As any fan of Cooking Channel’s Extra Virgin knows, for stars Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, a great passion for food and their love for one another are intimately intertwined. Their new cookbook, Extra Virgin: Recipes and Love from Our Tuscan Kitchen (on sale May 6, 2014), paints a road map of their romance through recipes – the fried squash blossoms Gabriele made for Debi on their first date; the farro salad Gabriele’s mother made for Debi upon their first meeting – offering as many glimpses into their warm lives as authentic Italian dishes. As Debi puts it in the book’s introduction, in “meeting and falling for Gabriele, I discovered how much great food also comes from a desire to feed the ones you love.”

As their story goes, Gabriele introduced Debi to the fresh, produce-driven dishes and rustic cooking style from his native Tuscany, and together they celebrate a bicoastal, bicontinental fusion of Tuscan influence, California freshness and Debi’s New York heritage in their cooking. They happily spoil loved ones (most especially daughters Evelina and Giulia) with inspired, flavorful meals and encourage viewers (and now readers) to do the same. Start with the Heirloom Tomato Caprese shown on the cover, and make your way through to understated Mascarpone and Amaretti Cups for dessert. The chapters are cleanly organized in the order you'd consume the dishes: Appetizers, Pastas and Sauces, Salads, Meat, Fish and so on (Gabriele is such a fan that risotto has its own dedicated section) so you can easily mix and match courses in your own Tuscan buffet.

Try a couple recipes from Extra Virgin: Recipes and Love from Our Tuscan Kitchen today:

We’re giving away FIVE SIGNED copies of Extra Virgin: Recipes and Love from Our Tuscan Kitchen (one copy to each of five winners). All you have to do to enter is check out Debi and Gabriele's best recipes from the show and leave a comment telling us which dish you like the best.

So, tell us, which Extra Virgin recipe is your favorite? You must include your email address in the “Email” field when submitting your comment so we can communicate back with you if you’re a winner. (But do not post your email address into the actual body of the comment.) We’re giving five very lucky, randomly selected commenters each a copy of Extra Virgin. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and D.C., 21 years or older. Void in Alaska, Hawaii and where prohibited. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Sweepstakes starts at 10:00am ET on April 28, 2014 and ends at 6:00pm ET on May 2, 2014. For full official rules, visit http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com/extra-virgin-recipes-and-love-from-our-tuscan-kitchen-giveaway-official-rules/. Sponsored by Cooking Channel, LLC, 75 Ninth Avenue, New York, NY 10011.