Mangia is known throughout the New York area for its uncommonly fresh, tasty, and imaginative food. Its innovative menu of market-fresh salads, overflowing sandwiches, warming soups, hearty entrees, and home-baked treats has kept happy New Yorkers coming back for more, day after day. With this book, Mangia's delicious yet surprisingly simple specialties can at last be made at home. Based on the traditional eating styles of the Mediterranean and that area's reverence for simplicity these recipes epitomize the best of casual eating: a satisfying sandwich of goat cheese, grilled radicchio, and roasted red peppers; a comforting cup of scallop and tomato bisque; or a warm-from-the-oven slice of chocolate bread for breakfast. All two hundred recipes in the book are simple to prepare and adapted for the home kitchen, making them perfect choices for a family supper, an effortless dinner party, or an indulgent Sunday brunch. So whether you are looking for party platters, a make-ahead room-temperature dinner, or inspiration for your picnic hamper, Mangia can elevate your everyday cooking and special entertaining to its highest level. Manhattan's Mangia restaurant provides busy yet discerning diners with delicious daytime food. The Mangia Cookbook offers readers more than 200 recipes for freshly made fare--sandwiches, unusual salads, hearty soups, and home-baked treats paramount among them. The dishes, which are easy to make and fit into a range of menu slots, work equally well with family or guests. Readers searching for a collection of relaxed yet stylish dishes drawn from diverse ethnic sources--what might be termed American light fare--should welcome the book. Beginning with "The Bakery Table," a section devoted to Mangia's much-admired breakfast and dessert specialties, the book then provides chapters on soups and entrees in addition to the foods mentioned above. Winners among these include Fresh Corn Soup with Smoked Chicken, Chicken Salad with Hazelnut Sauce on Ciabatta Bread, Grilled Orange-Marinated Salmon, and Apricot Almond Triangles. Included also is a chapter on sides and condiments, such as Pickled Vegetable Relish, designed to complement many of the Mangia dishes but good with a wide range of cooking. With suggestions for preparing dishes ahead and other useful tips, the book should encourage good simple cooking and superior everyday eating. --Arthur Boehm Mangia is a bustling gourmet take-out shop/caf? in midtown Manhattan that has been so popular since it opened in 1982 that it has since expanded to three locations. It is known particularly for its salads and sandwiches at lunch and its muffins and others baked goods at breakfast time. The food is mostly Mediterranean-style, with an emphasis on Italy, and most of the dishes are served at room temperature, meaning that almost all the recipes in this book can be made ahead, a boon to busy home cooks. In addition to vegetable, pasta, and grain salads of all kinds, plus sandwiches and panini, there are soups such as Fresh Corn Soup with Smoked Chicken, entr?es including Seared Duck Breast with Pear Chutney, and easy loaf cakes and cookies for dessert. For most collections. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. Mangia is known throughout the New York area for its uncommonly fresh, tasty, and imaginative food. Its innovative menu of market-fresh salads, overflowing sandwiches, warming soups, hearty entrees, and home-baked treats has kept happy New Yorkers coming back for more, day after day. With this book, Mangia's delicious yet surprisingly simple specialties can at last be made at home. Based on the traditional eating styles of the Mediterranean and that area's reverence for simplicity these recipes epitomize the best of casual eating: a satisfying sandwich of goat cheese, grilled radicchio, and roasted red peppers; a comforting cup of scallop and tomato bisque; or a warm-from-the-oven slice of chocolate bread for breakfast. All two hundred recipes in the book are simple to prepare and adapted for the home kitchen, making them perfect choices for a family supper, an effortless dinner party, or an indulgent Sunday brunch. So whether you are looking for party platters, a make-ahead room-temperature dinner, or inspiration for your picnic hamper, Mangia can elevate your everyday cooking and special entertaining to its highest level. Ricardo Diaz has been the food director of Mangia, the renowned New York City specialty shop, for more than ten years. He is the co-creater of many of the signature dishes now enjoyed by thousands of New Yorkers each day. Nancy Jessup is the executive chef of Mangia, the New York City specialty shop. She is the co-creater of many of the signature dishes now enjoyed by thousands of New Yorkers each day.