Vegano Italiano

From Gioffré (Venice: Flavors of Italy), a native of Calabria who lives in Florence, comes an Italian cookbook that combines cultural anecdotes with delicious recipes. The recipes are all vegan, although readers will unlikely miss meat, dairy, or eggs, despite traditional ideas about Italian cooking. Gioffré presents lush, flavorful recipes and includes an array of dishes with olives, beans, and fresh vegetables. Instead of sectioning the book by course, she arranges the recipes according to season, thus encouraging cooking that only uses the most readily available and quality ingredients. She delivers classic recipes such as Sicilian arancini for the spring, San Marzano tomatoes au gratin for summer, a savory orange salad for the fall, and Tuscan kale with toasted bread to serve in winter. Her recipes are straightforward, with surprisingly few ingredients. There are several pasta and pizza recipes to choose from, but she also includes recipes that incorporate wild greens (dandelion, chicory) and flowers (zucchini), and offers many crostini variations (fava beans, asparagus, mint with peas and carrots). Gioffré makes it clear with this collection that her veganism isn’t restricting, and that it is possible to ditch animal products while still enjoying the tastes and comforts of home. (Aug.)