Product Description
Although Barbara Lynch was born and raised in South Boston, not Tuscany, many critics believe her food rivals the best of Italy. It has been praised by Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Gourmet, and many more.

Lynchs cuisine is all the more remarkable because it is self-taught. In a story straight out of Good Will Hunting, she grew up in the turbulent projects of “Southie”, where petty crime was the only viable way to make a living. But in a home ec class in high school, she discovered her passion. Through a mix of hunger for knowledge, hard work, and raw smarts, she gradually created her own distinctive style of cooking, mining Italian and French classics for ideas and seasoning them with imagination.

The 150 recipes in Stir combine sophistication with practicality. Appetizers like baked tomatoes and cheese and crisp, buttery brioche pizzas. Dozens of the artful pastas Lynch is famous for, such as little lasagnas with chicken meatballs, and potato gnocchi with peas and mushrooms. Lobster rolls with aoli. Chicken wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with melting Italian cheese. Creamy vanilla bread pudding with caramel sauce. Accompanied by Lynchs forthright opinions and stunning four-color photographs, these dishes will create a stir on home tables.

Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Barbara Lynch

Dear Amazon Reader,

Growing up in public housing in a tough neighborhood in Boston, I couldnt afford culinary school. Cookbooks like Waverly Roots The Food of Italy not only taught me about new ingredients and techniques but were an escape. (They also helped me bluff my way through my first cooking job.) Now I get to do what I love best: making people happy by feeding them really delicious food.

In Stir, I share my passion and my hard-earned knowledge. And of course, I give you my recipes, which the regulars in my restaurants have been clamoring for over the years. Some are almost embarrassingly easy, like Gorgonzola Fondue, Baked Cheese and Tomatoes, and Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Thyme. Others are a little more involved but oh-so-worth-it, like Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Caraway Gnocchi. Theres plenty of weekday cooking, including Green Bean and Seared Shrimp Salad with Spicy Curry Sauce, which I eat all the time, and Lemony Breaded Chicken Cutlets, which my daughter Marchesa loves.

Then there are my pastas, which are my very favorite things, such as Chicken Meatball Lasagnettes (a favorite of Julia Childs) and sauces that pair well with both fresh and dried pasta, such as my signature Bolognese (I share my secret ingredient).

All of my recipes are written with the home cook in mind and so are full of the details that make a difference. I hope Stir will inspire you.

Enjoy!

Barbara Lynch

(Photo © Justin Ide)

Recipe Excerpts from Stir

Roasted Fennel and Green Beans

Butcher Shop Bolognese

Creamy Vanilla Bread Pudding

5 Responses to “Stir: Mixing It Up in the Italian Tradition”

1. Drinking Eddie says:

   December 7, 2009 at 12:00 am

   Stir is an action word-a verb. So if your into actual cooking then this book is a road map to sucess. Lynch offers the action cook a way to excell-especially with Pasta and Fish and an easy way it is .I have prepared over nine of her receipes without one problem.If you like the American Test Kitchen way with receipes then your going to love this truly easy step-by-step way to Italin/French creativity. A cannot miss cookbook.