Venice in February: Brunetti’s Cookbook by Roberta Pianaro and Donna Leon
Two things I love- Italian food and mysteries. And Donna Leon has found a great combination with Brunetti's Cookbook.
Leon's Commissario Guido Brunetti series is one of my current favorites, and for those who've read the books, you know why she needed to add a cookbook. If you haven't read the books, let me tell you a bit about them. Brunetti is an inspector for the Venice Questura, so the mysteries are basically police precedurals, not the food-based cozies that are so popular now. But the descriptions of Venice transport you there, and the food is just mouth-watering, whether he's eating at a neighborhood trattorio or at home where his wife, Paola, cooks delectable multi-course meals. That's not to mention the pastries, the wine, the coffee.
In Brunetti's Cookbook, Roberta Pianaro has brought these dishes to our dinner table, with Leon interspersing the recipes with excerpts from her novels and essays about food and Venice. It's a marvelous cookbook to actually sit down...