Fiori di Zucca: Recipes and Memories from My Family's Kitchen Table

by Valentina Harris

Overview

Valentina has a wonderful story to tell. Her grandfather, Count Carlo Sforza, who became the Italian Ambassador, was posted to Constantinople, Peking (at the end of Imperialist China), Corfu, Rome and Paris. In 1922 he resigned in order to return to Italy to fight facism. The family suffered brutal harassment, forcing him to flee - going back to Peking and on to the US - and the family to move to Brussels, then on to France, the UK, Canada and the US for most of WW2. Finally the family returned to Italy after the war. This is where Valentina's mother met her English husband - Valentina's father. Having caused a scandal with their marriage, her mother and father were banished to Tuscany, where Valentina spent most of her childhood. Against a backdrop of different cultures and cuisines, Valentina narrates beautiful and powerful stories - along with her discovery of pure, intense happiness from cooking. Gorgeous recipes guide you through Valentina's history.

You'll find the Braised Cinnamon Duck with Caremelised Pears that Valentina's mother created in memory of their Russian ancestors and the Belgrade Almond Cake that Valentina used to eat with her cousins from Montenegro, as well as the Seafood Risotto that Beppino, their cook, taught her in Italy and the Nougat Semifreddo that she used to eat with her father on the via Veneto in Rome. Here are 85 recipes that have been handed down through the generations or inspired by family stories and experiences. This is the culmination of Valentina's career and the book of her heart and soul

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848991347
Publisher:	Watkins Media
Publication date:	05/26/2009
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	68 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Valentina Harris grew up in Tuscany, has written authoritatively on many aspects of Italian food and has appeared on TV regularly since her first BBC series, ‘Italian Regional Cookery’. She is the author of more than 40 internationally successful titles, including Valentina Harris’s Complete Italian Cookery Course, Risotto! Risotto!, Slow, and the recent Gourmand World Cookbook Award-winning series on regional Italian cookery. The ‘Queen of Italian Cookery’, Valentina divides her time between London and Italy and works as a consultant, teaches at La Cucina Caldesi in London, runs the Chef’s Theatre at the Real Food Festival in London and holds cookery courses in different parts of Italy.

Table of Contents

Introduction 6

1 A Story of Family Folklore: How the Sforzas Fought for Milan 8

2 My Russian Ancestress, Valentina 22

3 Rose at Claridge's Having Tea 32

4 Lili and the Prince of Montenegro 42

5 Turkish Delight-The Love Story of Valentine and Carlo 52

6 Fiammetta Never Got the Hang of Using Chopsticks 64

7 Fascism and Parisian Cuisine with Carlo 76

8 The Tale of Mother Superior and Nanny Mischa 90

9 Escape to Belgium and the Comforts of Le Grand Pin 100

10 Exile on Cape Cod and Tea with Eleanor 114

11 Montignoso Under German Occupation 128

12 The Return to Italy Via the Spice-Scented Port of Casablanca 138

13 Mamma and Dad: Their Scandalous Marriage 150

14 Beppino, The Master of Risotto 164

15 The Dogs are Barking at the Milkman, Marietto 176

16 Summer Nights at the Cinema Romanina 186

17 At School with La Signora Leonora 198

18 Italia the Cook (and Her Sister America) 210

19 La Mia Dolce Vita: Eating Cakes on Via Veneto 226

20 Il Pino: My First Restaurant 240

The Characters 254

Index 256

Editorial Reviews

"Fiori di Zucca is as much a cilinary treasure as it is an up-close and personal view of unfolding history through one family's eyes, and highly recommwnded."
- The Midwest Book Review (July 2013)

From the Publisher