Italian Kitchen

A new, fully illustrated edition of the modern classic on Italian cooking from the cooks' cookery writer, Anna del Conte

There are two important influences in my cooking life: my mother and Anna del Conte. Anna is the best Italian food writer. She changed the way the English thought about Italian cooking

Something of a hero... Her lemon risotto is heavenly, her plums cooked with wine, spices and rosemary a delicious staple. Her writing is warm and unaffected, and full of fascinating historical detail

Lots has changed in the food world sine Del Conte first published these recipes in 1993, but they remain classics of their type, with a few interesting curve balls thrown in for good measure, such as risotto with smoked salmon and whiskey

Anna Del Conte is the doyenne of Italian cookery. She has written twelve books including the acclaimed Portrait of Pasta, Gastronomy of Italy and Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes. She won the Duchessa Maria Luigia di Parma award for Gastronomy of Italy, and has won awards from the Guild of Food Writers and the Academia Italiana della Cucina. In 2010 Anna received from the president of the Italian republic thehonour of Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblicao Italiana in recognition of the work she does for Italy and Italian food in this country. In 2011 Nigella Lawson presented her with the Life Achievement Award of the Guild of Food Writers. She lives in Dorset.

*As featured in a BBC documentary* 
 
Anna Del Conte is the doyenne of Italian cookery, beloved by food writers including Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith. 
 
Italian Kitchen is a classic Italian cookbook and essential for every home cook. It brings together over 100 mouth-watering recipes for gleaming antipasti, earthy risottos, gutsy pasta sauces and sumptuous dolci into a bible of classic Italian cooking. 
 
Effortlessly stylish yet unfussy, they are the essence of any self-respecting Italian kitchen and provide the fundamentals of Italian cooking.

A Memoir with Food

Risotto With Nettles

A wonderful, evocative memoir by the woman who first brought Italian cooking to Britain and fuelled a culinary revolution. 'Anyone who cooks should have Anna's books, it is the simple truth' Nigella Lawson

Anyone who cooks should have Anna's books, it is the simple truth, along with the fact that she is, I'm telling you the best writer on Italian food there is...Anna Del Conte is unutterably chic and to be relished

A well-mannered memoir of an engaging life, laced with recipes

Recipe-stuffed... Rich in mouth-watering prose, this is proof indeed that food doesn't just nourish your body but also your soul

A rollercoaster read... frank and thought-provoking. Del Conte has lived life to the full, through good times and bad, and there's plenty here to keep you turning the pages

Del Conte may have adopted English self-effacement with the energy of the converted but she knows how to tell a story

Best of the books' (food): 'there is something very special about this book...observant, evocative, full of tastes and talk of food, hers is a delicious, poignant memoir of an unusual life and the food she loves to cook, which launched a culinary revolution

Double the pleasure with the great Anna del Conte's lovely memoir with food

The autobiography or travelogue studded with recipes and oozing descriptions of whiffy hand-made cheeses has become a publishing cliché. Here though is one that really earns its place on the shelf. Anna del Conte is one of our most important cookery writers...Del Conte's recollections are crisply unsentimental

The best writer on Italian food there is"...Del Conte is a great stylist...Inevitably, food plays a big part in the book and is described with tempting intensity

In this delightful memoir she intersperses the story of her life with a selection of some of the mouth-watering recipes that have helped establish her as a peerless expert on Italian cooking

Anna Del Conte was born in Milan, came to England as an au pair in 1949, married an Englishman and has lived in Britian ever since. Her books have won many prizes: Gastronomy of Italy received the Duchessa Maria Luigia di Parma award, Entertaining All'Italiana was shortlisted for the Andre Simon award, and The Classic Food of Northern Italy won awards from the Guild of Food Writers and the Accademia Italiana della Cucina. Her most recent book was Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes: The Best of Anna Del Conte. She has contributed regularly to Sainsbury's Magazine and received the Glenfiddich award for her articles in 1999. Anna Del Conte lives in Dorset.

A wonderful, evocative memoir by the woman who first brought Italian cooking to Britain and fuelled a culinary revolution. 
 
'Anyone who cooks should have Anna's books, it is the simple truth' Nigella Lawson 
 
Born in Milan, Anna del Conte grew up in Italy in a gentler time. When war came to Italy everything changed: her family had to abandon their apartment and the city for the countryside, where the peasants still ate well, but life was dangerous... As a teenager, Anna became used to throwing herself into a ditch as the strafing planes flew over, and was imprisoned, twice. Her story is informed and enlivened by the food and memories of her native land - from lemon granita to wartime risotto with nettles, from vitello tonnato to horsemeat roll, from pastas to porcini. 
 
