Review: The Scarpetta Cookbook

Title:The Scarpetta Cookbook
Author: Scott Conant
Format: egalley
Pub. Date: October 15th 2013
Source: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

★★★★★

Five stars.

When I saw that I was approved to get this title, I was super excited. I am an avid watcher of the Food Network, and Chopped is a show that I watch differently. I know from watching that show that Scott Conant is a master of pasta, but I hadn't really known too much about his own cooking. The Scarpetta Cookbook contains 125 recipes from his restaurant, Scarpetta. I was definitely pleased with this book.

First let's talk about the eye candy, and no, I don't mean Scott himself. The photography of this book is beautiful. It makes every single dish look delicious, and the pictures taken within his restaurant show off the amount of pride that he has in his work. This book is worth it just to glimpse the pictures, if I'm being completely honest.

Then, there's the recipes themselves. They are all written in easy to follow format, and Chef Conant takes that even a step further. Between recipes, there are tips and mini cooking lessons, so that you can learn the skills required. I think that extra step of education is a great complement to the book, because the recipes don't demand that you already have a ton of previous knowledge. He also explains what things are, and what else can be used. Plus, he selects wine pairing suggestions for each dish. As my regular foodie readers know, I'm really bad at that bit, so it was definitely a helpful tidbit for me!

The book is organized by course, which makes it easy to navigate if you're searching for something specific. Out of 125 recipes in this cookbook, there are maybe 120 that I want to try. Those are phenomenal statistics, in my opinion. Almost everything in this book sounds simply divine. The recipes that I am most excited to try are as follows, in no particular order:

-Fennel and Citrus Spiced Roasted Black Cod w/ Baccala Mantecato
-Slow Cooked Lobster w/ Ricotta Dumplings, Pea Shoots, Cherry Tomatoes, & Tarragon Oil
-Mediterranean Octopus w/ Smoked Potato Crema
& Pumpkin Pots de Creme w/ Concord Preserves and Cinnamon Froth

I recommend this for cooks who love Italian food/pasta, or who are looking for classy, elegant dishes to impress with. I know that I will be purchasing a copy of this for my shelves, and I know I'll get a lot of use out of it.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for my copy.