A couple of years back, I was between restaurant gigs and, for pretty much the first time in my life, actually found myself cooking at home every night: no prep guys, no purveyor deliveries, no pro kitchen, just me lugging stuff home from the market and cooking dinner in my tiny NYC apartment kitchen. I did a lot of Italian cooking—NYC-style. That's what Urban Italian is about. It's written with my wife, Gwen Hyman, who writes about food and culture, and it's full of actual workable recipes, plus some crazy true-life stories about my cooking life.
This isn't one of those fancy chef books you can't actually cook from in a real kitchen without a crew or special equipment: Gwen's no chef, but she can make every one of these recipes, and if she can do it, so can you.
Check out Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food, written with my wife and partner in crime, Gwen Hyman. Full of recipes you can actually make, plus some pretty ridiculous stories.
Buy it here:
Amazon.com"Creative yet accessible. Carmellini presents spectacular recipes while opening a window onto his life with food, from his Italian-American boyhood and cooking school to revelations while traveling in Italy and being a top New York chef"
"There are several Italian cookbooks vying for attention this fall, but Urban Italian from the husband-and-wife duo of Andrew Carmelliniand writer Gwen Hyman, stands apart; its outstanding recipes and unpretentious voice are irresistible"
"Carmellini's language is refreshingly raw, and his flavor
combinations are inspired by city life"
"It's a fun, delicious journey"
"In one of the more creative yet accessible Italian cookbooks to comealong, New York chef Carmellini presents spectacular recipes while opening a window onto his life with food"
"Urban Italian is about really delicious, stick-to-your-ribs Italian cooking"
"great ideas for the home cook"