Stories from The Italian Country Table: Exploring the Culture of Italian Farmhouse Cooking

Lynne Rossetto Kasper, author of The Splendid Table and host of PRI's award winning radio program of the same name, is a master at transporting her readers and listeners into the fascinating world of the Italian countryside. In Stories from The Italian Country Table, Lynne brings to life her adventures in rural Italy.

Stories from The Italian Country Table illustrates how, in Italy, eating well and coming together around the table are inseparable from the folklore, history, handmade foods, and storytelling so dear to the hearts of country people. You'll enjoy polenta with new zest after hearing "Cheater's Gold" and "Honeymooners and Corn Husk Mattresses." Step into a Sicilian shepherd's hut and practically taste the fresh-made sweet ricotta. Hear "How a Capon Became a Father," celebrate gathering "The Dew of Midsummer's Eve," and learn the art of complaining Italian-style with "Eating White."

To make your Italian experience complete, Stories from The Italian Country Table comes with the first 30-minute Italian lesson in the Pimsleur Language Program -- the revolutionary audio-only language learning system -- as an added bonus.

A perfect audio companion to the recipes featured in Kasper's book, The Italian Country Table, this unique experience will immerse you in the culture and cuisine of the Italian countryside.

Covering every course of an Italian meal--from antipasti through pasta to vegetables and, of course, dessert--the book weaves recipes with vignettes exploring, for example, Puglia's ritual drying of winter tomatoes. Included also are notes on buying tips, special cooking techniques such as glazing, and discussions of culinary moment, like the nature of a true risotto Milanese. The immediately inviting recipes include such temptations as Mushrooms Stuffed with Radicchio and Asiago, Hot and Spicy Eggplant Soup, Leg of Lamb Glazed with Balsamic and Red Wine, and Espresso Ricotta Cream with Espresso Chocolate Sauce. Kasper also offers a chapter on focaccia, pizza, and bread, as well as menus, shopping sources, and a useful discussion of ingredients. (Taste before you buy, and then pause, she advises. "Aftertaste can reveal how a food's been stored, careless production, or foods going from mature to over the hill.") Concluding with a guide to Italian guest farms, folk life museums, and places to eat and shop, the book is a comprehensive introduction to basic but inspired home cooking and the traditions that both contain and nurture it. --Arthur Boehm