Move over pasta and pizza, here come panini, bruschetta, and crostini! The world of sandwiches, Italian style. These heavenly bread-based creations include recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, antipasti, party foods, and delicious desserts and indulgences for any time of the day.

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Viana La Place was raised on stories of family gardens told by parents who brought their love of the Mediterranean landscape with them from Italy when they settled in California. Viana herself, after living on and off in Italy for several years, made an Italian garden of her own behind her San Francisco home filled with fragrant jasmine, olive trees, wild arugula, rampant zucchini, and bright-colored lemons. Ever since, like the best Italian cooks, she has delighted in creating meals that require only a few of the freshest ingredients.

In My Italian Garden, La Place brings the earth to the table for readers who want to cook delicious dishes with minimum work and maximum flavor, reminding us that the most satisfying food is the simplest. In 125 uncomplicated recipes, cooks will find four seasons of mouthwatering offerings, perfect for weeknight dinners or entertaining, such as New Fava Bean and Spring Greens Soup, Spaghetti Tossed with Whole Basil Leaves and Lemon Zest, Panini with Grilled Zucchini and Ricotta Salata, Pizza Verde with Artichokes and Herbs, and Meyer Lemon Gelato with Fresh Figs and Pistachios.

Illustrated with charming, evocative watercolors, and filled with lyrical passages, My Italian Garden lets readers experience the magic of the Italian garden without leaving their kitchens.

From the introduction:
"Cooking from the garden is uncomplicated cooking. Why add extraneous ingredients to flavorful produce? In fact, you will want to keep preparations pure and simple to enjoy what you've harvested in its pristine state....An Italian garden is really a state of mind. You do not need an elaborate villa to create your Italian garden. The essence of Italy can be captured in pots on a sunny terrace or a shaded balcony. An Italian garden can be herbs growing on a sunny windowsill or the back steps. You can grow your garden on a large parcel of land or on a tiny patch of earth. I hope you will be inspired by my Italian garden to grow one of your own, no matter what the size, and experience the joys of cooking directly from your Italian garden."
--Viana La Place

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Since its first publication in 1991, Viana La Place's Verdura has become a much loved classic. And with good reason: Its 300 irresistible recipes represent the best of the Italian approach to vegetable preparation, an earthy yet spirited technique that celebrates fresh ingredients simply treated.

Many readers have made the book their vegetable cooking bible; those who have not yet added it to their kitchen libraries will want to do so. Contending that eating well-prepared vegetables helps us to appreciate life's natural cycles, La Place presents recipes for antipastos, salads, soups, sandwiches, pasta, risottos, pizzas, and much more.

The vegetables she explores run from the familiar - artichokes, aubergines, radicchio - to the more exotic, such as chayote, cardoons, and brocciflower. (La Place saute's this cauliflower-broccoli hybrid in garlic and oil, then tops it with pungent provolone.) Other recipes, such as Soup of Dried Fava Beans with Fresh Fennel, Fettucine with Peas, Green Onions, and Mint, Grilled Bread with Mushrooms and Herbs, and Baked Red Pepper Fritatta, give further evidence of La Place's original yet thoughtful way with the earth's bounty.

Desserts are also included, among them Watermelon with Bittersweet Chocolate Shavings, Grilled Figs with Honey and Walnuts, and Lemon Granita and Brioche. With a vegetable and herb guide and an ingredient glossary, Verdura provides comprehensive information while exciting the palate....