Acquacotta: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany's Secret Silver Coast
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Discover the cuisine of a secret part of southernmost Tuscany, known as La Costa D’Argento – the silver coast, in the second edition of Acquacotta. In this cookbook, Tuscan-based, Australian-born writer and photographer Emiko Davies has compiled and adapted her Italian family’s best-loved recipes from Capalbio, Monte Argentario, Giglio Island and inland to the hot springs of Saturnia and the ancient Pitigliano.
It is a celebration of the region that's named for the shimmery salt-and-pepper sand along this part of the Tyrrhenian Sea, its rolling hills, long beaches, overgrown fig trees, rambling vineyards – and rich culinary history. The latest iteration of Acquacotta features a beautiful new cover and a vegetarian and gluten-free index that highlights a different side to Italian cuisine.
In words and pictures, Emiko guides readers through the use of local ingredients, as well as sharing the history of rustic, storied dishes including scampi and potato soup, hand-rolled strozzapreti noodles, spinach and ricotta tortelli, chestnut gnocchi and the classic fig and chocolate bread, pagnotella. Plus, of course, the book’s namesake acquacotta, a quintessential Maremman peasant dish that captures the spirit of this special place.
About the Author: Australian/Japanese food writer and blogger, Emiko Davies, has lived in Tuscany since 2005. With a background in Fine Art, photography and Art History, she began a blog devoted to traditional and historical regional Italian cuisine in 2010.
She has written about Italian cuisine for the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne's The Age, The Guardian, Saveur Magazine, and writes extensively (in Italian) for Corriere della Sera's food website, Cucina Corriere. She is a long-time contributor and columnist for Food52 and has recorded a number of podcasts about Italian recipes for SBS Radio (Australia). Florentine: The True Cuisine of Florence, published by Hardie Grant Books (March 2016), is her first cookbook.