Best italian cooking, food & wine books according to redditors
We found 114 Reddit comments discussing the best italian cooking, food & wine books. We ranked the 38 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 114 Reddit comments discussing the best italian cooking, food & wine books. We ranked the 38 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
My basic sauce is Marcella Hazan's recipe:
Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh plum tomatoes, peeled, chopped (Ok I cheat and I just buy a 28oz can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes and throw them in a blender)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half
salt, to taste
(I also add black pepper and crushed red pepper to taste
Directions:
Dump all of it in your pot/saucepan, simmer over low-medium heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally until the butter is completely melted and the fat floats to the surface, salt, pepper, red pepper to taste.
Discard the onion. (Or dice it and keep it in the sauce, personal preference)
Enjoy
I could keep going but I should stop. So many great ones out there.
Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery if they like Indian food. My parents own this, as does my sister and I. I'll buy my kids a copy when they leave home.
The Silver Spoon and/or The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking if they're into Italian. Jamie's Italy if they're looking for something more approachable or casual.
Salt Fat Acid Heat is apparently very good, I own it, but I've not read it yet.
I recently donated away about 100 cookbooks I had collected over the years (I organize virtually everything digitally now) but I kept these 5:
Child et al, Mastering the Art of French Cooking (well-used, next to the stove)
Hazan, Essentials of Italian Cooking (carried to Italy and used there twice)
Lewis, The Taste of Country Cooking (such a good read)
Rombauer. An older than I am edition (with how-to-skin-a-squirrel recipes) of the Joy of Cooking (falling apart, kept for sentimental reasons)
Fox, On Vegetables: Modern Recipes for the Home Kitchen (for the porn)
I tried to book an Airbnb with this girl in Rome. I liked her profile because it said she was a foodie, a blogger, and a photographer. She rejected my request because she already had a booking off of airbnb.
I must have said something that resonated with her because she messaged me a few days later and invited me to grab some beers with her friends. I'M IN!
Fast forward a few months and I'm in Rome staying somewhere else. Its raining and I'm thinking... maybe I'll bail on this drinks thing - she hasnt really followed up. At the last minute - I'm late now - I decide... what the hell I'm just gonna sit here doing nothing. I hail a taxi and head to a place named Birra+.
She's there and after a warm welcome, I start meeting her friends. First one is a sommelier, next one is a sous chef, next one is a food blogger, and it keeps going... these people are ALL food industry people. "What is going on here?" I thought.
I eventually find out, she's a food blogger AND also a New York Times travel writer. Published a few times, has her own app, etc. WOW! She was testing out an Italian beer tasting tour on her friends, and I got to join it. It really was a fantastic experience.
The rest of my trip was filled with THE BEST food recommendations for any price point. I still keep in touch with some of her friends to this day. I got to go to a michelin star - meet the chef. I got recommendations on best wine bars and which wines to try. It completely made my trip! Memories for a lifetime.
BTW if anyone is interested her name is Katie Parla. She now has her own book and is writing another book on the Italian island food right now. Also looks like she still does the Italian beer tour doesnt look like she lists prices... I'm guessing shes super expensive.
this Marcella Hazan classic is where you should start your education in Italian cuisine. Many of the recipes are very simple & uncomplicated & under-spiced. Some ppl may think the dishes are underwhelming since it's not like Cook's Illustrated where they pile on layers of flavor & umami. But that's the true beauty of real Italian cuisine... it showcases the best of your ingredients.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.
I've enjoyed this book immensely, it has great reviews on Amazon, and Alton Brown considers this one of the 'best' cook books to own.
The Silver Spoon is a massive Italian cookbook with pretty easy to read instructions and big fancy pictures. I got one as a gift its has some pretty good recipes in it that range from easier to harder recipes. Its about 30 bucks on amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Kitchen/dp/0714862568/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450126627&sr=8-1&keywords=the+silver+spoon+cookbook
One of the most interesting and classic Italian cookbooks is "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well", written by Pellegrino Artusi in 1891. It's huge, a fascinating read, incredibly comprehensive, and literally laugh-out-loud funny. EDIT: another good one is "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan.
The Soprano's Cookbook, as well as its companion piece, Entertaining with Carmela Soprano, are both full of solid recipes.
