Italian Express [Paperback]

Wish: Market to Table is the product of lifestyle magazine. If Canadian Living generally targets suburban women in their mid-40s as its cultural demographic, then Wish seems to be aimed at working women about 10 years younger who are slightly better educated, well-heeled, and noticeably more corporate and urban. Unlike Richards's book, this one has been authored by a committee: the magazine's two food writers run point, with credits going to the home living editor and the editor-in-chief as, I suppose, director and producer.
The book is called a "food & entertaining guide", but it's actually more than that, and less. It follows the familiar-to-cookbooks seasonal framework, starting with spring and going through the four seasons before jumping into a section on desserts and then another on "20 minute suppers" that includes a recipe for osso bucco you're supposed to cook for six hours. As with Richards's book, you get the sense that it's trying to please a whole lot of people, except that they're all corporate executives who can't separate food from entertainment, and they're all wearing stiletto heels, driving Beamers and going to so many committee meetings and strategy sessions that they can't possibly have time to cook. Sounds like recipe for culinary disaster, doesn't it?
Here's the surprise: these women can cook, and their food has considerable range. They're quite a lot sharper about the quality of recipe ingredients than Richards, and the recipes are more sophisticated. It helps more than a little that the book is elegantly and imaginatively photographed, and makes you want to cook what they're offering. If you can ignore the muddle of corporate lifestyle modeling and posturing that ruins the format, there is some very good food to be had in these pages.
Brian Fawcett (Books in Canada)
-- Books in Canada

Emily Richards, seen on Canadian Living Cooks, grew up watching her grandmother rise at 4:00 a.m. to prepare the pasta, breads andsauces that are the mainstays of Italian home cooking. She also saw her mother, who worked outside the home, create her own speedier but equally tasty Italian dishes. With a loving nod to them both, Emily created a hybrid cuisine that she calls "Italian Express."

Italian Express, the cookbook, is a collection of 150 family friendly recipes that captures all of the authentic flavour of Italy without the long preparation and complicated methods. All recipes can be prepared in lessthan half an hour and rely on fresh, simple ingredients, easy directions and a few pantry staples. From Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi to a homemade Italian herb seasoning mix to Panini di Pollo con Pesto e Asiago (Pesto Chicken and AsiagoBaguette), Italian Express is a must-have, must-use new cookbook.

EMILY RICHARDS is a professional home economist, cookingteacher and TV chef on Food Network Canada’s Canadian Living Cooks. Shewrites for publications such as Food & Drink and created all therecipes for the bestsellers The G.I. Diet and Living the G.I. Diet,both by Rick Gallop. Emily Richards lives in Toronto.

Visit Emily Richards at emilyrichards.ca.