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Jenny Jack, aka The Brunette Baker, gets me. Not only is she one of the friendliest and funniest food blogger connections I have made in my travels, but, when she sent me an email if I’d like to participate in a blog hop for Emily Richards new Italian cookbook ‘Per La Famiglia‘, I mean COME ON. She KNEW I couldn’t / wouldn’t say no. With my 10+ year experience working in and managing Halifax’s (and arguably the Maritimes) best Italian restaurants (il Mercato, Ristorante a Mano and da Maurizio), it was a no brainer to add me to the #PerLaFamigliaBloggers list. 

When my copy of Per La Famiglia arrived, I immediately sat down at flipped through the pages – pages filled with gorgeous warm photography that made me want to make every. single. thing (because let’s be honest, I buy and collect cookbooks for the photography – everything else is a bonus). Between the recipes for gnocchi, cannoli, doughnuts and many many other amazing sounding dishes, it was the roasted tomatoes that caught my eye. I looooovvvvveeeeee slow roasted tomatoes. The complexity and depth of flavour that roasting brings out in a tomato is one of the wonderments of cooking to me. I love to eat them by themselves, on polenta, in pasta or rice, on crostini, in salad – the list goes on and on. I have my own method of roasting tomatoes but I was eager to try Emily’s version because her recipe calls to slice the tomatoes in halves where I normally do slices. Brushed with good olive oil and fresh chopped herbs, the tomatoes were fantastic and as Emily mentions in the book, freeze well.

Please take a moment and check out the incredible recipes the other #PerLaFamigliaBloggers are making – 

Jenny from The Brunette Baker is making Ricotta Cannoli

Julie from Dinner With Julie is making Ricotta Spinach Gnocchi

Chrissie from The Busy Baker is making Amaretti Cookies

Heather from The Tasty Gardener is making Squash Hazelnut Rotelle

Britt from My Daily Randomness is making Tiramisu

Libby from Libby Roach is making Nonna Ortenzia’s Meatballs

Kristy from She Eats is making Egg and Raisin Bread

Gwen from Devour and Conquer is making Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

Tiffany from Eating Niagara is making Potato Doughnuts

Nancy from Gotta Get Baked is making Hazelnut Chocolate-filled Cookies

Amanda from Once Upon A Recipe is making Balsamic Roasted Pear Wedges with Prosciutto

Nicole from Culinary Cool is making Spinach Ricotta Canneloni

Carole from Yum Yum Factor is making Pickled Eggplant

Christina from Strawberries for Supper is making Baked Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta

We’re giving away a sweet prize of a signed copy of Per La Famiglia, a gnocchi board and a 3-piece Microplane Elite Grater/Zester set – enter below for your chance to win! (please note – leaving me a blog comment is mandatory to open Raffle Copter) – 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to all legal residents of Canada who have reached the age of majority at the time of the contest in the province or territory in which they reside. Void in Quebec. No purchase necessary to enter. Giveaway will run from Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 12:01am to end on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 11:59pm. Winner is chosen at random via Rafflecopter. Winner will be contacted via email and given 48 hours to respond.  If not, a new winner will be chosen. Winner selected MUST correctly answer a skill-testing mathematical question. Winner’s name will be displayed on Rafflecopter widget. Email address will never be given out to any third party or anyone for that matter. Prize value is approximately $75CDN.

I received a free copy of Per La Famiglia and was asked to share my thoughts in exchange. Thank you very much to Whitecap Publishing for the complimentary book and Microplane for the contest gift set!

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