Loved how this was a family cookbook making you feel like your in the heart of Italy - recipes easy to follow and delicious to eat

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Race Point Publishing for Cooking with Nonna: The Holiday Cookbook by Rossella Rago. This book is about growing up and being surrounded by a big Italian family as much as it is a cookbook. Sprinkled throughout the book are interviews with Italian Nonnas about their lives, their childhoods, how they came to the United States, their families, and more. These stories/interviews were my favorite part of the book. There is a foreword by Adriana Trigiani, an introduction about the author, and then it jumps right into the recipes. The recipes are broken up by holiday menus and all the recipes for each menu follow the menu.

The recipes are classic Italian dishes and not as popular dishes. Each recipe lists the prep time, cook time, and yield and gives a brief introduction about the recipe and what it means to the author. Some of my favorite recipes are Mozzarella and Tomato Fritters; Cream Puffs with Chocolate Sauce; Cinnamon and Sugar Zeppole; Stuffed Zucchini (stuffed in the middle of 2 inch rounds, not lengthwise!); Butternut Squash Lasagna; Potato Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce; Cream Cheese Knot Cookies; and Struffoli Cones.

These recipes are not quick, weeknight meals, but more for weekends and holiday dinners as the title suggests. I would have liked a few more pictures of the recipes, but the pictures of the Nonna’s were great. And the pictures that did accompany the recipes looked great. This is a book to sit down with and read and then pull out to use for special occasions.

First of all as someone who adored their grandmother and also learned to cook from her too, I really enjoyed the premise. Holidays are such a special time of the year and I always enjoy reading about the traditional foods that others make. I wasn’t a big fan of some of the recipes because of personal taste and I don’t think I would ever want to bake eggs in their shell on top of a bread, but if you love Italian cooking, then this book would be a good fit for you.

It’s so much fun to cook and bake for holidays, and while most focus on their own family traditions, it’s nice to add a few more when we learn that others have great traditions, too. Italians are known for their close families with their special holiday traditions and fabulous food. Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays: 130 Classic Holiday Recipes from Italian Grandmothers by Rosella Rago, is an excellent cookbook with delightful stories from Italian grandmothers, and most importantly mouthwatering recipes. While modern grandmothers aren’t always good cooks, Rago has chosen grandmothers that fit the stereotype of a proper grandmother with a long list of family dishes.

The book includes beautiful photographs of most of the recipes, which makes it tempting to make almost everything. The recipes are easy to follow, and many are easy to prepare. Holiday dishes are often a little more difficult and time-consuming than everyday recipes, but Rago has made it seem easy to prepare great holiday recipes with minimum kitchen time. There are recipes for beautiful and delicious Christmas cookies, several Easter breads, Christmas Eve seafood dishes, breads such as Foccacia (fabulous), Thanksgiving desserts and side dishes, and mouthwatering pasta dishes. There is something for everyone here, and this is a cookbook that will be used over and over again.

Favorite recipes include Neapolitan Spaghetti Pie, Pumpkin Tiramisu, Ricotta and Meat-Filled Manicotti (we loved this), Saint Joseph Bread Rolls, Eggs in Purgatory with Polenta, and a unique Stuffed Zucchini.

If you want a cookbook full of great recipes to prepare for holidays throughout the year, Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays is definitely the one. It’s well-written, the recipes are easy to follow, and there is something to choose from that will appeal to everyone. Highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Great looking recipes, but they are quite ingredient-heavy. I would recommend this book for intermediate or confident cooks, because there look to be fantastic recipes in here...but they are beyond my skill level!

The forward to this book was really sweet. The author included interviews with the different Nonnas whose recipes were showcased.

There were many recipes.

I enjoyed finding out about different family traditions and enjoyed reading it

A great little cookery book, full of authentic family recipes and easy to recreate. I had fun doing so.

Ich will auch so eine Nonna haben! Schöne Einführung, eine reiche Auswahl an Rezepten (classics and more) und Fotos, bei deren Anblick einem das Wasser im Munde zusammen läuft. Ich habe bislang drei Rezepte nachgekocht , sehr empfehlenswert -> Einfach beschrieben und sehr lecker.

Because this includes recipes from all different grandmas, I felt the cookbook lacked overall cohesion. I enjoyed reading the unique recipes, but am more interested in the basic staples that are common between grandmas, rather than special holiday meals, etc.

I love holiday recipes from any culture. I have been collecting recipe books for over 40 years but did not have one like this. There are many delicious recipes and many that are designed to become family traditions. Each holiday has it's own section with recipes ranging from easy to expert. The pictures and instructions are designed to make results achievable and predictable. I've made 10-15 of these recipes already with plans to work my way completely through the book. It would make an excellent gift for anyone who fancies themselves an Italian cook.

