Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking

by Mario Batali

The bestselling author of Italian Grill and Molto Italiano delivers a gorgeous collection of mouthwatering recipes to bring some Italian favorites home.

Chef Mario Batali's zest for life infuses the casual Italian fare that has made his restaurant Otto Enoteca Pizzeria a perennially popular New York City destination. Now you can have the flavors of Otto at home, with Molto Gusto, a collection of recipes for everyone's favorites, from pizza, pasta, and antipasti to gelati and sorbetti.

Mario has written the definitive book on great pizza making for the amateur, the novice, the foodie, and the gourmet cook, teaching how to make really great pizza at home without any fancy equipment. Here too are recipes for classic pizza, Otto's special pizzas, and even kids' pizzas.

Looking for something a little lighter? Try the antipasti. Based on seasonal vegetables, with a few recipes showcasing seafood and meat, these dishes can make up an entire, healthy meal. Also included are many of Mario's favorite simple pasta dishes, and to finish it all off, fantastic recipes for gelati, sorbetti, and copette.

Filled with Mario's infectious personality and love of robust flavors, and illustrated with luscious full-color photos, Molto Gusto makes it easy to spend a night on the town without leaving home.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Italian Literature, Reference, Italy

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2010

About the author

Mario Batali is known to most people as both the star of the Food Network's Molto Mario and one of the Iron Chefs on Iron Chef America. Winner of numerous awards for his restaurants, Mario himself is the recipient of the 2005 James Beard All-Clad Outstanding Chef Award, the most prestigious cooking honor there is. Mario is also a huge NASCAR fan. Like many guys his age, Mario first discovered the thrill of stock car racing watching the ebullient Chris Economaki, in his Martian-style headphones, reporting live from the pit area at Daytona. Mario has been a more active racing fan these last few years, hosting prerace dinners at the track for the drivers. His restaurant Otto has become something of an unofficial hangout whenever NASCAR visits New York. He also enjoys prowling the infield to check out what die-hard racing fans like to cook on their grills, looking to pick up some down-home grilling tips. His next book, ITALIAN GRILLING, will be available from Ecco/HarperCollins in May 2008.

Reviews

[Belinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars -English hardcover- Brava ! Great recipes. Everybody loved them. 💜🦋😍

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice cookbook--and a different cookbook--from Mario Batali. In his words at the outset (Page 13): "What you will certainly notice quite quickly is that this cookbook is radically different from all the others that I have written in its complete lack of traditional main dishes."

The book is divided into several sections--vegetable antipasti, seafoods and meat antipasti, bruschetta and cheese, insalata (salad), pasta, pizza, and gelato and sorbetto. No super protein dishes here. Photographs are nice and the glossy pages add a richness to the feel of this cookbook. But, it's the recipes that are at the heart of any cookbook, and there are some nice, makeable recipes here.

An example of vegetable antipasti is "Cherry tomatoes with creme fraiche and chives. Ingredients: cherry or grape or pear tomatoes, halved; sherry vinegar; flaky sea salt; creme fraiche; extra virgin olive oil; chive for garnish. Very simple to make and a nice side dish (or starter dish) for a meal. Under salad, a three bean salad. Ingredients: kosher salt, green beans, chick peas, cannellini beans, chopped fresh mint, red wine vinaigrette, and flaky sea salt and coarse black pepper. Again, easy to assemble. I like such salads, and I have penciled in this recipe to try it out. Another salad that intrigues me is "Arugula with Tomato Raisins." Again, pretty straightforward recipe with the promise of a tasty salad.

Pasta? I have made something like this, but Batali's recipe looks like it would have a fuller taste. "Spaghetti with garlic and oil." Ingredients: kosher salt; extra virgin olive oil; garlic cloves; hot red pepper flakes; parsley; spaghetti; Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Again, I have made something similar, but this has a few extra "tricks" to it. Some other pasta dishes that intrigue me: Penn with pomodoro cotto; Penn alla puttanesca; Pennette with pesto.

Want some pizza? Take a look at his Prosciutto and Arugula pizza. Yum! Looks tasty.