The Silver Spoon is a mammoth of a book. around 2000 pages if I remember right. I had it recommended to me countless times but didn't realise just how amazing of a deal it was until it landed on my doorstep and I found out you could believably beat someone to death with it.
Huge book, categories for EVERYTHING. My only criticism is that sometimes it uses terminology that might not be the best for beginners and there's not many guide pictures. But that's nothing a bit of googling around can't sort out. I'd definitely recommend getting it for your collection.
Marcella Hazan
Marcella Hazan
Marcella Hazan
Also, Marcella Hazan.
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X
Marcella Hazan is to Italian food as Julia Child is to French food. Start with Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking; you can't go wrong!
A few from different regions:
Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition for Yucatecan / Mayan food. It is the best one for this, period.
Sicilian Food
The Nordic Cookbook for Scandinavian food.
Cuisine of Hungary.
Churrasco: Grilling the Brazilian Way
The Silver Spoon is like the Italian food bible - it is more like an encyclopedia than a cookbook.
But the one that I think you must have on your shelf is Giorgio Locatelli's Made In Italy. It's as much for the recipes as it is for the stories - you get such a sense of what food means to Italians and what a massive part of its culture food is. It's a cookbook you can happily read in bed. I love it.
I also picked up this on a recent trip to Bocca di Lupo and it's pretty special as well.
>Now that boychild is old enough we have family passes to all the big Chicago museums.
Mr. Abrams' maternal grandfather designed the hoist that takes you into the coal mine at Science & Industry. YOUR WELCOME
I don't have "hobbies," per se; I don't knit or anything. But I have pastimes!
Nå folkens, der er snart gået et år siden Skodbil sidst mæskede sig i fødselsdagskage, og det betyder at successen skal gentages. Fødselsdagsgaver er for lang tid siden gået fra at være Lego og våben, til at være sokker og bøger.
Derfor skal der nu nogle gode kogebøger på listen. Jeg er ikke så meget på udkig efter opskriftsbøger, men mere ude i at ville have kogebøger som jeg rent faktisk kan lære noget af. Jeg har allerede følgende på listen, men hvis DU kender en helt vildt god bog jeg bør læse, så sig til.
Sølvskeen
The Food Lab, Kenji Lopez
Chocolate at Home
Paul Bocuse Institut Gastronomique
The Professional Chef
The Flavour Bible
Mastering Cheese
Der er med vilje ingen vinbøger på listen, for det gør jeg mig ikke specielt meget i - endnu.
4am. Lunch. Pepperoni roll made by the bakery of my local grocer.
links to the amazon pages for reviews- Intrigue in italics(mystery) , Mankinds worst fear(sci-fi) , Smilodon(thriller) , The plight of the angels(fantasy-epic) , Wistril compleat(fantasy-short stories)
Investing in culinary texts rather than cookbooks really helped me. These books provide very basic recipes along with relevant techniques/information. Once you get these down, it's a heck of a lot easier to be creative with your dishes (e.g. knowing the 5 mother sauces of French cuisine leads to literally thousands of other recipes).
Suggested reading material:
Sauces: Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making
One of my absolute favorites, I refer to this book pretty much every time I'm in the mood for something new. The author does a great job at keeping things simple while providing great information on traditional applications (along with how to flavor things to your own tastes) for dishes ranging from Mornay sauce to Ganache.
On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals
This was my required text for intro culinary classes, which makes it expensive. I'm sure finding older/used versions will be much cheaper and just as useful. This is a great resource for techniques such as deboning poultry, ideal use for various potato species, the different cuts of beef and pork, the best cooking methods for said cuts, culinary terms, etc.
The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
My god do I love Marcella Hazan. She's the Italian Julia Child, and does a fantastic job at making intimidating dishes much more approachable. While this is more of a classic cookbook than the previous two, Hazan provides info on produce selection, basic kitchen techniques, ideal tools to have, and, of course, hundreds of traditional Italian recipes with notes on altering flavor profiles.
YMMV, depending on how deep into the cooking world you'd like to get. Sometimes it's just easier for me to look through google results of a specific dish for inspiration. Good luck!
I have this one. It's a very nice cookbook, filled with stories and explanations of the author's connection to each of the dishes. I've only made a few things out of it, but they have all been good.
http://www.novelrank.com/asin/1617691038
So far 62 for Aug and Sept for Luca on Amazon.
One of the most well known Italian cookbooks would be La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene however this is not the usual cooking you find in most restaurants.
