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

120 go-to Italian American favorites for all the red-sauced, pan-fried, crispy-cornered, baked-until-bubbly comforting classics you’ll want to eat every night.

Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli may be a French-trained chef, an Iron Chef, and a short-order-chef to her daughter, Ava, but at her core, she’s an Italian American home cook. Her mom’s heritage was Sicilian and her dad’s people were from Bari; she pledged allegiance to her father’s marinara on weekdays and to her mom’s on the weekend and grew up eating at many of the red-checked-tablecloth trattorias throughout New York City. She still stops in to chitchat with the shop owners in Little Italy, where she buys the milkiest fresh mozz, the most thinly sliced prosciutto, and the crunchiest biscotti.

These are the recipes that are favorites for so many of us, whether your family is from Italy or not. From Fettuccine Alfredo, Whole Chicken alla Diavola, and Carmella Soprano’s Lasagna (yes, that Carmella Soprano) to Stuffed Artichokes so big and bursting that they’re a main course unto themselves, these 120 recipes and 115 stunning photos are a celebration of garlic and tomatoes, Parmesan, pesto, and all the meatballs, sausages, and tiramisu in between. There are both simple weeknight suppers and slowly simmered Sunday sauces, and they represent the food we make to celebrate, commiserate, and just to be--it’s Italian, it’s American, it’s all of us.

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.