Mozza at Home: More than 150 Crowd-Pleasing Recipes for Relaxed, Family-Style Entertaining: A Cookbook

by Nancy Silverton, Carolynn Carreño

As an award-winning chef and the owner of six busy restaurants across two continents, Nancy Silverton was so consumed by her life in the professional kitchen that for years she almost never cooked at home. With her intense focus on the business of cooking, Nancy had forgotten what made her love to cook in the first fabulous ingredients at the height of their season, simple food served family style, and friends and loved ones gathered around the dinner table. Then, on a restorative trip to Italy—with its ripe vegetables, magnificent landscapes, and long summer days—Nancy began to cook for friends and family again, and rediscovered the great pleasures (and great tastes!) of cooking and eating at home. Now, in Mozza at Home, Nancy shares her renewed passion and provides nineteen menus packed with easy-to-follow recipes that can be prepared in advance (with no fancy restaurant equipment needed!) and are perfect for entertaining. Organized by meal, each menu provides a main dish along with a complementary selection of appetizers and side dishes. Under Nancy’s guidance you can mix and match all the options depending on the size of your gathering. Make a few sides for a small dinner party with friends, or make them all for a delicious family feast! And don’t forget dessert—there’s an entire chapter dedicated to end-of-meal treats such as Devil’s Food Rings with Spiced White Mountain Frosting and Dario’s Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary and Pine Nuts that can be prepared hours before serving so that the host gets to relax during the event too.Whether it’s Marinated Olives and Fresh Pecorino and other appetizers that can be put out while you’re assembling the rest of the meal . . . salads, such as Endive Salad with Date Anchovy Dressing, composed of sturdy lettuces that won’t wilt . . . simple sides, such as Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas with Cumin Vinaigrette, that are just as delicious served at room temperature as they are warm . . . or show-stopping mains such as the Flattened Chicken Thighs with Charred Lemon Salsa Verde—there is something here for everyone and every occasion. With clever tips on how to organize your table and your time when serving many guests, Mozza at Home helps you throw the perfect dinner party—one that’s positively stress-free and delicious!

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction

425 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2016

Reviews

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love Nancy Silverton's cookbooks. The recipes are so precise, unlike most other cookbooks. They are mostly very complicated too, but so worthwhile. My only complaint would be more pictures please. I really like to see what the finished recipe is supposed to look like, plus I just like looking at pretty plates of food, OK?

[Mordorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The good - Love the food - I’ve made about 10 things from this cookbook - which for me makes it a five star book.It’s beautiful LA style food, fresh delightful flavors.The recipes are consistently good.

The Bad-

The authors lengthily descriptions are tiresome - long and overly descriptive -which I found made the book less kitchen friendly.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had the great pleasure of eating from this cookbook at a guest chef's dinner - the food was amazing. I'll likely never make many of these recipes, as I generally cook for one, but I enjoyed the daydream of reading through Silverton's thought process behind the meals.

[AllBookedUp · Rating 4 out of 5]

TBH, my favorite book be her is still Chi Spacca.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Home" for Mozza/Nancy Silverton means a small medieval hill town on the Umbria-Tuscany border, as well as a house in LA with an outdoor fireplace to cook in where she entertains friends under a wisteria-covered pergola. This book is a collection of recipes that reflects that style, and therefore already sets me a distance from them. Not connecting to this sense of home--but Sal's Roasted Pork Shoulder (altho the ingredients say Butt) sounds pretty kick-ass! (Of course her directions say "The pork roast is very simple to prepare...we cook a heritage-breed pig...")

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find a lot of recipes here that I would try. Too many ingredients, not common to find in American grocery stores. Long lists of ingredients. Lengthy cooking procedures.

Family food means that I get to enjoy too.

[Melanie Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Love

I love reading Nancy's cookbooks. And I do read them cover to cover. Her engaging back-stories are always my favorite part of the recipe and she includes so many details that you can't fail to get it right. Brava Nancy!

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fat, frying, salt or sugar. That is about all. Recipes one might get from online much faster.

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

very nice cookbook with wide ranging recipes.I liked how they picked a central main dish and then arranged recipes around it.

[Elijah]

Eh. Eat at the restaurant if you have the chance. Skip the cookbook.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This just didn't catch my attention.

[Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard about this book on some podcast raving about how the eggplant was prepared for the eggplant lasagne. Plus I had, many years ago, lived in LA and loved La Brea Bakery and Campanile when I could afford them. So, I was stoked because I also over planted eggplant this season! I just spent most of yesterday afternoon making said eggplant lasagne and everyone at dinner that evening gave a definitive thumbs down... with PLENTY of comments. (There are OLIVES in here? Maybe your eggplants were bad. How much garlic was in there?) It took me forever to read through this cookbook, which is unusual for me. I found many of the recipes fairly complex. Plus, a pet peeve of mine—there aren't photos for each recipe! The only other recipe I think I'll try are the buttermilk biscuits. Anyway... I will now approach the recipes with trepidation but I must admit my disappointment.

[Jeanne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't wait to start working my way through this cookbook. Lots of great recipes, most of which can be prepared ahead so you can invite and enjoy the company of friends and neighbors #communitySunday night suppers

[Darryl]

CCPL book; nice background pieces on recipes. Some good, unusual Italian recipes.

[Sue Pulfer · Rating 2 out of 5]

too meaty for us

[Ginny · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an interesting, well written book. That's said, I wouldn't cook from it.

[Ariadna73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful book helps prepare nineteen delicious recipes that are perfect to enjoy at home with loved ones, and even with appreciated guests. It also contains recipes for mouth-watering deserts and appetizers that go with the main dishes.

The author is the owner of four prestigious restaurants and pizzerias; and the writer is an important journalist called Carolynn Carreño. Carolynn seems to be a very appreciated writer among the chefs and restaurant owners and she has an extensive list of titles to show for it. She has written bout pasta, every day cooking, meat, and other foods. She is announcing her book "Bowls of Plenty" on the jacket of this book. I am going to read it as soon as I can because I am impressed with the recipes and the writing on this one.

The photographer for this book was Christopher Hirsheimer, a lady with a wonderful taste for beautiful images, and a thing for cooking great and satisfying meals.

Here is the jacket and editorial information of the book I read:

Another list of books by Nancy Silverton, including the Mozza Cookbook, A Twist Of The Wrist and many others:

The table of contents, including the names of all the dishes shown in the book. The one I bought it for is N. 14: the Eggplant Lasagna. I love eggplants, and I love lasagna. I have tried this a number of times, and I promise I will get it right some time:

Here is a little fragment of the introduction. The author reminds the reader that she owns a few very successful restaurants, and also that she started her interest in cooking as a result of a trip to Italy. This is not the first time I hear this: Italy seems to be the miracle city for foodies to be.

Below this lines, an image of some pages with explanations about the book: the quantity of the recipes, the number of dishes, and notes on different kinds of olive oils and anchovies.

And in the following image, one of the many reasons I read this book for: some words about presenting food. For me, such and important part of the art of cooking (and one of my most problematic ones). She suggests that you buy tons of serving dishes and gadgets. It is very apparent that she loves what she does.

This is the image of an umbrian travola; it is a special recipe because it is a collection of side dishes, not a specific entree. I couldn't help to admire the beauty of the colors in this picture. The green and the red make everything look so alive, that you feel the immediate urgency to dig your teeth in those leaves.

How fantastic are the colors in the following photograph! I love the textures, the lighting, the sensation of good flavors and smells. Kudos to Chris for this beautiful work of art.

Here is a way to make perfect hard-boiled eggs. Sorry for the blurriness of the picture, but you get the idea: making the perfect hard-boiled egg is no easy task.

This is a fancy way of making steamed cauliflower. Of course it must be delicious beyond belief, but I still go with my regular steamer. I love cauliflower anyway.

Here is the famous eggplant lasagna recipe. Loved this one:

An now, some desserts. Again, congrats to the fantastic photographer. What a great-looking piece of cake:

The great nut cake:

... And the decadent chocolate caramel tart:

In conclusion, one great book on delicious recipes. The eggplant lasagna does not look so difficult, and certainly tried my best to reproduce it. The result was not as glorious as the blueprint, but at least I tried.

I also have a blog! Here is the link: http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am I weird for hating this book for having too few pictures? Food is so visual, and when you’re learning to cook something new, pictures are so vital for knowing how you’re doing and what it’s supposed to look like. There were a few recipes I jotted down to try later, but most were too fussy by half to be considered “homey” and I will almost immediately forget this book. :/