Silver Spoon is the best for basics/reference. I've got a copy in both English and the original Italian. It's the modern bible while larousse gastronomique is outdated imo.
Cooking by Hand was a big inspiration early in my career
Recently I like cookbooks that are entertaining beyond just pretty pictures of food.
The Dirt Candy cookbook. The graphic novel style is awesome and the recipes are good.
Also, A Super Upsetting Book about Sandwiches
And of course Thug Kitchen
Once you have some basics down, you might look around for a copy of this cookbook. It's sort of the bible of Italian cooking in Italy, and while it has some complicated recipes, there are also plenty of simple but classic dishes, especially in the appetizers. soups and salad sections.
My most used and well loved cookbook is Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. My Italian grandmother recommended it to me when I first started cooking as a teenager and it seems to be a staple for a lot of home cooks I know.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/039458404X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ESCPAbCSJBRWR
I am not sure of what you already have or what you would need, I am listing a few things on top of my head:
There are two Soprano family cookbooks, one "compiled by" Artie and the other by Carmela.
Some of the recipes are available on various blogs and pdfs of both books in their entirety are out there if you look.
Essentials of Classic Italian... https://www.amazon.com/dp/039458404X?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Would it happen to be this book?
These were cookbooks I found continually helpful while working at a fine-dining Italian place:
La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy - 900 pages with a background on each recipe. Very helpful for research and creating dishes.
Encyclopedia of Pasta - Invaluable if you're doing fresh pasta. Provides a thorough explanation of each shape.
The Silver Spoon - a monster with 2000 recipes, but a great reference book. I think it claims to be Italy's oldest cookbook(?)...
I think these are a great starting point if you're in a serious kitchen - best of luck!
Here it is!
www.amazon.com/Luigi-Carnacinas-Great-Italian-Cooking/dp/B000BUIPRY
Wow! I actually own this one already. Good to know that's the real deal.
Here's a link for those interested:
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking https://www.amazon.com/dp/039458404X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_5puYzb43Z2KMK
Marcella Hazan has a parallel story to Julia Child, only for Italian cooking.
Use this one. It is the classic in italian cooking, written for Americans.
https://www.amazon.com/Gelato-Messina-Recipes-Nick-Palumbo/dp/1742705154
This is the book. It's a great book to read but I've never made the recipes. It's almost commercial-style recipes presented in a recipe book.
Messina are renowned in Australia for popular gelatos
These are all great starts -
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X
http://www.amazon.com/Lidias-Italy-Simple-Delicious-Recipes/dp/1400040361/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413903918&sr=1-6&keywords=lidia+bastianich+cookbooks
http://www.amazon.com/Mario-Batali-Simple-Italian-Food/dp/0609603000/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413903950&sr=1-9&keywords=mario+batali
Last night I made farfalle Alfredo, which is Thing 2's absolute favorite. Thing 1 can take it or leave it. Thing 3 ate four bowlsful and immediately lapsed into a carb coma.
Marcella Hazan's pork loin in red wine vinegar tonight. You salt and pepper a pork loin roast, brown it on both sides in a snugly-fitting saucepan with a little butter and olive oil and then, while it's still hot, pour in red wine vinegar to come up about halfway. (Stand back, the steam will make your eyes sting.) Throw a bay leaf in, clamp the lid on, and turn the heat down to low. Simmer until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150 or so. DO NOT OVERCOOK OR IT WILL BE DRY LIKE SAWDUST.
This was one of the first recipes I cooked out of this book, way back when I was first learning to cook, in the late 1990s. I had just started dating Mr. Arthur and didn't know a thing about cooking because my mother never cared much about food and my dad only wanted to eat the same five dinners in a rotation. Mr. Arthur's family cares about food A LOT and I knew I had to raise my game. This is the single best cookbook I own, and I own hundreds, and opened my eyes to so many concepts: technique, simplicity of ingredients, et al et al.
This recipe is only three ingredients, not counting the oil and butter and salt and pepper, but it's one of the best things I have ever eaten.