And so on.

I really like the lighter dishes, the healthier dishes that appear in this volume. Worth taking a look at!

[Carolyn Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should preface this review with an admission: I have a crush on Mr. Batali. I have since I can remember. The food, the confidence and the humor, an attractive combo. Yes, my husband knows about this crush and endorses it. I think secretly he has a man crush on Mario as well.

Here's what I have always enjoyed about Mario's shows and cookbooks: he really is all about simple, which I think is what is so beautiful about Italian food anyway. Yes, French food is a bit fancier and when I'm in the right mood I can really have a good time with it (eating not so much fussing at the stove or oven.) Mr. Batali is, simply, the real deal. He clearly loves the Italian way of cooking and sharing with friends and family, and this love has always come through on the pages of every cookbook of his I've read, this one is no exception.

The photos are delicious and so far the recipes I have tried (OMG try the pizza!) have been a hit, even with my one son Connor who doesn't like much of anything. But Mario magically got him to not only try but LIKE chick Peas!

In my opinion, if you like rustic Italian food, you can't go wrong with this book.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Batali's Molto Gusto: Easy Italian Cooking is worth the price for the vegetable antipasti recipes alone. We're often fumbling for interesting side dishes that won't overwhelm the main course, and there is a great deal here that fits the bill. I am also eager to play with his pizza dough recipes (plural) as it's easy to get into a rut with an overused go-to pizza dough.

This is a slightly older book (2010), but I found it at a consignment shop and snapped it up after doing the standard test of turning to five or six random pages throughout the book and if I would happily prepare and eat what I'm looking at then I purchase the cookbook. Now that I've gone through the whole thing, I am so glad this one passed. In addition to filling in holes in more experienced cook's repertoires, this book would make a great gift to any new (or newish) home cook. It's modest in size, so not as overwhelming as some cookbooks can be, but also gives great introductory material on distinguishing a host of meats, cheeses, and other items Chef Batali keeps in his home and restaurant pantries. All told, the $1.99 I paid for this book was well worth it.

[Don Gillette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recipes in this book look fantastic even though I doubt I'd ever prepare very many of them. The reason I wouldn't prepare too many is that it would take 5 or 6 to make a meal of any substance. They're all basically side dishes, vegetable heavy, that you'd have with a plate of pasta or a pizza and like most Americans, I don't eat that way.
Yes, a Pizza Margherita with a side of Shaved Asparagus with Parmigiano Reggiano and another side of Peas with Mint and another side of Chickpeas with Leeks would be great. And for a weekend dinner, I might do it--or even a weeknight if I knock off work early. But I don't have the time to whip up that many things along with baking a decent pizza.
So, good cookbook, tantalizing recipes, but not really "exciting" fare.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sections with overviews on cheeses and meats. I've made several of the recipes and they are simple, easy. I made the pizzas and couldn't believe how good they were!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every two months, a group of my friends and I cook up recipes from a different cookbook. We then score our own dishes on a scale from 1-5, take photos of our dishes, and review the recipes we made... then at the end of the round, I compile all the dishes into a blog entry and average out the scores.

For March/April Cook Club, we cooked up a storm from Mario Batali's Molto Gusto. Molto Gusto scored a 3.94 out of 5.0 for us! Our favorite dishes were the sunchokes with walnut gremolata, linguine with lemon, hazelnut stracchiatella gelato, and ricotta gelato. The recipes were by and large simple and straightforward with an emphasis on the quality of the ingredients. The recipes are organized by seasonal availability of the produce – perfect for the turn of seasons! The dishes are also perfect for sharing.

To check out more, here are all our reviews and photos: http://wanderlustfood.blogspot.com/20...

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy recipes, but only for certain limited definitions of easy. Easy if you live in Italy. Easy if you have access to a large Italian market with lots of fiddly custom ingredients. Easy if you already know what the myriad of fiddly ingredients already are.

