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

Renowned cookery writer Valentina Harris has an extraordinary family history to tell: political activism, scandalous love and exile.

Against a backdrop of different cultures and cuisines, Valentina narrates these beautiful and powerful stories along with her discovery of pure, intense happiness from cooking. Each of her recipes tells a tale - you’ll find the Chinese Tea-Smoked Duck, her grandmother’s legacy of a life in Peking, 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.

Order Fiori di Zucca

A treasure trove of inherited Italian recipes”

The Telegraph

A marvellous collection of recipes but this is equally a family history, and it’s no ordinary family.”

Mostly Food and Travel Journal

[Harris’s] book is a record of that happy childhood, redolent of Tuscan cooking, every other page studded with family photos of charming children and glamorous women. There are anecdotes, kitchen stories, and notes on the food she ate as a child – seafood risotto, squid and pea stew, apple fritters and nougat semifreddo – not to mention the vivid memories that have so influenced her present life in the kitchen.

Welcome back Summer?!

This June is a busy month, with new classes happening here in the UK. As well as my usual regular classes at La Cucina Caldesi in Marylebone, Divertimenti in Knightsbridge and The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath, this month I am also teaching a new class here in Sussex in the gorgeous kitchen of Miranda Gore Browne on June 25th, and my first class at The School of Artisan Food on June 20th.

I must say, am not overly impressed with this weather, it seems unseasonably cold to me, and reminds me rather of my impression of England when I used to visit every summer as a child from Italy – I was always surprised at how many layers I had to wear!
So I am really looking forward to being back in Italy later this year for the cookery holidays in both Le Marche and Lake Como. And in between I shall be sneaking off to Italy for a little recce to explore a possible new cookery school venture for 2016, and of course there is my wonderful annual holiday in unspoilt, very hot Calabria to look forward to.

Meanwhile, there are still some spaces available for September and October in both locations, La Monteduccia and Il Palazzo del Vicere, so please do book your place soon to avoid disappointment! Participants at any of my UK classes are eligible for a substantial discount of £200 on courses in Le Marche, just let us know when you book that you have attended a course at any of the UK classes and voilà!

In other news, this month’s Les Dames D’Escoffier gathering is taking place at Jenius Social http://www.jeniussocial.co.uk/ Les Dames have all sorts of plans, including the planning of a repeat of our very successful Edible London event next May, where we invite Dames from the USA to come and experience the gastronomic delights of London and environs through our tastebuds!

It is of course full-on strawberry season, so this month’s recipe - Tiramisu Alla Frutta - is all about celebrating English strawberries and one of Italy’s most iconic desserts, the wickedly delicious Tiramisu! This is not really to be considered a classic dessert, as it officially only became a dessert with a proper recipe in the 1980’s, having previously been the kind of cure-all prepared for ailing sons of all ages by Italian Mammas from all over Italy; a sort of rich and creamy version of Chicken Soup as a way of improving both mood and health!

I hope very much that I shall welcome you to our lovely foodie house party at La Monteduccia or to the luxury of Lake Como in September or October; I have such wonderful treats in store for you! And of course, should you need my services to help with your dinner party or special event, please do just ask.

Meanwhile, here’s hoping it gets warmer soon in dear old Blighty, and I wish you all happy cooking and of course, Buon Appetito!

Valentina

PS To book a place on any of my UK classes, and to take advantage of the £200 discount on any of the courses at La Monteduccia this year, please check out:
http://caldesi.com/
http://www.mirandagorebrowne.typepad.com/
http://www.schoolofartisanfood.org/
http://www.thebertinetkitchen.com/

Valentina Harris is a noted chef, speaker, author and authority on Italian food and food culture. Find out more