Edit: A lot of recipes tell you to cook your pork to 160 or 170 degrees, lest you poison yourself with trichinosis, which is rubbish. At least in the US, there hasn't been a trich outbreak in decades, and you can actually see trich with the naked eye. If your pork is covered in swarming creepy-crawlies, throw it out and don't cook it at all. Trich is also killed at 137F. So if you're cooking pork loin or tenderloin, which does not benefit from long cooking the way that shoulder or belly does, cook it to 150 degrees and call it a day.
profit motivated enough to ruin the enjoyment in watching a cooking competition. profit motivated enough to make competitor's efforts, creativity, and talent mean nothing. the funny thing is, they're so up their own asses and don't realize they would sell more books from genuinely awesome chefs who the people liked watching (for this season derrick, stephen).
case in point from season 4 : https://www.amazon.com/My-Italian-Kitchen-Favorite-MasterChef/dp/1617691038
to now: https://www.amazon.com/Claudias-Cocina-Mexico-Winner-MasterChef/dp/1617691895
The Silver Spoon is like the Italian version of Joy of Cooking. It might be a good one for you to consider for your next project. There are a lot of editions so you can find copies that are pretty cheap.
"The quintessential cookbook." – USA Today
The Silver Spoon, the most influential and bestselling Italian cookbook of the last 50 years, is now available in a new updated and revised edition. This bible of authentic Italian home cooking features over 2,000 revised recipes and is illustrated with 400 brand new, full‐color photographs. A comprehensive and lively book, its uniquely stylish and user‐friendly format makes it accessible and a pleasure to read. The new updated edition features new introductory material covering such topics as how to compose a traditional Italian meal, typical food traditions of the different regions, and how to set an Italian table. It also contains a new section of menus by celebrity chefs cooking traditional Italian food including Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, Tony Mantuano, and Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone.
Il Cucchiaio d’Argento was originally published in Italy in 1950 by the famous Italian design and architectural magazine Domus, and became an instant classic. A select group of cooking experts were commissioned to collect hundreds of traditional Italian home cooking recipes and make them available for the first time to a wider modern audience. In the process, they updated ingredients, quantities and methods to suit contemporary tastes and customs, at the same time preserving the memory of ancient recipes for future generations.
Divided into eleven color‐coded chapters by course, The Silver Spoon is a feat of design as well as content. Chapters include: Sauces, Marinades and Flavored Butters, Antipasti, Appetizers and Pizzas, First Courses, Eggs, Vegetles, Fish and Shellfish, Meat, Poultry, Game, Cheese, and Desserts. It covers everything from coveted authentic sauces and marinades to irresistible dishes such as Penne Rigate with Artichokes, Ricotta and Spinach Gnocchi, Tuscan Minestrone, Meatballs in Brandy, Bresaola with Corn Salad, Pizza Napoletana, Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches and Carpaccio Cipriani.
Marcella Hazan has a great recipe. It's probably my favorite thing to eat ever. Her recipes can be a bit fussy, but the instructions are thorough and straightforward. I'd recommend cooking anything in her book the prescribed way first, and then making any changes the next time around (though I usually find I don't want to change a thing). I usually do her bolognese on the stove through all the reduction steps, then put it in my crock pot on "low" or "warm" for the rest of the day.
Added bonus: that book contains my other favorite pasta sauce; it's called something like "tomato sauce with butter and onion." It's a quicker sauce to make and it's quite addictive. (Edit: and it doesn't taste super oniony. You cook it with the onions and then take them out before serving.)
The Silver Spoon
https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Kitchen/dp/0714862568
Silver spoon. I've been taking a lot of recipes from it lately. It's considered "Italian" but it's the furthest thing from Olive Garden you'll ever see in respects to Italian. A lot of things are simply prepared but have immense flavor. I made the green risotto for our seven fishes night and it was great! I made the bucatini with red pepper sauce and that was amazing. I've made a few fish and beef recipes too, their lasagna is amazing. It has a lot of things most people haven't heard of but the book makes them extremely approachable if you collect all the ingredients. I used to be not very big on using cookbooks but I've had this book for a year and recently it's become a favorite of mine.
The one thing I do have to say is that you need to treat the recipes in a true Italian manner where spaghetti isn't the only dish but a filler before your protein. Almost none of the pasta dishes have protein (except one of my favorites anchovy and breadcrumbs) so you serve almost all of them as a small side dish. My edition has a section in the back where about a dozen chefs designed a menu with recipes not in the book but that you can only find in there. I've really wanted to pick a menu and do it one night for some friends.
https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Kitchen/dp/0714862568
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is a great Italian cookbook, although maybe more recipe-centric than what you are looking for.
