Mario Batali

The spirit of Christmas and New Year's has never been more festive than in Mario's interpretations of these classic familial Italian meals. Four complete feast menus, from antipasti to dolci, lavish yet simple dishes, and some wickedly warming aperitivos to start. Buone Feste!

"The trick to cooking is that there is no trick." --Mario Batali The only mandatory Italian cookbook for the home cook, Mario Batali's MOLTO ITALIANO is rich in local lore, with Batali's humorous and enthusiastic voice, familiar to those who have come to know him on his popular Food Network programs, larded through about 220 recipes of simple, healthy, seasonal Italian cooking for the American audience. Easy to use and simple to read, some of these recipes will be those "as seen" on TV in the eight years of "Molto Mario" programs on the Food Network, including those from "Mediterranean Mario," "Mario Eats Italy," and the all-new "Ciao America with Mario Batali." Batali's distinctive voice will provide a historical and cultural perspective with a humorous bent to demystify even the more elaborate dishes as well as showing ways to shorten or simplify everything from the purchasing of good ingredients to pre-production and countdown schedules of holiday meals. Informative head notes will include bits about the provenance of the recipes and the odd historical fact. Mario Batali's MOLTO ITALIANO will feature ten soups, thirty antipasti (many vegetarian or vegetable based), forty pasta dishes representing many of the twenty-one regions of Italy, twenty fish and shellfish dishes, twenty chicken dishes, twenty pork or lamb dishes and twenty side dishes, each of which can be served as a light meal. Add twenty desserts and a foundation of basic formation recipes and this book will be the only Italian cooking book needed in the home cook's library.

From Mario Batali, superstar chef and author of "Molto Italiano," comes the ultimate handbook on Italian grilling, which will become an instant must-have cookbook for home grillers. Easy to use and filled with simple recipes, Mario Batali's new grilling handbook takes the mystery out of making tasty, simple, smoky Italian food. In addition to the eighty recipes and the sixty full-color photographs, "Italian Grill" includes helpful information on different heat-source options, grilling techniques, and essential equipment. As in "Molto Italiano," Batali's distinctive voice provides a historical and cultural perspective as well. "Italian Grill" features appetizers; pizza and flatbreads; fish and shellfish; poultry; meat; and vegetables. The delicious recipes include Fennel with Sambuca and Grapefruit; Guinea Hen Breasts with Rosemary and Pesto; Baby Octopus with Gigante Beans and Olive-Orange Vinaigrette; and "Rosticciana," Italian-Style Ribs.