With a side order of sass (the section dedicated to soups is aptly named “Spoon Me”, the chapter on Fish is entitled “Catch Me” and the book concludes with “Fork Me: Desserts for a Happy Ending”), the recipes in Bite Me do not require an army of sous-chefs, a pantry of guava paste, or blowtorch to turn a bag of groceries into a satisfying meal for a weeknight meal, casual dinner party, or formal holiday gathering. Both authors are busy working mothers with three kids each — they both understand the importance of making cooking and entertaining fun and stress-free.
Piquant Pasta Puttanesca (page 111 in Bite Me)
Quick and easy, spicy and fragrant, robust and satisfying, it’s no wonder this Napolitano dish is also known as “whore’s spaghetti.” Myth has it that prostitutes would use this aromatic sauce to lure men into their bordellos, so, unless you’re looking for unexpected visitors, keep your windows closed.
- 1) For the sauce, heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook 3-4 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add olives, capers, oregano, salt, crushed red pepper flakes and continue to saute for 2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes and red wine, bringing to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 2) For the pasta, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook until tender. Drain well and return to pot. Toss hot pasta with puttanesca sauce and Parmesan cheese. Top each serving with fresh parsley.
Quick and easy, spicy and fragrant, robust and satisfying, it’s no wonder this Napolitano dish is also known as “whore’s spaghetti.” Myth has it that prostitutes would use this aromatic sauce to lure men into their bordellos, so, unless you’re looking for unexpected visitors, keep your windows closed.
Bite Me Cookbook Review by Larry Garascia
I have been cooking for more than 40-years. I also love collecting and reading cookbooks and have a collection approaching 200. And today, the market is crowded with cookbooks and everybody seems to be writing new ones, so having a catchy title is certainly a good thing. But writing a good cookbook is difficult because so many recipes have been published over the years. I mean, how man recipes can you have for Chicken Fettuccine? And the other thing about a cookbook is the illustrations: really good cookbooks don’t have many and the ones they include are technical pictures of a technique, in say how to bone a whole chicken.
‘Bite me’ try’s to be too cutesy with its illustrations. The cover features coconut shrimp pinned to a clothesline with old fashioned clothespins. And deeper inside there’s a catchy picture of miniature, red plastic firemen playing with a bowl of pasta. Further back is a picture of two women sitting in a booth and the waiter has his head buried inside the blouse of one of the women. But pictures, no matter how catchy or titillating, do not make a cookbook, the recipes do and having great experience in cooking all things Italian I turned to the rice and pasta section. The two authors, billing themselves as ’the not so sweet, tiny and salty sisters’, Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat, start by making fun of the classic Fettuccine Alfredo, a dish that has stood the test of time for a thousand years! Then they turn around and in ‘Lustful Creamy Chicken Fettuccine’, they duplicate the very basic pasta sauce but add Italian tomatoes and red pepper flakes. The result is tasty and excellent, but it’s just a different rendition of the classic dish. Then they have a recipe for three-cheese polenta lasagna, a dish I have been cooking and eating for over 40-years. And a recipe which you will find in just about any decent Italian cookbook.
So here’s the bottom line: ‘Bite me’ is an OK cookbook. The recipes are well laid out and easy to prepare, but they are simple revisions of existing recipes found in thousands of other cookbooks.
Stay Connected:
- Bite Me Blog — a blog of dishful thinking!
- Bite Me Recipes — (including the recipe for the Chunky White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies!)
Heather Chandler
February 9, 2011 at 8:13 amThe H-crusted beef tenderloin, it is sure to impress.
Valerie
February 9, 2011 at 8:51 amI’d love to make the Frosted Apple Cake… num! 🙂
Kay
February 9, 2011 at 9:37 amI want to try THE TOTALLY TUBULAR BURGER 🙂
Diane F
February 9, 2011 at 10:32 amThe H-crusted beef tenderloin, because cooking a tenderloin intimidates me!
kelly
February 9, 2011 at 6:02 pmYUMMY FROSTED APPLE CAKE
Penny Holder
February 9, 2011 at 6:22 pmI would like the chewy chocolate chip cookies.
Karen
February 9, 2011 at 7:48 pmThe Frozen Chocolate-Banana-PB Pie sounds wonderful 🙂
Jackie Watson
February 9, 2011 at 7:51 pmI’d like to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken – it looks great.
asha marie pena
February 9, 2011 at 8:07 pmI think that the Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons look yummy
Joan
February 9, 2011 at 9:58 pmI want to try the meatloaf.
Jo
February 10, 2011 at 9:29 amWould love to try Mom’s lemon chicken
strezo@sbcglobal.net
danielle h
February 10, 2011 at 1:05 pmi love my burgers so the THE TOTALLY TUBULAR BURGER..looks awesome
Claire
February 10, 2011 at 1:12 pmI would love to try MAGNIFIQUE MEATLOAF WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY
Meena
February 10, 2011 at 3:11 pmI’m a sucker for yummy tomato soup and grilled cheese but that Balsamic Vegetable Stack looks pretty enticing.
Akendra
February 10, 2011 at 3:11 pmI want to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken! Yummy!
lauren Keith
February 10, 2011 at 6:45 pmH-Crusted Beef Tenderloin
(page 186 in Bite Me)
I like this one.
