When you find out you have to eat gluten free, yet LOVE Italian food with a capital L, O, V, and E, life loses a bit of its luster. Until, that is, you find a cookbook with authentic Italian recipes that are all.. you guessed it… gluten free.
Welcome back to my world, luster!
I received a copy of the wonderful new cookbook Going Against the Grain – Italian Style to review on the food blog. For whatever reasons, I expected the recipes to be complicated and filled with difficult-to-find-and-perhaps-even-pronounce ingredients. Fortunately I was wrong on all accounts. The recipes aren’t just doable, they’re very easy and the ingredients are readily available.
The beautiful author (Nuccia Ardagna) is Sicilian, so she knows better than most what makes an Italian meal taste Italian – she knows how to bring out the bold, beautiful, and unmistakable deliciousness that is Italian cuisine.
All while keeping everything gluten free.
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Some of these gluten free Italian recipes include:
- Hearty Sicilian Broccoli Soup in Tomato Broth
- Hearty Sicilian Minestrone
- Fresh Tomatoes and Pesto Rotini
- Breadcrumb Pasta
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin
- Chicken Cacciatore
- Grilled Fennel
- Gluten Free Panna Cotta With Blueberries
- Fruit Parfait with Ricotta
- Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Arugula, Pesto, and Goat Cheese
- Classic Potato Gnocchi
- Stuffed Cabbage
- Sicilian Citrus Salad
- And many, many more!
Nuccia Ardangna also gives her tools of the trade, valuable tips, personal resources, and even her favorite gluten free pastas. She also lists her favorite bakeries and gluten free food and snacks.
Introduction: This two-part book is a vital adjunct to any home attempting to be gluten-free. The first part guides you through early diagnosis and is an essential guide for any beginner diagnosed with celiac disease or some form of gluten sensitivity. You will learn how to identify symptoms of the disease, how celiac disease is diagnosed, and the consequences if left untreated. It will help you to understand how to read labels and how to manage your gluten-free home in a shared environment. It outlines practical advice for parents of children with celiac disease as well as tips for eating out and dealing with social settings such as special occasions or when traveling. Honorary foreword provided by renowned Dr. Peter HR Green, MD – Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.
Growing up authentically Sicilian, Nuccia Ardagna thought that getting rid of gluten meant giving up her favorite traditional foods, but that could not be further from the truth! Nuccia combines her passion for eating amazingly Italian with her new dietary needs to bring you scrumptious, traditional Italian (and Sicilian) recipes. From simple, classic appetizers to decadent desserts you thought you could never enjoy, every recipe is easy-to-follow and offers beautiful full-color pictures throughout. You can feel confident about entertaining guests and family with these mouth-watering recipes. You can eat healthier, feel better, and truly enjoy living gluten-free while never having to sacrifice great taste! In this book, Nuccia not only shares her personal story with celiac disease but also the recipes she grew up with at home and uses to entertain guests. Look for the bonus section at the end of the book along with a section dedicated to her favorite links and resources. – From Amazon
Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is an essential resource for those who are fairly new to eating gluten free. My oldest daughter, Emily, and I had to give up gluten for health reasons a couple of years ago. I’ve been adding gluten free cookbooks to my cookbook collection – bread, desserts, etc. As someone who is obsessed with Italian food, I’m thrilled to now have a “go to” cookbook for Italian gluten free recipes.
If you or anyone you know is new to the gluten free way of life, Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is a must have.
The wonderful thing is, this cookbook is also a must have for those who have had to eat gluten free so long that they’ve forgotten what whole wheat bread tastes like.
In addition to the wonderful recipes, tips (I especially love her expert opinion on the best gluten free pastas on the market!), and advice, I also love the fact that the book is packed with big beautiful photographs of each recipe. A lot of cookbooks will give you pictures of a few recipes… or sometimes even just a sketch. When a cookbook provides a big, colorful photograph of each recipe, I feel like they went above and beyond what they could get away with and… let’s just be honest here… I totally appreciate that.
I also appreciate that these recipes aren’t just “gluten free,” but are also healthy in every other way. As a mother to a ridiculously adorable little boy, the author, herself, puts a great value on healthy eating and it shows in her recipes.
Going Against the Grain – Italian Style is perfect in every way and I hope you’ll add it to your cookbook collection right away. I know you’ll love it as much as I do.
A Word on the Recipe Part of the Book
by Nuccia Ardagna
I really love food and I really enjoy preparing exquisite culinary creations for my family and friends. I am not a chef, but growing up with my Sicilian mom, aunts and grandmothers I certainly learned how to cook. We maintained our tradition of making our own sauce, marinating our own vegetables, making our own wine and growing our own garden. We may not have had much, but we always ate well that’s for sure. Maybe it’s in our DNA, who knows, but when I was suddenly forced to follow a strict gluten-free diet, after the initial panic subsided I knew I could make this work. It would take time and effort but I knew it wasn’t impossible.
So let’s talk about the recipes in this book and why I chose them. There are millions of cookbooks out there. There are many cooking channels featuring renowned chefs on TV. Each bring their own special something to the table. In this day and age, no one is reinventing the wheel when it comes to cooking, however we are all trying to eat healthier and putting a little bit of ourselves into our dishes.
I am no different. I don’t promise recipes you’ve never heard of before. Sometimes, just a tiny tweak to an old classic is enough to impress. In my case, I had to take old, favorite recipes I grew up with and in many cases modify them, as they now needed to be gluten-free.
My motto, which I emphasize in my book, is to stick to healthy fruits, vegetables and lean meats, all of which incidentally are gluten-free. There is of course the pasta and breaded dishes that required modification but short of making your own pasta from scratch or making your own breadcrumbs, these dishes require purchasing ready-made items.
I wanted my book to be simple enough for a beginner but wanted to include some of the more elaborate dishes as well in hopes that I could cater to those who aren’t so new in the kitchen. Many cookbook reviewers will not enjoy a particular book because of its simplicity while others might criticize the complexity of the recipes or the ingredients contained in other books. Bottom line is that you can’t please everyone and that’s fine too.
My goal was to keep it simple featuring classic recipes. Some may surprise you as to why I would include them in the book (like the prosciutto-melone antipasto) but I really wanted to because they are true classics and gluten-free to boot, not to mention a crowd-pleaser. Other recipes are native to Sicily and while some of these are simple and others require a little more effort, the goal was to share our heritage with you.
These recipes were was not meant to dazzle you with complex ingredients, but rather to help you eat well, simple while you are adapting to your new gluten-free lifestyle.
I hope you enjoy the carefully selected recipes. Stay tuned for a new book that will feature elaborate menus.
Find Going Against the Grain – Italian Style!
Helpful Links:
- Nuccia’s Website
- Book Tour Schedule for Going Against the Grain – Italian Style!
