Saturday, December 20, 2008

Almost Homemade or Mediterranean Summer

Almost Homemade

Author: Gooseberry Patch

Homemade cooking just got easier! Our Almost Homemade cookbook has over 200 recipes using lots of ready-made ingredients like biscuit baking mix, handy canned soups and refrigerated dough that you already have on hand...with these timesavers, even special occasion meals are a snap. You'll love recipes like wake-up fruit salad, Italian egg rolls, cheese-stuffed meatloaf and mandarin orange cake. Along with our clever tips on each page, there are handy party planning tips in the back!



Look this: California Pizza Kitchen Pasta Salads Soups And Sides or Salsas That Cook

Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote D'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella

Author: David Shalleck

“Saturday was dawning warm, with only a gentle wind under a light blue sky as we got under way. . . . With the motor cut out, I could hear the whispered splash of the sea against the hull as we knifed through the Mediterranean. The calming noise, along with the gentle rocking, lulled me into a Zen calm as I went about preparing the crew’s lunch. . . . By keeping just a couple of miles offshore, we had some beautiful sights to our starboard side: the harbor towns of La Napoule and quaint Théoule-sur-Mer, . . . the sensational coastline of the Corniche de l’Estérel. . . . All of this I could see through the porthole in the galley. . . . Italy was only a week away.”
La Dolce Vita at sea. . .
An alluring, evocative summer voyage on the Mediterranean and into the enchanting seaside towns of France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella by a young American chef aboard an Italian billionaire couple’s spectacular yacht.
Having begun his cooking career in some of New York’s and San Francisco’s best restaurants, David Shalleck undertakes a European culinary adventure, a quest to discover what it really means to be a chef through a series of demanding internships in Provence and throughout Italy. After four years, as he debates whether it is finally time to return stateside and pursue something more permanent, he stumbles on a rare opportunity: to become the chef on board Serenity, the classic sailing yacht owned by one of Italy’s most prominent couples. They present Shalleck with the ultimate challenge: to prepare all the meals for them and their guests for thesummer, with no repeats, comprised exclusively of local ingredients that reflect the flavors of each port, presented flawlessly to the couple’s uncompromising taste— all from the confines of the yacht’s galley while at sea.
Serenity’s five-month journey starts on the French Riviera, continues along Italy’s western coast to Amalfi, crosses the Tyrrhenian Sea to Sardinia, up to Corsica, and back to St. Tropez for the season-ending regatta. Shalleck captures the glittery Riviera social scene, the distinctive sights and sounds of the unique ports along the way, the work hard/play hard life of being a crew member, and the challenges of producing world-class cuisine for the stylish and demanding owners and their guests. An intimate view of the most exclusive of worlds, Mediterranean Summer offers readers a new perspective on breathtaking places, a memorable portrait of old world elegance and life at sea, as well recipes and tips to recreate the delectable food.

Library Journal

Having spent four years perfecting his culinary talents in Europe, Shalleck got the assignment of a lifetime: to serve as chef for the summer aboard the yacht of a high-profile Italian couple. But he he could never repeat a meal. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

San Francisco foodie Shalleck pleasantly recreates his sweat-and-glamour season toiling as chef on a yacht cruising the Cote d'Azur. At the time, he was an upstart young cook trying to work his way into a position as head of the kitchen in a name restaurant. After a good start at smart spots like The River Cafe and An American Place in New York, and Campton Place in San Francisco, he used his acquaintance with Alice Waters to land an apprenticeship in Provence with her colleague Natalie Waag, who quickly dismissed him for not cooking from the heart. Slinking off to Italy, Shalleck worked as an intern at numerous small restaurants from Tuscany to Lazio in order to master the local cuisines. Four years later, il Americano landed a plum job as chef on the 124-foot schooner Serenity, owned by an elegant, very rich Italian couple who planned to spend the summer yachting on the Riviera. La Signora, imperious and inflexible, demanded menus that reflected the abundance of indigenous offerings in each port of call: lots of fish, no meat, little pasta, no repeats! Her husband, by contrast, sometimes slipped into the galley while she napped to share pasta and marinara sauce with the polyglot crew (Brits, francais and an American captain). Shalleck found the work challenging and often arduous as he tried to create masterpieces for large dinner parties in a tight galley kitchen. He also found his repertoire broadened by shopping for and learning to prepare such local foods as bianchetti (tiny fish), tartufi di mare (sea truffles), treccia (braids of mozzarella) and cernia (grouper). He took the job seriously, enjoyed camaraderie with French party-boy steward Rick and earned accolades for hismenus-many included in the back of the book. Among the life lessons he imbibed: Hold the avocados (too strange for the Italians), and never confuse foie gras with pate. A clever summer-adventure tale.



Table of Contents:
Foreword   Mario Batali     xi
Serenity     1
Five-Year Summer     7
A Season to Taste: Antibes and the Bay of Angels     43
The One Without the Tan: Cap d'Antibes and the Esterel Coast     59
Truth in Numbers: Saint-Tropez     87
Spaghettoni: Monte Carlo     105
Sea Dates: Portofino and the Italian Riviera     119
Why Is the Risotto Black?: Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi, and Elba     147
The Battle of the Fishes: Porto Santo Stefano and the Argentario Coast     171
August Ferie: Ischia, Ponza, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast     195
Emerald Blues: Sardinia and the Emerald Coast     225
The Last Regatta: Corsica and the Cote d'Azur     245
Ciao, Italia     263
Avanti     273
Recipes     278
Bibliography     329
Acknowledgments     331

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