Contest: Ciao Italia Review and Giveaway
08. Mar, 2010 
138 Comments
Since I love an easy meal and have a penchant for Italian flavours, when I was offered a copy of Ciao Italia Five-Ingredient Favorites: Quick and Delicious Recipes from an Italian Kitchen to review I agreed immediately. Ciao Italia is the latest cookbook from Mary Ann Esposito who hosts the long running PBS series of the same name.
The book focuses on using just five ingredients to create delicious Italian recipes. To be honest after flipping through the cookbook a few times I wasn’t very inspired. The book does contain more than a dozen pictures and 75 recipes but it was not laid out in a way that enticed me to cook anything. Furthermore I found a few typos, as well as some unclear instructions. On a more positive note, all the ingredients are easy to find and many are probably in your pantry already.
I chose to make two dishes, the Fried Shrimp and the Lemon Sauce. Like all of the recipes the fried shrimp was quite simple to prepare. The shrimp are lightly breaded in flour, salt, pepper and then egg, before being fried in butter with lots of parsley. Although I enjoyed the shrimp, if I make it again I will omit the egg breading which was truly too eggy for my taste. Shrimp are so delicate they don’t need much fussing over. That said, I really enjoyed the shrimp with the fried parsley and would also add a squeeze of lemon next time.
I enjoyed the Lemon Sauce recipe which I served with asparagus. First I roasted some asparagus in the sauce as well as some in just olive oil. Once cooked, I topped the plain asparagus with some of the remaining sauce. I enjoyed both. As a marinade it gave the vegetable a lovely and subtle flavour, while the raw sauce produced an asparagus dish similar to my cold asparagus salad recipe.
In general I don’t see myself cooking from this book frequently. I like picking up a cookbook and really wanting to cook everything in it. I probably would not purchase this for myself, but what about you? Do you like Italian food? Are you a fan of Ciao Italia? I am giving away a copy of this cookbook to a reader.
To enter you can do any of the following, each option will give you an entry:
1. Leave a comment and tell me what simple recipe is your favorite!
2. Tweet about the contest and link back to this post then leave me a comment saying you did.
3. Sign Up to Receive my Recipes by Email and leave a comment saying you did.
To enter you must be a resident of the US or Canada. This contest will be open until 6pm PST Friday March 19th and I will draw a random winner.
This contest is now closed, I will announce a winner shortly. Good Luck to everyone who entered.
Originally started as a way to document and learn to cook, the site chronicles my journey as I learn a few new things, create recipes, and have a disaster or two.
My favorite simple reciple is chicken fajitas. Grill the chicken and put it on a fajita with lettuce tomato and ranch salad dressing.
chicken parm & spaghetti
Rosemary lemon chicken
My favorite simple recipe is homemade pizza. Yum!
Grilled Cheese!
My favorite simple recipe is spaghetti with meat sauce….hearty, easy and quick.
Pasta Carbonara is a deliscious simple dish
rhondastruthers atyahoo dot ca
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rhondastruthers at yahoo dot ca
My favorite simple recipe is our family marinated crab. You marinate cold crab in a mixture of olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano and red onion. So easy and so yummy!
I signed up to receive your recipes via email.
Thanks!
I looooove spagetti!!!!!!
hope i win thanks!
corpesa14@yahoo.com
http://twitter.com/corpesa14/status/10708102809
I tweeted!
corpesa14@yahoo.com
Omelettes are super simple!
I would actually love to try that lemon-sauce recipe….I have been looking for a new way to serve asparagus.
Thanks for the giveaway!
Tortellini Recipe with Mushrooms, Ham, Red Peppers and Cream sounds extraordinary!
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I subscribe to get your recipes by e-mail
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The Chinese Orange Chicken sounds soooo good!
HobartsMama {AT} aol.com
Oops, please DELETE the above comment. I didn’t think the first one went thru!
I signed up to receive your recipes by e-mail
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My favorite recipe is roasted chicken with roasted vegetables – easy as 1-2-3 and for some reason, everyone ooohhhss over it like I spent hours in the kitchen.
Tweet: http://twitter.com/AsTheNight/status/10728287250.
I signed up to get your recipes by email.
I like the The Chinese Orange Chicken.
My boyfriend and I just discovered a Thai Peanut Chicken recipe that’s soon to be a favorite!
I’ve subscribed to receive recipes!
I tweeted about this giveaway!
My favorite simple recipe is stir fried veggies with chunks of leftover cooked chicken.
Pastina with butter and parmesan is my quick favorite
My favorite and delicious simple recipe would be buttermilk fried chicken
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I would love to win this Thank You for this great giveaway fancyfeet45@earthlink.net
Meat Loaf
I like english muffin pizzas
Nothing is easier than Aglio e Olio.
I have a lasagna recipe that takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare but is delicious. Thanks for this opportunity to win.
I love spaghetti and meatballs!
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Pioneer Woman cooks spicy orange garlic shrimp! To die for!