Nostrana's Cathy Whims releases debut Italian cookbook

• And for the first time, she's put some of the restaurant's most beloved dishes — as well as a handful of her own from frequent travels abroad — down in writing for "The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita."
• Think grilled shrimp with herbed remoulade, fennel alfredo pasta, eggplant caponata and, of course, Nostrana's famous Caesar salad.

What she's saying: "Anything that would intimidate people in making these recipes in their own kitchen I really tried to steer away from," Whims told Axios.

• "I think that's a real tenet of Italian food, and it took me a long time to learn that."

Zoom in: Instead of including photos of the recipes, the cookbook is full of colorful illustrations. "I wanted people to not be obsessed with everything looking perfect," Whims said.

• While the cookbook focuses on Italian cuisine, she took a lot of inspiration from the plethora of produce available in Portland.

• "Whenever I travel I try to go to different farmers markets, but nowhere has as much variety as we have here," she said. "I mean, seven kinds of radicchio. Where do you get to see that?"

Her go-to cookbooks: "A Taste of Tuscany" by Leslie Forbes and "Honey From a Weed" by Patience Gray both inspired Whims to give her book a "sense of place" and strong storytelling.

If you go: Whims said she is planning an event with Vivienne Culinary Books this summer, with more details to come later.