In The Italian Slow Cooker, America's favorite cooking method, the slow cooker, is applied to America's most popular cuisine, by an award-winning authority on Italy. Finally a book that combines the fresh, exuberant flavors of great Italian food with the ease and comfort of a slow cooker. Michele Scicolone, a bestselling author and an authority on Italian cooking, shows how good ingredients and simple techniques can lift the usual “crockpot” fare into the dimension of fine food. Pasta with Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Osso Buco with Red Wine, Chicken with Peppers and Mushrooms: These are dishes that even the most discriminating cook can proudly serve to company, yet all are so carefree that anyone with just five or ten minutes of prep time can make them on a weekday and return to perfection. Simmered in the slow cooker, soups, stews, beans, grains, pasta sauces, and fish are as healthy as they are delicious. Polenta and risotto, “stir-crazy” dishes that ordinarily need careful timing, are effortless. Meat loaves come out perfectly moist, tough cuts of meat turn succulent, and cheesecakes emerge flawless.

Demonstrates how to adapt classic French dishes for convenient, high-flavor results, providing coverage of such favorites as crispy duck confit, bouillabaisse and ginger, and crème brûlée.

Mediterranean cooking using the slow cooker, with 125 recipes

Presents 120 recipes for slow-cooked Italian dishes, including soups, sauces for pasta and polenta, fish and shellfish, poultry and rabbit, meats, and vegetables, and provides information on traditional Italian cooking methods and ingredients.

The ultimate in slow-cooker books--with 500 recipes, each adapted for three sizes of appliance. From breakfast to soups, mains to grains, vegetables to desserts, this guide is the only book you'll ever need to master your slow cooker or crockpot. Millions of people are turning to slow cookers for their weeknight meals yet often can't find recipes that match their exact machine. Adapting recipes meant for a different-size cooker doesn't work--getting the right level of spice in your Vietnamese soup or keeping pulled pork tender requires having ingredients in the right proportion. But now, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough have decoded slow cookers, and each of their recipes includes ingredient proportions for 2-3 quart, 4-5 quart, and 6-8 quart machines, guaranteeing a perfect fit no matter what machine you own. Each recipe is labeled for its level of difficulty and nutritional value, and they cover every kind of dish imaginable: delicious breakfast oatmeals, slow-braised meats, succulent vegetables, sweet jams and savory sauces, decadent desserts. This is the slow cooker book to end them all.

Traditional and contemporary Italian recipes for vegetarian and nearly vegetarian dishes from the author of The Italian Slow Cooker. Over the ages, resourceful Italian cooks have devised countless ways to prepare vegetables—all incredibly flavorful and simple. In this book, Italian cooking authority Michele Scicolone shares recipes that she gathered during years of traveling in Italy. Some, like Green Fettuccine with Spring Vegetable Ragu and Easter Swiss Chard and Cheese Pie, came from talented home cooks. Others, such as Stuffed Cremini Mushrooms, were passed down through her family. She encountered still more, including One-Pot “Dragged” Penne, in restaurants and adapted dishes like Romeo’s Stuffed Eggplant from the cookbooks she collects. Many recipes display the Italian talent for making much out of little: Acquacotta, “Cooked Water,” makes a sumptuous soup from bread, tomatoes, and cheese. In keeping with Italian tradition, some dishes contain small amounts of pancetta, anchovies, or chicken broth, but they are optional. Simple desserts—Rustic Fruit Focaccia, Plum Crostata—finish the collection. “[Scicolone’s] methodology for vegetable cooking strives to extract the greatest amount of flavor and texture from every plant…Ambitious cooks will love the challenge of Scicolone’s Swiss chard and ricotta pie. Some recipes call for typical Italian flavor enhancers, such as anchovies or ­pancetta; nevertheless, vegetarians will find lots to savor here, and meat eaters will deem many of the pasta sauces perfectly satisfying. And both camps will delight in the host of rich and sweet dessert offerings.”—Boooklist

The New York Times best-selling author of 101 Things to Do with a Cake Mix! demonstrates the delectable versatility of the crock pot. Call it a slow cooker, a crockery cooker, or your best friend, these handy kitchen machines are gaining popularity, and for good reason. Slow cookers make perfectly tender meats and brings out the flavor of a wide variety of dishes with little risk of burning. And don’t let the name fool you—your slow cooker can be a real time-saver! Simply throw your ingredients in, get on with life, and come home to a kitchen filled with the aroma of real home cooking. In 101 Things to Do with a Slow Cooker, Stephanie Ashcraft presents easy-to-follow recipes for everything from South of the Border Pot Roast to Cherries Jubilee and even Almond hot Chocolate. Recipes for soups and stews, main courses, side dishes, beverages, desserts, and more are included, along with suggestions for what to serve with each dish, time-saving tips, and easy modifications.