by: Stanley Tucci & Felicity Blunt

“The dinner table is the anvil upon which we forge our relationships. Be they ties of family, of friendship, of new love or of old, it is a place where we share the events of our day, our feelings, our stories, our memories, and our hopes and promises for the future,” Stanley Tucci.

One of my favorite movies is Julie & Julia, in which Stanley Tucci plays Julia Child’s husband, Paul. Having been a big fan of Stanley Tucci I decided to try out his second cookbook.

The Tucci Table written by Stanley Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt, offers a great variety of family inspired recipes. I love how they mixed his Italian roots with her British roots and created recipes that will speak to people from all different backgrounds.

Nanna's Scones

I have made a lot of different biscuit and bread recipes over the years and none have been as simple as this recipe. It has clear directions (including to stir with a knife) it doesn’t leave you wondering if you are to use a mixer or your hands (use your hands). All of the ingredients are very simple and I had everything in the house except the whole milk.

The recipe took me about 20 minutes total to prep and then 10 minutes to bake. I made Nanna’s Scones as an afternoon treat and they definitely hit the spot. The scones turned out perfect and I probably could have eaten the entire batch – but I didn’t.

These scones are perfect to make for a brunch. Everyone will think you took hours to make the scones and you will know you didn’t.

Vegetable Parmigiana

I have been trying to find more vegetarian dishes to cook for dinner. The vegetable parmigiana looked so good in the photos that I just had to try it.

All of the ingredients were easy to find and other than the vegetables I had everything in the house. It took about thirty minutes to get everything prepped and ready to go in the baking dish. I love dishes that you can put in the oven and walk away. That always gives me time to clean up the kitchen before dinner is even served which makes the work after you eat so quick.

The vegetable parmigiana came out really good. I loved all of it except the eggplant, but that’s mainly because I am not the biggest fan of eggplant – but I wanted to give it another try. All of the other vegetables were delicious, the zucchini was my favorite. I will make this again but instead of the eggplant I will substitute some yellow squash.

Who wouldn’t love a cookbook that offers family inspired recipes that are tasty and simple to make? The Tucci Table is a great cookbook for a home chef at any level. Everyone can find recipes in this cookbook that will inspire them to cook more. I know I will definitely try more recipes and make Nanna’s scones again soon.