Lisa Messinger's
Cookbook Corner

La Terra Fortunata: The Splendid Food and Wine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy's Great Undiscovered Region

By Fred Plotkin (Broadway)

For a little-known region of Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia has one big cookbook. Acclaimed Italian cookbook author Fred Plotkin (Italy for the Gourmet Traveler) gives the region between Venice and Vienna the respect he thinks it deserves in his 400-page tome. After sampling some of the stunning recipes he collected, you'll undoubtedly respect it too, as do Italians who often rank it among their country's three best culinary regions.

Some of the most varied food in Italy emerges from local kitchens. Plotkin has visited them and has queried home cooks as well as restaurant chefs. Subtle hints of herbs, spices, vinegar and wine are used to great effect in flavoring distinct dishes. "This may result in combinations such as cinnamon-flavored ricotta cheese as a pasta sauce; onions with cloves; polenta with ginger; or mussels with anise," Plotkin writes.

RECIPE: Penne with Cinnamon Ricotta

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