Ciao Yall: Recipes from the PBS Series Cucina Amore

I gave this cookbook to my husband for Christmas and he loves it. We visited Mandola's Winery just south of Austin, TX, and were so impressed we had dinner at Mandola's restuarant in Austin that evening on our way back home. Both are delightful and are fully reflected in the cookbook showing how you can mesh 2 totally different cultures (Italian and Southern American) in food and have a very tasty mix.

I generally buy my books for the dessert recipes. This was no exception. It has some dolci that I find interesting and unique. I started with the Lemon Rosemary Pound Cake and it was fabulous. It has a fluffy moist tender crumb that we swooned over. Well worth the price of the book. I also tried a couple of other dishes and was not impressed...but still know there is a lot of great cooking to do from this book.

I have to confess to a huge crush on Damian Mandola, but after making his gumbo, I may be in love. I followed the recipe exactly except for the crab (too much $, so I used 8 oz. of packaged crabment) and I added andouille sausage because my cooking's biggest fan loves it. The time it takes to make the dark roux he says to use is worth it. The recipe is fabulous. I haven't made anything else in the cookbook yet, but the directions are beautifully thorough; the photographs and quotations from the guys are delightful.