Most of the recipes included an ingredient that I would have to research. If I have to put the book down and go to the internet to search, then the book has already failed me. There is a glossary, but there are no internal cross-references to point you there. Also, this glossary does not include everything called for. As an example a recipe called for a specific kind of cheese I had never heard of, and it was not included in the section on cheeses (but parmesan was, gee thanks). Is it soft or hard? Strong or mild? How about some substitutes if I can't find it?

[Candi · Rating 3 out of 5]

BJ and I love watching Food Network together at night. The only problem is that we get hungry and want to make food at 10:00pm!

Anyway, when I saw this book by Mario Batali at the library, I thought I'd try it out. It has beautiful pictures, but for the most part the recipes really didn't appeal to me. I like to think of myself as somewhat adventurous, but unfortunately my kids prefer things a little more basic. ;) I'll take a few recipes, but for the most part this book will go back to the library without much inspiration taken from its pages.

I did enjoy the pictures of Mario in his ridiculous outfit - the orange t-shirt, blue button up shirt, vest, cargo shorts, yellow socks and bright orange crocs are mesmerizing.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mario Batali is a rock star Iron Chef. He wears those orange clogs like he doesn't even care how absolutely hideous they are. But I'll forgive him the fashion faux pas given his ability to make Italian cuisine so simple, yet so delicious.

These recipes are inspired by his restaurant Otto Enoteca Pizzeria in NYC, which I have had the privilege of dining at. The recipes in this book are so simple that it's sort of almost not worth making a cookbook out of them. But for someone looking to learn new techniques and nuances of food (e.g. how to grill pizza), then look no further.

[Bruce Kroeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this cookbook! I've been making tons of the recipes from it, and they are all good so far. The great thing is that they aren't your typical "Italian" recipes, they are simple, fast, and have a taste quite a bit different than your typical American take on Italian.

Last night I made "preserved tuna" along with a delightful eggplant bruschetta. I've also seriously enjoyed the tomato anchovy sauce on penne.

[Sherrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't know by now that Mario owns this shit, you clearly must be some kind of cooking douchebag. You don't respect? Then you and Giada Di Laurentiis can fuck off and go talk about puking after dinner to keep slim or whatever it is she thinks she's talking about. Wow, I'm feeling snarky as hell today.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

This cookbook was touted as one for the home cook who wanted to make easy Italian dishes. But the ingredients list for most of the recipes was far out of my league. The only section of the cookbook that looked accessible and appetizing was the section on gelati. I'd look elsewhere for Italian recipes.

[Mary J Hendrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm back in my Nana's kitchen again smelling the fragrance only memory can reproduce,. Thanks to Mario's recipe s and photos, this journey was accomplished! Enjoyable reading. Outstanding!!!

I would wholeheartedly recommend anyone wishing to duplicate an excellent, authentic Italian dish, try any or all of Mario's recipe s found in this book.

[Choasaurus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I liked the recipes, I didn't like the layout of the book. I like when cookbooks have pictures and the recipe side by side. This one had lots of pictures in a row, and then recipes followed.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favourite Italian cookbook. I love Mario, and his recipes are authentic. I'd give this a 4/5 because some of the recipes are difficult, and require really specific ingredients. All of the ones we've tried are amazing though, so I'd highly recommend it!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

all of the food looked so good i love pasta and all of that but much of what was in this cookbook was things that i would not cook for myself i would however might try it if someone else made if for me

[Chris]

I love reading cookbooks like novels. I can pick them up, picture the recipe and ingredients, learn new techniques and such. I think this was a 1.99 and I go back to it again and again. Good for the money.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love almost everything we have tried. The pizza is a lot of fun and is great.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid accessible overview for people who want to understand the basics of Italian cooking.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the recipes, but jeez, the photos are ginormous. I have to step away from the book to actually tell what the photos are of. But once I do that, they're very pretty! :)

[Wendy Hollister · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple food, simply prepared. Not too spectacular.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some tasty, unique recipes.

[Deb Filkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

might go back to again for spaghetti sauce or meatballs.

[Liz Cowans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a good family cookbook-if I could just get my picky eaters to try these recipes.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not many recipes here that I would cook. Always an unusual ingredient not readily available.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't find it practical. I've made at most two things.