The potato and green bean salad from here is amazing and would probably be fine without green beans. I don't have the cookbook with me, but it seems you can at least get the ingredients if you search for "potato salad" it's around page 41.
love reading good cook books too!
It's a little older, but when I moved of my parents house I took the Anna Thomas cook books.
The other one I like to page thru is the Silver Spoon
do you have a favorite?
Marcella Hazan, "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X
Wow. Dude, that is not a deep argument. Spare your keyboard, you don't have to repeat yourself over and over.
Look, the fact is, when we die, we all go to the great pasta bowl in the sky. I don't know how to prove that to you, you'll have to take my word for it. There is a god, and he's made of spaghetti.
There's no way I can prove it to you in such a shallow forum. But perhaps this book will enlighten you. I could take you to a restaurant and introduce you to some of the best chefs in the world... but that's a lot of work.
I'm not being irreverent for the hell of it, I'm trying to make a point. You are incredibly tone deaf. Who do you think you're talking to? You just came to a debate forum, and told someone who has never seen any evidence of your god, "Don't worry, it's all true. Trust me. Some old people in a monastery are really nice. You'll die one day and then you'll realize that the dude you chatted with on reddit once was right all along."
The stuff you're saying is so vapid. If you learn nothing else on here, please learn this: If you want to convince a skeptical person who values evidence, a hollow and wordy emotional argument is actually counterproductive. When I decided I no longer believed, I was desperate for any counter evidence. I really wanted to keep my faith, but it just didn't make any sense. And arguments like yours (many of them, from several people) are what sealed my decision.
First recommendation is don't work as a chef if you value a social/family life.
Good books to read are;
Larousse Gastronomique which is the absolute Bible/Koran/Bhagavad Gita
The Silver Spoon which is a great Italian cook book.
And another tip is old, outdated looking cook books are sometimes the best. I've got one I got from an ex girlfriend's mum which looks terrible but if you're into Cypriot/Greek/Turkish food is incredible, it's here
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Phaidon-Press/dp/0714862568
The most amazing Italian cook book, the author went to little villages and talked to real Italian cooks and got the truest traditional methods and recipes
3 spørgsmål:
For mig, der er den vigtigste bog at have, når vi snakker kogebøger, det er Kokkebogen. Det er en bog med alle de gode gamle klassiske retter i dansk køkken samt klassisker fra rundt omkring i Europa. Dertil får du alt den viden, som du har brug for, omkring alle dyr, udskæringer, køkkengrej og værktøj osv osv. Min gamle kokkelære på hotel og restaurations skolen sagde, at man med denne ene bog, kunne åbne en restaurant.
God mad, let at lave er også en rigtig god bog. Den er fyldt med masser af fantastiske opskrifter, som er skide god, hvis man ikke gider lange og besværlige processer.
Sølv Skeen Er den italienske udgave af vores kokkebog, bare uden alle de tekniske begreber. Jeg tror der er også 1000 opskrifter i denne bog (den er kæmpe. Min udgave har ødelagt et tørrestativ.)
Frøken Jensens kogebog er en gammel klassisker, og en hver kok med respekt for sig selv, har sådan en i sit køkken.
Jorden rundt på 80 retter er en lidt ukendt en til samlingen. Jeg synes personligt at den er skide god, fordi der er retter og inspiration at hente, som man normalt ikke ville falde over.
Men igen, så handler det jo meget om, hvad du gerne vil have. Du kan også hente inspiration på youtube, hvor Gordon Ramsay har sine Ultimate cooking course, som er en rigtig god madserie ( men det er fyldt med foodporn dog).
I have three books that I carry with from job to job.
Get Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking. Start with the basic pastas and sauces and move on from there.
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X
If you are looking for basic cooking information the Joy of Cooking is obligatory.
A couple things I've learned along the way is first to start slow and work through cookbooks. It's easy to keep buying book after book but they are just decoration if you don't know them well. Secondly, be wary of books with lots of pretty pictures! In my experience they are full of single-purpose recipes that don't teach you the true nature or source as you spoke of above.
As far as source recipes I'd second everything mentioned so far but if you are looking to blow people away with Italian and Mexican dishes (my particular favorite styles)... look no further than:
The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan - Possibly my favorite author of cookbooks of all time. This is definitely the one to start with in my opinion.
