CHICAGO —
“To Romance, With Love” by Dave Valletta is part cookbook, part marriage advice column, part steamy romance novel. Recently in wide release after a limited run last year in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area, this first-time effort from former Florida restaurateur Valletta is as much a loving ode to his spouse as a guide to cooking a romantic dinner for yours.
After suggestions for ambiance (candles, flowers and at least three CDs of love songs are a must; he likes Italian ones), the spiral-bound cookbook showcases recipes for 27 dinner menus, each bearing an amorous song title such as “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” The pullout menus, which are tucked into folders along with convenient grocery checklists, each feature an appetizer, salad, entree, vegetable and suggested dessert.
No dessert recipes here because, well, the real dessert comes later — wink, nudge.
Praise and quibbles:
For novice cooks, the approachable menus and well-explained recipes will impress without overwhelming, while nice photos of each meal offer a sense of plating. Perhaps you’d like to toast your anniversary with an antipasto salad, grilled skirt steak with chimichurri and shrimp skewers, and asparagus with olive oil and garlic.
Or spend a Saturday night in with blue crab dip, tomato and cucumber salad and sunflower-crusted chicken with caramelized onions over spinach. A few pages dedicated to which knives, pots, spices and oils you need for a well-stocked kitchen could be helpful for anyone just starting out.
But then you have cartoon illustrations of marital bliss, biblical and celebrity quotes about love, and marital advice pricked with sexual innuendo. Some of these asides are amusing (on fresh basil: “the fragrance alone will get you to first base”), while others are awkward (The secret to an intimate and fulfilling marriage: take showers together). T.M.I.
Why you’ll like it:
If the adoration that Valletta bestows upon his wife of almost 30 years inspires anyone to prepare romantic dinners with half as much passion as he does for her, couples will be better for it.
Food
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BILL HOGAN | MCT NEWS "To Romance, With Love," by Dave Valletta, $30, is part cookbook, part marriage advice column, and part steamy romance novel.
Discussion
Recipes, advice to keep the romance on high heat
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