Italian American Forever: Classic Recipes for Everything You Want to Eat: A Cookbook

Beloved Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli dishes up 120 of her go-to Italian American favorites for all the red-sauced, pan-fried, crispy-cornered, baked-until-bubbly classics you'll want to eat every night.

Alex Guarnaschelli is a French-trained chef, a celebrity chef, a short-order-mom chef…and she’s also an Italian American chef. Her famous cookbook-editor mom’s heritage was Sicilian (which Alex says made her slightly more dangerous); and her dad’s people are from Bari. She pledged allegiance to her father’s marinara on weekdays and her mom’s on the weekend and grew up eating at many of the red-checked tablecloth trattorias in New York City—and she still shops for fresh mozz and crunchy biscotti in the specialty stores and bakeries in Little Italy. For Alex, this isn’t special occasion eating—this is life.

She devotes the entirety of Italian American Forever to the Italian American “greats,” from Carmella Soprano’s Lasagna (yes, that Carmella Soprano!) to Whole Chicken alla Diavola, Pork Chop Scampi, and Stuffed Artichokes so big and bursting that they’re a main course unto themselves. From simple weeknight suppers to slowly simmered Sunday sauces, these 120 recipes with 115 stunning photos are a celebration of garlic and tomatoes, Parmesan, pesto, and all the meatballs, sausages, and Tiramisu in between. This is the food we make to celebrate, commiserate, and just to be—it’s Italian, it’s American, it’s all of us.

About the Author

Alex Guarnaschelli is the host of Ciao House, Supermarket Stakeout, and Alex vs. America, all on Food Network. She is also a judge on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, and is one of three women chefs who have earned the Iron Chef title on Iron Chef America. She has been the executive chef at Butter in New York City since 2003 and lives in the city with her teenage daughter, Ava Clark.

Author Residence: New York, New York

Author Hometown: New York, New York