Vegetable based but not just for vegetarians, a cookbook that should come in for some heavy kitchen use. I found plenty of inspiration here, the mostly simple recipes grouped together by vegetable, very useful for the vegetable grower faced with a glut or lack of ideas. There is some gardening advice but with the authors connection to the company Seeds of Italy, what you do get is what varieties are best for the recipes, much more helpful than yet more cultivation information.
The best way to get fresh, tasty ingredients is to grow your own. Italians have known this for centuries, and no Italian house, apartment, school or office is complete unless it has a little bit of space in which to grow tomatoes, herbs, salad leaves and whatever else can be crammed in. From Seed to Plate covers that very Italian tradition of growing to cook, using recipes handed down from cook to cook, often through generations. Paolo Arrigo shares his family's practical traditions and 'passione' for food, guiding readers on the best varieties to grow, offering growing tips and explaining how all the resulting delicious produce should be best prepared, cooked and preserved. Including recipes from Paolo's own family, delicatessens, favourite restaurants and chefs such as Georgio Locatelli, Antony Worrall Thompson, Rose Prince, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and many more, this is a book that persuades us to look at food in a different way - the Italian way.
Paolo Arrigo is passionate about food. Born and brought up in London, he is still very much an Italian at heart and was taught from an early age how to pick mushrooms, grow and cook vegetables and shout loudly when watching football. His whole life has revolved around food in one way or another and his company, Seeds of Italy, is an extension of that passion.
