Supreme chicken straight from Italy

There's an Old World feeling to a recent cookbook about Italian cuisine, by a writer-photographer couple who respect the original cooking of Italy as one of the world's two great culinary traditions (the other being French).

Old World Italian: Recipes and Secrets From Our Travels in Italy (Appetite by Random House, $45) is a worthy companion to Mimi Thorisson's fine books about French cooking.

Her Icelandic photographer husband, Oddur, again offers elegant but homey pictures of many of the recipes, this time in beautiful Italian settings.

The author, who blogs at mimithorisson.com, believes in leaving well enough alone, offering Italy's family classics at their original best and easiest to make.

The most difficult part of this chicken dish might be finding breast quarters with the wings still attached.

Based in Médoc, France, the Thorissons have travelled Italy from Venice to Naples.

Tips abound in the book: Always undercook pasta; keep some of its cooking water to use in the sauce; and appreciate that, even in meat-loving regions, each area of Italy offers a “bottomless pit of vegetables.”