Tina W
February 10, 2011 at 8:33 pmI like the sound of Mom’s Lemon Chicken, and the picture for the Pasta Puttanesca is absolutely hysterical!
LeAnn V
February 10, 2011 at 9:12 pmI’d like to make Mom’s Lemon chicken.
Kathryn
February 10, 2011 at 9:57 pmThe Frosted Apple Cake sounds delicious!
Nancy Meyer
February 10, 2011 at 10:41 pmI want to try the BALSAMIC GRILLED VEGETABLE STACKS!
nancymeyer1 at gmail dot com
thepricklypinecone
February 11, 2011 at 1:40 amI would love to try to make the chunky white chocolate cranberry cookies.
felecia
February 11, 2011 at 9:46 amI would like to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken
Desmond
February 11, 2011 at 12:46 pmChewy chocolate chip cookies
Marci J
February 11, 2011 at 12:59 pmfrozen chocolate banana pb pie!!!
Sharold
February 11, 2011 at 1:04 pmI would like to try THE TOTALLY TUBULAR BURGER
samf36 (at) gmail.com
Shelby
February 11, 2011 at 5:07 pmBoth of the cookie recipes look so yummy! Thanks
Cecily
February 11, 2011 at 6:11 pmFrosted apple cake. Yum.
Cecily
nursereyro at yahoo dot com
angie
February 11, 2011 at 8:28 pmI would try the Totally Tubular Burger.
Mal mortell
February 11, 2011 at 9:32 pmWould love to try the lemon chix. looks good
Chris
February 11, 2011 at 10:26 pmI want to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken. I love lemon chicken!
SLS
February 12, 2011 at 2:05 pmI like the TOMATO SOUP WITH GRILLED CHEESE CROUTONS recipe
atlmuzikfanzinc at gmail dot com
Mary J
February 12, 2011 at 3:35 pmI would make the TGTBT Salad Rolls
Claudia N
February 12, 2011 at 6:10 pmI would love to try the Mom’s Lemon Chicken
rajee
February 12, 2011 at 6:17 pmlove TOMATO SOUP WITH GRILLED CHEESE CROUTONS
debi jackson
February 12, 2011 at 7:36 pmi’d love to try mom’s chicken
Christine
February 12, 2011 at 9:58 pmH-crusted beef tenderloin
joann downie
February 12, 2011 at 10:04 pmI would love to try Magnifique Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy!
Kimberly
February 13, 2011 at 12:07 amI’d like to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken.
Adrianna C.
February 13, 2011 at 2:11 amI would love to make the CHUNKY WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COOKIES! These recipes look delish!
Thank you!
Sarah
February 13, 2011 at 5:14 amMom’s lemon chicken sounds scrumptious.
Aleksandra
February 13, 2011 at 9:55 amI’d like the tomato soup and crouton recipe. Thanks – this would be a great prize for my mom!
Cathy W
February 13, 2011 at 12:12 pmI’d like to try the FROZEN CHOCOLATE-BANANA-PB PIE
Amy
February 13, 2011 at 1:12 pmI would like to try the TGTBT salad roll
Thank you for the chance
carole
February 13, 2011 at 8:58 pmlike to try the frosted apple cake
carole
gram122@comcast.net
trish
February 13, 2011 at 9:04 pmI really would love to try the Mom’s Lemon Chicken
Debbie D
February 13, 2011 at 9:39 pmI like the Mom lemon chicken
Linda
February 14, 2011 at 9:45 amThe Mom’s Lemon Chicken
susitravl
February 14, 2011 at 11:27 amI would love to try Mom’s Lemon Chicken
susitravl(at)gmail(dot)com
Tara
February 14, 2011 at 11:28 amOne order of the Balsamic Grilled Veggie Stacks for me, please!
Courtney S
February 14, 2011 at 2:18 pmI’d love to make the FROSTED APPLE CAKE. It sounds great!
Barb W.
February 14, 2011 at 4:47 pmThey all look good, but I’d most like to try the Frozen Chocolate Banana PB Pie as I know my family would love it.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Hugs,
Barb
Kris Italiano
February 14, 2011 at 8:17 pmI would like to try Mom’s lemon chicken!
Ed Nemmers
February 14, 2011 at 9:13 pmThe Totally Tubular Burger is my recipe of choice!
Joy F
February 14, 2011 at 9:18 pmI love the Frosted Apple Cake.
Monte
February 15, 2011 at 12:46 ami like to try the THE TOTALLY TUBULAR BURGER
Cynthya P
February 15, 2011 at 12:51 amI’d like to try the MAGNIFIQUE MEATLOAF WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY.
Joy Wilson
February 15, 2011 at 1:37 amGotta try the Frozen Chocolate Banana PB pie for sure!
vickie
February 15, 2011 at 4:31 amI like to try the frosted apple cake
susan smoaks
February 15, 2011 at 11:26 ami would love to try the TGTBT SALAD ROLLS
Diane Baum
February 15, 2011 at 2:46 pmI’d love to make the Frosted Apple Cake
kathy pease
February 15, 2011 at 4:52 pmid love to make the MAGNIFIQUE MEATLOAF WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY
Gianna
February 15, 2011 at 6:36 pmMAGNIFIQUE MEATLOAF WITH MUSHROOM GRAVY.
heather c
February 15, 2011 at 9:00 pmTotally want to try the CHUNKY WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COOKIES!