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 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