Anna arrived in England in 1949 to a culinary wasteland. She married an Englishman and stayed on, and while bringing up her children, she wrote books which inspired a new generation of cooks. This is a memoir of a life seen through food - each chapter rounded off with mouthwatering recipes.

The Best of Anna Del Conte

Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes

The best Italian food writer around...anyone who loves food - reading about it, cooking it, eating it - should have this book. I kiss the ground she walks on - Nigella Lawson

The delightfulness of this book rests in the fact that the chapters centre on ingredients rather than regions, allowing for a wonderful spread of recipes and information that captures the flavour of the Italian kitchen

This is a traditional nurturing home-style Italian cooking, ranging from the simplicity of 'la cucina povera' to the more elaborate cuisine of the old nobility, from rough rustic dishes like bread soup, to festive presentations like lamb with garlic and juniper berries with a dazzling sauce of vinegar, sugar and milk

An excellent cook and a natural hostess, Del Conte has the gift for passing on knowledge and for organising. She is the best writer on Italian food in Britain

Those who think of Italian cooking as only tomato sauce and pasta will be surprised by the range of dishes presented here. Del Conte, the author of five other cookbooks, knows her culinary terrain intimately. This is the food of her childhood and Del Conte is as likely to invoke her father's notion of a proper soup as she is to discuss the 17th century chef Bartolomeo Stefani

The recipes are clear enough for rookie cooks to follow and they make sense in terms of the kinds of food many people want to eat today- fresh, flavourful, simple prepared, with less emphasis on meat and more on vegetables

I have a deep love of Italy and Italian food, and Anna del Conte is my favourite Italian food writer

The best writer on Italian food in the UK and perhaps the world, Anna Del Conte has written 12 books including the acclaimed Portrait of Pasta, Gastronomy of Italy and Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes. She won the Duchessa Maria Luigia di Parma award for Gastronomy of Italy, and was shortlisted for the Andre Simon award with Entertaining All'Italiana. The Classic Food of Northern Italy won awards from the Guild of Food Writers and the Accademia Italiana della Cucina. She has contributed to Sainsbury's magazine and received the Glenfiddich award for her journalism. Her memoir, Risotto with Nettles, was published by Chatto in 2009. This year Anna was awarded thehonour of Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblicao Italiana in recognition of the work she does for Italy and Italian food in this country. She lives in Dorset.

'The best Italian food writer around...anyone who loves food - reading about it, cooking it, eating it - should have this book. I kiss the ground she walks on' Nigella Lawson 
 
In this book Anna Del Conte has collected together the best of her delicious recipes along with tips, anecdotes and reminiscences about her life in Italy and London. Packed with inspiring information from the best way to make a tomato sauce and a tiramisu to more unusual dishes such as nettle risotto and chestnut mousse, each chapter is devoted to a different ingredient. 
 
As well as explaining the basics and introducing more surprising recipes, Anna includes special additional chapters describing traditional regional and historical menus. So whether you want to eat tagliatelle with ham and peas or rabbit with rosemary and tomato, a Roman Late Supper or a Renaissance Dinner, you will find what you need here.

Anna Del Conte

Family Recipes to Cook Together

From the award-winning and much loved Italian food writer Anna Del Conte comes a beautiful and inspiring book about cooking with children. 
 
Coco is Anna Del Conte's 12-year-old granddaughter and her tireless helper in the kitchen. From a very early age, Coco showed an interest in food and cooking - Anna taught her to smell and taste food, and soon enough Coco was able to start helping, progressing from decorating cakes to making pasta to conjuring up her favourite tagines. 
 
Taking us from the simple dishes of the early stages, through to more complex cooking for older children - by way of meatballs, Coco's first biscuits, lamb with couscous and sweet ricotta pancakes - and illustrated with beautiful photographs, Anna Del Conte brings us the best of all the recipes they have cooked together. In a relaxed, informal style, she shows how to teach children the importance of seasonal food, how to introduce new skills and techniques, and how to choose the best ingredients. But Cooking with Coco is also an inspirational reminder of how much fun families can have together in the kitchen. 
 
Written by an internationally renowned cook, food writer and grandmother, for all the eager - and sometimes mischievous - faces around her table, Cooking with Coco is a book for anyone who wants to introduce children to simple, healthy and delicious cooking and the joy and satisfaction of making it themselves.

Anna Del Conte

Books by Anna Del Conte

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