I have a few super exciting things to announce! First, Untitled South Italy Cookbook finally has a title: Food of the Italian South: Recipes for Classic, Disappearing, and Lost Dishes. The book also has a cover (focaccia!!!) and a publication date (March 12, 2019!!!). If it seems like a long time has passed since I first announced the book, you’re not wrong! Though I filed the manuscript last August and shot the book in Berkeley with the great Ed Anderson and George Dolese in September, the book’s publication date got moved to accomodate my writing another book with my friend Adam Leonti (Flour Lab: An At-Home Guide to Milling Grains, Making Flour, Baking, and Cooking, all about making pasta, pizza, bread, and pastry, comes out next September!).
I CANNOT wait for you to see Food of the Italian South in the spring and I will be taking the book and its recipes on the road to Philly, NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Cincinnati, Montreal and so many more cities, so stay tuned for book tour dates–I’ll start posting about scheduled dinners and speaking engagements later this year. In the meantime, you can pre-order the book by following the links below. Be sure to hold onto your proof of purchase, as I will be giving away a very awesome PDF guide to eating, drinking, and exploring the South to everyone who pre-orders!
So what’s the book all about? It covers the food, wine, and digestivi from my favorite regions: Campania, Molise, Calabria, Puglia, and Basilicata. I am so excited to share these often overlooked regions with you and the book does so with 85 recipes and many features covering topics like traditional Gragnano pasta, buffalo mozzarella, and the real origins of so-called Italian wedding soup. You’ll find recipes from remote mountain tows like Rotonda in Basilicata, seaside cities including Naples, and rural villages like Cerreto Sannita. I’m basically going to take you with me to eat and drink all across the lower peninsula and introduce you to the home cooks, cheese makers, fishmongers, butchers, and chefs who make simple, delicious, traditional foods and it is going to be delicious.
Photos: Ed Anderson