Cooking with Nonna: A Year of Italian Holidays is a new volume of Italian holiday recipes from Rosella Rago and her family and friends. This is a follow up book to her general Cooking With Nonna family recipe book (reviewed by me last year).

Released 6th Nov 2018 on Quarto's RacePoint imprint, it's 264 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

I loved the warm and inviting writing style along with the photos and personal stories. It's certainly a functional cookbook with lots of authentic recipes made with basic, easily sourced (or made) ingredients. I think where this book shines though is in the personal stories and family photos.

The recipes are arranged around the holiday calendar. It starts with New Year's Eve and moves through the year to Christmas. There is also a chapter full of dishes associated with different Saints' days throughout the year.

Of the over 100 included recipes, there are a number for kitchen ingredients, pickles, and serving suggestions which are worth the cost of the book. We have made several batches of the gardiniera (mixed pickled vegetables) and they're a firm family favorite now.

There are a huge number of sweet cakes, cookies, and candy (including sweets which look like coal, for naughty family members at Christmas).

Wonderful collection of special recipes. The instructions are complete and well-written. The recipes are made with easily sourced ingredients. The finished dishes are well photographed and appealing.

Superlative cookbook.

Five stars.

This is a great cookbook. It was about Italian food, which is my favorite! So I was excited to read it. The beginning of the book talked about the stories and memories that made this book come to be. I love that stuff! It only made me want to go over the recipes even more. Which was great, too. The recipes were easy to read and to follow. The pictures were gorgeous and really made you want to make and eat those recipes. I tried a couple of the recipes and was able to follow the recipes just fine. Nothing confusing., This is a great book. I highly recommend it.

Thank netgally, the author for an Advanced Copy of this book. I really enjoyed this book. It's well worth reading

A fabulous book from the beginning to the end. Not only are the recipes wonderful, but the stories that are shared are a very nice addition as well. The beginning of the book with the pickled vegetables was always on our table but we always bought it, now with a recipe I will try to make it myself. Some of the recipes I already make some of the food from this book because of my family being Italian, but it is always interesting in seeing the different recipes plus new ones. Here in this book they take you through every holiday including some of the saint days as well. I really liked the recipes for cannoli cookies, waffles cookies and cucciddati, (fig cookies). Also, there minestrone soup had more ingredients than the one my family made. There was also a recipe for sweet coal January 6, which really does look like coal. I thought that was very fascinating and had never seen that before. You get everything from pasta to fish and even a roast and turkey recipes, along with many desserts. The pictures were very good, and overall this was a very good cookbook. Worth for anyone to purchase it.

This cookbook is great with fantastic recipes from the variety to being well written to great detail. The recipes are great to use all year for all sorts of celebrations and the memories shared throughout make it an extra special cookbook.

I love authentic Italian food and this book has plenty. I liked reading the accompanying stories and can’t wait to try the recipes. Feels like a cook book that’s been passed down the generations.

Loved looking through this delightful holiday cookbook with a plethora of tasty dishes that are truly Italian! Different nonnas have offered their finest holiday fare and there are the pictures to prove it. I loved how each dish had an explanation of what region it is from. From the traditional favorites to things I"ve never tried, "Cooking with Nonna: The Holiday Cookbook" by Rossella Rago is a treat for the whole family.

I love Nonna's books! They take me back to visiting my own special "Nonna" in Italy. If I cannot be there in person, this is the next best thing.
Once again, the author has compiled a intriguing list of recipes to try, this time with a holiday-related theme. Easy to understand and follow.
I'll be spending many pleasurable evenings preparing several of these, and then sitting down with the family to enjoy eating them!

Cooking with Nonna: The Holiday Cookbook by Rosella Rago and Adriana Trigiani has 150 Italian holiday recipes. This cookbook has a good mix of recipes divided by holidays. My favorites from the book were the dessert recipes. The "bones of the dead" cookies were my favorite by far. The grandmother or nonna profiles sprinkled throughout were interesting to read. This would be a nice cookbook for Italian cooking fans.

This is a themed book I can get behind. My favorite cookbooks have a story for each recipe that I want to be part of. Not being Italian or religious, I didn't know there are recipes for specific dates like Good Friday. These Nonnas are improving staples I already know and love (baked clams, almond spice cookies with chocolate) and are introducing me to entirely new dishes like butternut squash lasagna. Neapolitan ricotta and semolina cake is supposed to be made the day before Ash Wednesday (who knew?) and is on my list to try in the spring. I'm thinking Nonna Romana Sciddurlo's pastry cream will be my go-to.