Nigellissima: Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes: A Cookbook Hardcover – Illustrated, February 12, 2013

I have been a fan of Nigella's since I first saw her on the Food Network years and years ago. I own all of her cookbooks and have cooked out of them over the years. Her recipes are all winners. When I heard she was doing an Italian cookbook, I couldn't wait to see it. Like her other books, they use easy to find ingredients. The photos are beautiful another plus for this book. She uses fresh ingredients that you can find in a grocery store or online nowadays. Her recipes are not the kind that you have to use every pot in the house to do one dish. This was another plus for me.I am very picky about cookbooks I buy, if there is only one recipe I want then I go to my local library to borrow it. With Nigella's books especially this one, there are so many I could cook a new one each night and never get bored. This book is even perfect for people who don't cook but love to look at beautiful cookbooks.If you are an old fan of Nigella's or a new one, this book is worth purchasing. I know there will be people who are food snobs who will say they aren't authentic Italian recipes. So what! Authentic or inspired just another way to look at recipes. Some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten weren't authentic to the cuisine but inspired by the cuisine. Nigella Lawson writes for those of us who aren't CIA graduates but people who love to cook at home for people we love. This book is another incentive to get people to love going into their kitchens and cooking for family and friends. So yes, I highly recommend this book and hope whoever buys it will enjoy it as much as I am. Thanks Nigella for hitting another one out of the ball park.

She's wonderfully inspiring and her recipes are so simple.

Great, easy to follow recipes

I couldn't wait. Nigella Lawson's Italian cookbook was released this fall in the UK, but the US version isn't scheduled to publish here until next spring. Really, you think I could control myself that long? Of course not. So I bought the UK version (I'm not scared off by kilos rather than pounds), and I've been cooking from it for a few weeks.Nigella describes the book as "instant Italian inspiration" and it does follow her premise that good food is worth quality time, but not so much of it that you forget to enjoy the dinner party (or just family dinner) you put together. It's not all 30-minute-meals, but there is a sense of you having OTHER things to do besides spend the day in the kitchen.There are long-ish chapters devoted to pasta; flesh, fish & fowl; vegetables & sides; sweet things; and an Italian-inspired Christmas (which could be called ..."or other holiday meal"). So far, I've made three dishes. "Meatza" is a no-bread-dough pizza. It's basically ground beef as the crust (think: very thin meatloaf) with pizza toppings piled on top: tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil. That worked fine for a midweek meal, and I bet it'd be a hit in any household with picky eaters. I also made a dinner of her pork chops with fennel seeds and allspice (which is just as good as it sounds) accompanied by spinach baked with ricotta and nutmeg (which was truly yummy, as well as super-easy). I have my eye on several other recipes, such as Taliata for Two (steak with cherry tomatoes and an oil-vinegar-chili sauce) and roast butternut squash with sage (with a bit of Gorgonzola, she says, it's suitable as a main course rather than a side dish, particularly when served with her Italian golden lentils... though I'm not sure I have seen Castlluccio lentils here in the U.S.). My Thanksgiving stand-around-and-nibble-something-with-the-beer appetizer was almost the Gorgonzola and cannellini (bean) dip served with raw red pepper, sugar snap peas, and cauliflower.There are, however, plenty of recipes that make me think, "That's nice, but I know I'm not going to make it." Some of these are my own food preferences (I'm not fond of lamb for instance) but others are just... shrug. You may feel differently, of course.Bottom line: This is a solidly good cookbook, but only "very good" and not quite as wonderful as Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast, or Feast: Food to Celebrate Life, or Nigella Christmas, any of which I'd recommend as a better choice as your first Nigella Cookbook. On the other hand, there's nothing at all wrong with "solidly good," especially if you love Italian food. If you like her other cookbooks, you'll like this one, too.

I give Nigella's latest book top marks, this is one of her best cookbooks right along with Forever Summer, and Nigella Express, although this book is even better than those two excellent books of hers. There are some really interesting, and wonderful looking recipes, so many wonderful looking recipes to choose from, and lots that I plan on making in the very near future. The book only just arrived a few days ago, so I haven't had a chance to make lots of things, but I did make the chicken with with tomatoes, peppers , I had orzo and Basmasti rice , and Nigella's cherry tomatoes and olives ( briefly cooked with some garlic oil and other ingredients), both recipes were very good. My husband and I really liked the chicken recipe and the salad witht the tomatoes and ( pitted) olives, they were both very tasty, and very nice comfort food, and there are loads more recipes I plan on trying. This is a very lovely cookbook which is beautifully printed and it lovely photographs.

This is my first Nigella book and at first I was a bit put off by the chatty style. But I've now got used to it and appreciate the way she avoids being precious. Other good aspects are the tips and substitute ingredients she gives.As the title indicates, these are not by and large traditional Italian recipes but are instead inspired by Italian cuisine. The book contains lots of recipes and many of them are extremely quick and easy to prepare, a boon for the busy but discerning cook. The photos might seem less than totally appealing in some instances, but they are realistic, unlike far too many cookery books that contain pictures of neatly arranged, almost raw ingredients that look nothing like the real finished dish.My quibbles are very minor: the chocolate hazelnut cheesecake, for example, is more of a mousse than a cheesecake in texture (despite the biscuit base), but that doesn't stop it from being absolutely delicious. Perfect for grown-ups and kids alike. I'm glad I bought this book for this recipe alone!

I used it for cooking