The Art of Mexican Cooking - Diana Kennedy - If you are looking for real mexican food this book is a great place to start.
Bonus Book... not a cookbook but a great way to learn about cooking
Vegan Italiano by Donna Klein is great and the recipes are easy to follow.
http://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Italiano-Meat-free-Dairy-free-Sun-Drenched/dp/1557884943
For recipes with easy to find ingredients, I always like to recommend Vegan Italiano. There are no meat substitutes in this book or even tofu. The recipes are pretty simple too.
There's two of them: 1 2
The Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan is an excellent book on Italian cooking.
​
What's Eating Dan has some great videos on food science and why if you cook in certain ways the food is more delicious
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For Italian, start here: https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X
Basically gonna echo most of the answers already posted, but just to pile on:
Cookbooks
Nothing inspires cooking like a good cookbook collection. The great news about cookbooks is that they're often bought as gifts or souvenirs and they make their way onto the used market cheap and in great condition. Here are my suggestions for a great starter shelf:
That's the basic definition of how you 'finish' a dish, in standard Italian cooking. https://www.amazon.ca/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X , like Italy-italian, not "North America's bizarro world version as promulgated by Olive Garden"
Surprisingly, authentic italian cooking can be very keto without sacrificing any flavour, and enhancing the satiation, and one of the big methods to do so is basically extra parmesan as a finishing touch.
Look for Marcella's recipe for minestrone. Leave out the pasta and potatoes, and it's full on keto. My version of the recipe is 12 g net carbs per serving, and only 8 if I leave out the cannellini beans. You lose zero flavour to having it be low carb. In the recipe you use parmesan heels (the part leftover when you grate all the cheese you can from a round) to start the broth thickening.
The classic italian meal treats pasta as an occasional, middle of the meal thing, and the portions are tiny by american standards- usually 30g or less carbs in the portion sizes I encountered. On my infrequent days off from keto, one of our go-to meals is Lasagne, northern italy style, and it's 40g carbs per serving.
I recommend this cookbook: The Silver Spoon New Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0714862568/ref=cm_sw_r_api_Uoo4yb5HMXSBF
Translated from Italian, 1000's of recipes. Get a reference copy for you kitchen, spend some time getting to know Italian seasonal non-tomato based cuisine in depth so you don't have to think on your feet when in order comes in.
The silver spoon is largely considered the go-to italian homestyle cookbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Silver-Spoon-New-Phaidon-Press/dp/0714862568/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419952727&sr=1-1&keywords=silver+spoon
Yes yes yes yes. This bad boy has all kinds of great bechamel - and other sauce - recipes.
Get a nice bottle of Barolo and do a gift basket for her. If she liked Rome include all the ingredients to make a Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Since she liked Sicily get her some aged pecorino to grate on top. Also, toss in a copy of the Silver Spoon so she can whip up her favorite dishes whenever she likes.
There are more than enough resources out there to teach you how to cook. The better question might be - what do you want to learn how to cook?
If you're a big Italian food fan like I am, I did the following:
Step 1. Purchase copy of Marcella Hazan's ["Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"] (http://www.amazon.ca/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X)
Step 2. Figure out the fundamental recipes - for me it was plain tomato sauce, bolognese sauce, minestrone soup, hand made pasta, roast chicken, ossobuco, and a few others
Step 3. Practice practice practice - I have probably made my own pasta 20 times in the past year and I am still not close to mastery (but I'm getting there!)
I'd also suggest that you work on basic knife skills, including sharpening your own knife. These are essential no matter what route you decide to take.
The only thing that's ever worked for me is to put about 3/4 of the total amount of pecorino and pepper in a mixing bowl, ideally steel, and slowly whisk in the pasta water in the last thirty seconds of the pasta cooking, stirring rapidly. Then I use my tongs to take the spaghetti directly out of the pot and put it into the bowl, tossing vigorously. Then I put the bowl back over the pot of water to keep the pasta from losing too much heat, and I keep tossing while sprinkling in the rest of the cheese. Works perfectly about 85% of the time.
Edit: your recipe looks terrible, tbh. The whole reason cheese clumps is the heat. Dumping a cheese like pecorino into a pot of simmering water sounds like asking for trouble. Do it my way. I got the basic technique out of this book.
Buy this and start learning to cook some real Italian stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian-Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X/