbook as well as the Pillsbury, Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens series. The past few years, however, my criteria for choosing which cookbook to buy has changed. Not only must a cookbook contain reliable recipes made without exotic ingredients, but it must also read well as a BOOK. The text and the pictures are as important to me as the recipes. Having heard some time ago that Tony Casillo was writing a book for his daughters, I was eagerly awaiting this book. I was not disappointed. Above and beyond the recipes, which are presented as a way to bring the family into the kitchen, I found this book to be a charming reflection of growing up in a large Italian family. The recipes are straight-forward and easy to follow. But the family photos and remembered faily observations make this a special book for me. A self-taught cook, Tony Casillo presents recipes to be made in a loving family environment. Above and beyond the recipes (I look forward to making his Cassata cake recipe -- the one I make at work is slightly different) I enjoyed this book as a testament to growing up in a large famil, where putting food on the table was not just a necessity but a shared, loving experience.
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Summary: from SherriAllen.com
Review: In today's fast-paced world, the dinner choice for many is something from the nearest fast food restaurant. Fortunately for us, Tony Casillo wanted better for his daughters. Casillo wrote Tony Casillo's Family Cookbook: A Treasure Trove of Recipes and Cooking Advice From a Dad to His Daughters as a gift for his girls, to remind them how quick and easy it can be to prepare "decent, wholesome food."
Casillo's family emigrated to America from Italy when he was 12 years old, so the dishes are predominantly Italian. There are recipes for tasty, simple dishes like Bruschetta, Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil, Beef with Tomatoes, Gina's Salmon Parcels, Grandma Casillo's Zucchini, Brown Sugar Potatoes and Almond Biscotti. Osso Buco, Gina's Roast Pork with Mushrooms and Marsala, Lamb Ambruzzi Style, Elegant Livorno Fish Stew, Artichokes Roman Style and Neopolitan Ricotta Pie are some of the more elegant dishes which are perfectly suited for family celebrations. Of course, there are also recipes for great Italian classics such as Antipasto, Risotto, Lasagne, Flour Gnocchi and Zabaglione.
Part of the appeal of Tony Casillo's Family Cookbook is Casillo's relaxed attitude toward cooking. In the notes accompanying a recipe for Chicken Cacciatore, Casillo writes "if you don't like anchovies, leave them out...If you don't like olives, leave those out as well." There are variations listed for many of the recipes; eight variations are provided for Crushed Tomato Sauce alone. Casillo even includes a "basic formula for vegetable soup, so you can make your own creations." What truly makes this book a treasure, however, are the many old family photos and anecdotes sprinkled throughout the pages.
The recipes are easy to follow and Casillo's fatherly advice regarding ingredient selection and preparation is always helpful. With its emphasis on enjoying good meals as part of our everyday lives, Tony Casillo's Family Cookbook is an excellent cookbook for novices and advanced cooks alike.
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Summary: Can't wait for the next one!
Review: It's so wonderful to have this delicious recipe collection at last. I grew up running in and out of the Casillo family household, snacking and dining regularly at their generous table. Whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner, each dish was always a treat. This is the kind of cookbook that you will reach for time and again, week after week. Tony, thank you for sharing!
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Summary: Great Family Cookbook !!
Review: Our family has two daughters also, and we look forward to sharing these recipes with them. It is a mini lesson in Italian language and family culture. Highly recommended.
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Summary: The dish I never thought I'd find again
Review: The word genuine shines through this book ... from the charming photos of the family history to recipes and cooking tips that have been filling our kitchen with evocative aromas I thought I had to holiday in Tuscany to find.The most memorable dish I ever came across in Italy was called Tagliata, in a back street in Lucca, then never saw again. Until, that is, leafing through the pages I came across Mr Casillo's marvellous version. Ah, the memories. What a find.
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Summary: Special Gift
Review: This cookbook is a gift of many special things. It is full of delicious, tested recipes: those passed down from the family; those derived from meals relished in Italy where the author has spent much time; and those created by Tony Casillo's own zest and flair for experimentation.
Additionally, one has a glimpse into an enriched, close-knit, extended family, where there is a sense of the deliciousness of lives shared- life itself - the best of it.
I recommend this cookbook to everyone: beginner, chef, or non-cook. It makes you want to try, to experiment, and to eat and share with family and friends. It celebrates life! C. Salam
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Summary: I'm Dining In!
Review: Tony Casillo's Family Cookbook will be counted among my favorite consults for recipes that impress and yet are simple to make. As a professional chef working in the private sector I am always eager to find new meals to prepare. Mr. Casillo's straight forward approach scores a 5 rating as does his antidotes. Keep up the good work!
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