Canal House Cooking . . . 

Thanks to my friend Nach Waxman and his great book store: Kitchen Arts & Letters, I found this book, one of a series, called Canal House Cooking Volume No. 7. This is their Italian volume.


"They" are two talented ladies, Christopher and Melissa, who have a studio, workshop, and atelier devoted to "good ideas and good work relating to the world of food", in a red brick warehouse alongside a canal in Lambertville, New Jersey.

This Italian book is a result of staying several months in a remote farmhouse in Tuscany and also traveling throughout the country they love. When they returned home, Volume 7 (shown above) was the result. The book, not large but carefully selected, is as useful and intriguing as it is beautiful.

The book opens with a terrific essay on Italian sparklers -- spumante, prosecco, and many others, and goes on from there. 

Here is one of the opening recipes, which we did immediately: 


prosciutto and arugula tramezzini

Beat eight tablespoons room temp unsalted butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about one to two minutes. Set aside. Makes about 8-12 half sandwiches.

Use plain white sandwich bread. Trim the crusts off three slices. Spread some whipped butter on each of the three. Put one thin slice of prosciutto on each of two slices. Top them with small arugula leaves. Stack them on top of each other, arugula side up.Top this stack with the third slice of bread, butter side down. Cut the sandwich in half on a diagonal. Presto: two half sandwiches.

Their web site is "thecanalhouse.com".   You can order the book from Kitchen Arts & Letters, 1435 Lexington, NY NY 10128 (kitchenartsandletters.com).