While waiting for construction to finish on his restaurant A Voce, Andrew Carmellini faced an unusual challenge. After a brilliant career in professional kitchens (including a six-year tour as chef de cuisine at Café Boulud), he was faced with the harsh reality of life as a civilian cook: no prep cooks, no saucier, no daily deliveries,just him and his wife in their tiny Manhattan-apartment kitchen.

Urban Italian is made up of the recipes that result when a great chef has to use the same resources as the rest of us. In these hundred recipes,covering four distinct courses, side dishes, and base recipes,Carmellini shows how to make stunning, soulful food with nothing more than the ingredients, techniques, and time available to the ordinary home cook. The food is sophisticated but also easy to make: lamb meatballs stuffed with goat cheese