The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored. – Nigella LawsonHas yet to be bettered … my copy is splattered with gnocchi, tomato sauce, gravy and oil, but I wouldn’t replace it for the world. It does what it says on the tin, and more. – Kate Colquhoun, The Best 50 Cookbooks * Independent *Brilliant. – Heston BlumenthalThere are dozens of Italian cookbooks on the market, but The Essentials Of Classic Italian Cooking is the only one you need to buy. No glossy photos; just 700 pages of wonderful recipes and instruction in basics such as bread-making. And all with the kind of detailed teaching left out of books that give more space to pictures than to text. A classic. – The GuardianTruly indispensable. – Nigel SlaterWhen I don’t know what to do in life, I go to Marcella and she sorts me out – Ruth Rogers, chef and owner of The River Cafe, London

Marcella Hazan (1924-2013) was born in the village of Cesenatico in Italy. She earned a doctorate in natural sciences and biology from the University of Ferrara. In 1956 she married Victor Hazan, an Italian-American who subsequently gained fame as a wine writer, and the couple moved to New York City a few months later. Author of The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, she was widely considered by chefs and fellow food writers to be one of the foremost authorities on Italian cuisine.