in the kitchen together, and Cindy’s eyes sparkle when these tales are shared with family and friends. Cindy’s two sisters also love to reminisce about their childhood. Although the sisters sometimes disagree about the way Nana made certain recipes, they always have fun when they get a chance to cook together—with, of course, a glass of wine in hand.
Cindy’s infectious enthusiasm for Italian food pervades all of her recipes, which demonstrate the passion inspired by her Italian heritage and her extensive travels throughout Italy. Her Italian style of cooking is flavorful yet clean, and very approachable. The recipes are not complicated, and many of them can be made in advance, but they’ll always be the star of the party!
Cindy and her husband Glenn love to entertain in their large country home in Marlborough, Connecticut. Most of the recipes in this book appear regularly in Cindy’s kitchen—especially her antipasti, which is always offered to family and friends. Other favorites are the spinach and artichoke rolls and her delicious frittatas. She always serves Italian chopped salad alongside Tuscan favorites such as anchovy pizza or Roman braised eggplant. A pot of sauce or meatball and kale soup will be simmering on the stove on the weekends. On any given night at Cindy’s, you might be served her chicken scaloppine in a caper sauce or even osso buco; if she feels like seafood, you could have the salmon with lemon, capers and thyme. Cindy’s desserts are light and easy, but very Italian. This book offers a unique take on the flavors of Tuscany. Cindy’s hope in sharing these homemade Tuscan Paleo recipes is that you will feel like part of her family and share her love for the taste of Italy.
BUON APPETIT O!
WELCOME TO MY WORLD
Iam so happy you are here to share what I love most: cooking for my family and friends while drinking wine in my kitchen! I’ve found that inviting new friends home to share one of my homemade Paleo Italian dishes with a glass of wine is a wonderful way to deepen a friendship.
My family is from Naples, Italy, and many of the Paleo Italian recipes in this book are based on my family traditions and the flavors from this area. My husband and I also spend two weeks in Italy every year. We especially love the Tuscan area of central Italy, with its natural cobbled streets, wide-open windows, and friendly folks standing outside ready to welcome you into their restaurants or shops; but there are countless beautiful parts of Italy to be discovered while traveling through the countryside. I’ve been lucky enough to have traveled throughout Europe and the U.S., and I have found that I feel most at home in Italy. The importance of food and family in everyday life really resonates with my values.
Having spent a lot of time in my grandmother’s kitchen growing up, I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to share my extraordinary and easy cooking, which represents my heritage and my love for good, healthy food. In this book, I’ve included dishes I serve to my family and friends, many of which represent dishes my grandmother, Nana, made for us. My best childhood memories are of gatherings for birthdays, graduations, weddings, Sunday dinners or simple get-togethers—in which every conversation either began or ended with food. Nana had a very easygoing approach to life: always have enough food to feed the entire family and whoever stops by. Being old-fashioned, she also told me that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. “Feed your man,” she said, “and he’ll always come home to you.” My approach to cooking is very similar to my grandmother’s—keep it simple and add lots of flavor using fresh herbs! The quality of the ingredients plays a very important part in any recipe and enhances the beauty of each dish.
I love easy, authentic Italian food that can be prepared in advance without a lot of mess, and which are equally suitable for weeknight dinners or special occasions.
A typical Italian dinner is served family-style, with wine and laughter.
Weekends often involve more of a multicourse extravaganza that may last a few hours. Because I’m a bit of a selfish mother, it makes me happy to have my family at the table for a few uninterrupted hours, all of us enjoying delicious food together. In this book, I will show you how much fun cooking at home truly is, and how it offers quality time with the people you love around you. In Italy, families spend hours together eating several small meals and drinking local wine. There’s no need to consume a large plate of food in a single sitting; eating Italian-style means making a meal into more of an event, taking your time, with the food enhancing the special moments you spend together.
When I decided to leave corporate America and follow my passion into the kitchen, it was a very natural transition. I’m able to make great food for my family and friends every day. I feel blessed to have this opportunity to share my family traditions as well as all of the new recipes coming from my kitchen. I also deeply appreciate my husband’s willingness to make time for us to travel throughout Italy each year and enjoy the amazing food, views and wine. These trips have inspired me to create great food using all natural ingredients, and to embrace my Italian heritage. It’s a great pleasure to share my travels to Italy, my family traditions and authentic Italian recipes with you, and I hope you enjoy the results.
Chocolate Almond Torte (page 157)
Venetian Potatoes (page 140)
Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon & Arugula (page 52)
THE PALEO ITALIAN LIFESTYLE
This cookbook assumes that you have some familiarity with the Paleo lifestyle and you’re ready to take your skills up a notch to create authentic Italian recipes for your family or friends. If you’re new to Paleo, there are many books and online resources that offer a sound introduction. The basic principles of Paleo living involve avoiding dairy, grains, legumes, vegetable oils, processed sugar and most other processed foods. I use grass-fed meats and organic vegetables and fruits whenever possible, and I always keep coconut oil, olive oil, nuts and seeds on hand. Paleo and gluten-free diets are not identical, but if you’re avoiding gluten, the Paleo lifestyle is a great way to stay healthy.
Back when I was a kid, food was different: my grandfather had a garden and chickens, and most of our food was unprocessed. In today’s world, we need to pay attention to everything that goes into our bodies. Eating wholesome food will enhance your life. When I first learned about Paleo, I loved the community’s shared enthusiasm for the lifestyle and for longevity. If you want to live a long life and share your history with your children and grandchildren, why not start now? You’ll see the difference after making a few small changes, and you’ll want to share it with everyone you know.
I’ve taken the dishes my Nana made for our family and transformed her recipes to fit a Paleo lifestyle. If you’re following this path, you may wonder how to incorporate Italian cooking without it being complicated or losing authenticity. In my opinion, coming from deep-rooted Italian family that ate a lot of lamb, veal, poultry and tons of meatballs, it’s easy and welcoming. My family and friends all understand my love for cooking, since I prepare enough to feed the neighborhood and welcome company, but they also know I’m cooking Paleo-style. The best part of this transition is that everyone wants to be in the kitchen with me, helping me out. They don’t realize it, but I’m teaching them how to cook healthy and keep it easy.
