cover image Simply Saute: Fast, Easy, and Healthy Italian Cooking -- All in One Pan

Simply Saute: Fast, Easy, and Healthy Italian Cooking -- All in One Pan

Silvia Bianco. Da Capo Press, $16.95 (256pp) ISBN 978-1-56924-561-3

Biscotti restaurant chef-owner Bianco provides this in-depth exploration of what she considers an underused home cooking technique--sauteing. All recipes in this volume, which range from Pizza Puttanesca with Asiago cheese to Bananas in Cream and Hazelnut Liqueur, are inspired by dishes served at her Italian eatery in Ridgefield, Conn., and all are sauteed. Sauteing, she says, is a fast, flavorful and easy way to cook.""Almost anything can be added to or eliminated from the saute pan... so if you have a finicky family member with odd requests saute cooking will let you simply respond, 'Yes, dear.'"" She begins with a helpful primer on the basics of the sauteing, and includes among the recipes brief commentary on various ingredients and techniques such as tossing pasta and roasting peppers. Bianco's amiable writing complements the homey recipes and the tales from her life and cooking career.