Alberto Sordi doing an impersonation of me when I arrive in Italy!
Hi Lovelies,
I was in Milan for most of the week and was making a long list of things I couldn't wait to eat long before the plane had touched down! One thing I miss about living in Paris is great Italian food (although I have a secret list here). Italian food at it's best is a combination of simple, great ingredients. A Venetian chef recently told me that the French cuisine is about 'addition' and the Italian cuisine is about 'subtraction' paring it back to simple great flavours.
Twelve by Tessa Kiros
In my Christmas list last year I blogged about my favourite Italian cookbook Twelve and I am yet to find one that has great Tuscan cuisine that works like Tessa Kiros's recipes. Sorry folks, even Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy (I have this too and love the production and photos) doesn't stand up to Twelve.
What do I love so much about this book? I love that it is broken up into seasons and on a cold winter's day I can flick to February and know that whatever Tessa has written about will be at my local market. So since it's cold today and I am on the way to the market I dragged out my dog-eared copy of Twelve to get all the ingredients for Ribollita, one of the recipes my beloved Popi made for us in the heart of winter.
Have a great warm weekend.
Ps I would love to hear if you have any other favourite Italian Cookbooks as I would love to add to my collection.
Carla xx
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Hi Carla, I love Tessa Kiros's Venezia, I also love "Jamie Does" which has several cusines including Italy and France, Greek and finally "Lorenza's Italian Seasons" by Lorenza De'Medici. The photography is great in all these books too so they double up as nice coffee table books to. xxCorrina
ReplyDeleteLOl, Alberto Sordi is a legend. Well spaghetti and other kinds of pasta are the greatest invention for busy people. In less than 15 minutes you have a delicious plate of food on your table. Here in Emilia Romagna we have an interesting pasta dish with zucca feeling (pumpkin). Yummy. Ciao bellissima - prossima volta ti scrivo in italiano - Ok? un caro saluto,
ReplyDeleteMagda
I am sure you can not eat that much in one bite but the photo is great.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
Filip
excellent, that film is a legend, not to forget Toto' in "Miseria e Nobilta'", if you don't know I recommend you to search. Can I suggest this book, though not a recipes book. It is full of photographs of the relationships between stars and spaghetti :) great to leaf through and lot of familiar faces from the past 60 years http://www.amazon.co.uk/Spaghetti-Stars-Walter-Veltroni/dp/8890130415
ReplyDeleteI love Italian cookbooks so this is a must buy for me (I also adore Jamie's Italian). Thanks for the tip! : )
ReplyDeleteMy two favourite Italian cookbooks are Pellegrino Artusi's Scienza in Cucina e l'Arte di Mangiare Bene from 1891 (he has compiled menus for each month to make things easy!) and Elizabeth David's Italian Food (1954) - you cannot go past these two amazing classics for their genuine recipes and entertaining anecdotes. Why aren't cookbooks written like this anymore? I recently came across Ethan Stowell's New Italian Kitchen - stunning recipes, beautiful photos, great food philosophy. My favourite of Tessa's is Falling Cloudberries but can't get into Twelve - I just don't love the food photography (sorry Tessa!), the strong shadows, bright sun, yellow hue and overall slightly dark colours of the food are an interesting style but just don't do it for me for food.
ReplyDeleteI think I need this book! I *am* Italian, after all. :) It's a dream of mind to have a home in Tuscany (who doesn't have that dream?!)
ReplyDeletehttp://atallshipandastar.blogspot.com
Pamela Sheldon Johns has written a beautiful Cookbook 'Cucina Povera'. You would love not only the simple Tuscan recipes, but the photos are amazing!
ReplyDeleteNow... I'm off to look at Twelve. Ciao~
Hi, as an Italian I can suggest you "La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene(di Pellegrino Artusi)" he most famous cookbook Italian (that is attested as the first one true Italian national cookbook!). Lovely stay in Italy ;) F.
ReplyDeleteI love Diane Seeds' Italian ccokbooks...the illustrations are gorgous...hhhmmmm so are the recipes. Also Antonio Carluccio's books. Shirley
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, I like a book called The Romagnolis' Table by Margaret & G. Franco Romagnoli. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
ReplyDeleteHi Carla! I laughed out loud at your photo and tag. I am putting this cookbook on the top of my list for shopping this week. It looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI have one you might like - Not solely Italian, but Simple and lovely and beautiful. "The Mediterranean Herb Cookbook" Fresh and savory recipes from the mediterranean garden. by Georgeanne Brennan. It's old. I've had it for years and it's gotten a lot of use - for cooking and just perusing the photos!
xo isa
I agree with you Carla, I just love Italian food, but it is so much better cooked in Italy, I think it is the produce and passion. I spent a week on an art retreat in Cortona, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, the food was so delicious. I am not such a great cook and would rather someone good did the cooking for me.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have found some really nice homemade fresh pasta in Perth and love it just simply with good olive oil, fresh herbs and baby tomatoes, just simple.
I don't have a favourite Italian cookbook, but I want to add 'Twelve' to my collection - it sounds like a good addition.
ReplyDeleteWell I am no help, my hubby (Italian) does 90% of the cooking at our house and still rings Mama if he needs info on a recipe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I need a copy of this cook book, I like the idea of putting the recipes into seasons automatically assuming that every ingredient will be fresh! Love that
ciao lisa
LOL, that would be me too !
ReplyDeleteActually, I think it should be me tonight.
Happy Sunday,
besitos, C
Yum!!! What a timeless photo too!
ReplyDeleteI lovelovelove Tessa's Greek cookbooks, so I clearly need to try this! Thanks for the recommendation! xo
ReplyDelete