Dare To Cook Seasonal Italian Cuisine, Winter,w/ Chef Tom Small (Blu-ray)

Dare To Cook Seasonal Italian Cuisine, Winter,w/ Chef Tom Small (Blu-ray)ANTIPASTI: Goat Cheese Torta Roasted Beet Salad; Red Wine Vinaigrette Warm Mussel Salad with Olives, Oranges, Fennel and Arugula Giardiniera with Cured Meats; Local Clams in Acqua Pazza PRIMI: Butternut Squash Lasagne; Bolognese Pappardelle SECONDI: Pork Tenderloin with Garlic and Sage on a bed of Roasted Cauliflower Braised Lemon Chicken DOLCI: Flourless Chocolate Cake Caramelized Apple Bread Pudding Executive Chef Tom Small's culinary expertise has

• ANTIPASTI:
• Goat Cheese Torta
• Roasted Beet Salad; Red Wine Vinaigrette
• Warm Mussel Salad with Olives, Oranges, Fennel and Arugula
• Giardiniera with Cured Meats; Local Clams in Acqua Pazza
• PRIMI: Butternut Squash Lasagne; Bolognese Pappardelle
• SECONDI: Pork Tenderloin with Garlic and Sage on a bed of Roasted Cauliflower
• Braised Lemon Chicken
• DOLCI: Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Caramelized Apple Bread Pudding

Executive Chef Tom Small's culinary expertise has been acquired at some of the finest restaurants in California including Smitty's Grill, TAPS Fish House and San Antonio Winery. He also spent several years cooking on private vintage rail cars traveling all over the country. Tom and his family moved to Washington State drawn by the warm community, beautiful landscape and amazing selection of local food products. Tom Small is currently Executive Chef of Armondo's in Renton, Washington.

Chef Small grew up in Southern California, where he received his inspiration for cooking from his mom. Originally, he pursued a piano performance degree and though he continues to play the piano and sing regularly, he was drawn into the restaurant business thru his love of food and a passion for entertaining. Tom has a diverse culinary background including education, development and journalism in addition to his management in the kitchen. He teaches a number of cooking classes and writes frequent culinary articles. He has a passion for local and seasonal products as well as a firm foundation in technique and classical cuisine. He enjoys food that is based on essential principles of Italian cooking: Simple treatment of food, seasonal and local ingredients and presentation that is clean and natural to the eye.

Tom takes great pleasure in showing you not only how to prepare Seasonal Italian Cuisine, but also demonstrates proper knife handling techniques, how to select the best ingredients, and all the little tricks, tips and techniques he's learned working in restaurants. 91 minutes

REVIEW: Video Librarian
Chef Tom Small is a soft-spoken, practical teacher (no gimmicks or catchphrases) who here offers effective step-by-step demonstrations of recipes that require no exotic ingredients or difficult techniques. A native Californian who's currently executive chef at a restaurant outside Seattle, Small prepares five antipasti (appetizers), two pasta dishes served as first courses, two entrees, and two desserts in a home-kitchen setting.

Recipes include giardiniera (vegetables pickled in water and vinegar), a beet salad, a mussel salad with olives and oranges, butternut squash lasagna, chicken with lemons and roasted vegetables, pork tenderloin with garlic and sage, flourless chocolate cake, and caramel apple bread pudding. Small also demonstrates simple tips for efficiently chopping vegetables, peeling fruits, and cutting up a whole chicken. Individual recipes may be selected from a menu, and ingredients are listed onscreen (as well as on a text paper insert). The other titles in the Dare to Cook-Seasonal Italian Cuisine series are Spring, Summer, and Fall. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg) 3.5 of 4 star rating

REVIEW: Library Journal
Dare To Cook, Seasonal Italian Cuisine with Chef Tom Small. Washington State, based chef Tom Small has all the right ingredients to be an outstanding cooking coach: a graceful way of moving about in limited space and using standard equipment; mellow, unhurried speech; and a creative use of ingredients. He here prepares inspired Italian dishes in what looks like his home kitchen and on his outdoor deck.

He is a chef who knows what he is doing and can convey it to others in an easy fashion. Each disc includes a variety of creative recipes for appetizers and salads, entrees, desserts, and drinks appropriate to the featured season as well as a demonstration of special skills. For example, on Summer, he shows how to debone a whole chicken; on Fall, how to make sausage without special equipment. From first to last, this reviewer, a dedicated amateur, wanted to go right to her kitchen to prepare some of his dishes and felt certain she could do so with only one more viewing. Small is a serious, straightforward, and knowledgeable professional and a splendid teacher. This series is highly recommended for academic cooking classes, high school and above, and for public library patrons wanting to expand their kitchen repertoire., Sheila S. Intner, Prof. Emerita, Simmons GSLIS at Mount Holyoke Coll., So. Hadley, MA DTC01

REVIEW: The Midwest Book Review
Chef Tom Small hosts Seasonal Italian Cuisine, a set of four high-definition DVDs featuring step-by-step walkthroughs of how to traditional Italian methods to create classic dishes. "Spring" (73 min.) includes recipes for Tricolor Salad, Pesto Pizze, Lamb Chops, and Spring Frittata; "Summer" (78 min.) includes Watermelon Sald with Feta and Mint, Turkey Burger with Provolone, Fusilli with Grilled Vegetables, and a special feature on how to de-bone a chicken; "Fall" (92 min.) includes Tuscan White Bean Soup, Stracotto, Biscotti, and special features on knives and how to make homemade sausage without special equipment; and "Winter" (91 min.) includes "Goat Cheese Torta", "Butternut Squash Lasagne", and "Bread Pudding - Caramelized Apple".

All of these superb, user-friendly DVDs are also available in Blu-ray and downloadable versions for the same price, and all are enthusiastically recommended for cooks of all skill and experience levels, as well as public library DVD collections.