by Frances Mayes, 1996
Frances and her husband, Ed, buy an old villa in Tuscany (Cortona, Italy) and rejuvenate it inside and out. They have terraces and have olive trees. Re-doing the house took years since they only live in Italy in summer (professors in San Francisco). Fun book – love her descriptions of the workmen they hire to do things. Also her love of food and growing things. Wish there had been pictures. She loves Italy and all things Italian. She loves the people, food, wine, heat of summer, the churches, the towns. They go at Christmas twice and she loves it in the winter too.
Here are some of the dishes that sound so good: “Warm cherries in Chianti with hazelnut pound cake.”
“My idea of heaven is a 2-hour lunch with Ed. I believe he must have been Italian in another life. He has begun to gesture and wave his hands, which I’ve never seen him do…For a lunch he prepares, he gathers parmigiana, fresh mozzarella, some pecorino from the mountains, red peppers, just-picked lettuces, the local salami with fennel, loaves of pane con sale (the bread that isn’t strictly traditional here because it has salt), prosciutto, a glorious bag of tomatoes…He piles the bread board with our cheeses, salami, peppers, and on our plates arranges our first course, the classic Caprese: sliced tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and a drizzle of oil….”
Ed opens a celebratory bottle of Prosecco and we settle down to recap the saga of buying and restoring the house.”
She includes recipes for:
-Hazelnut Gelato
-Cherries steeped in Red wine
-Folded peach tart with Mascarpone
-Pears in Mascarpone Custard
-Red Peppers (or onions) melted with Balsamic Vinegar
-Winter Bruschette with Pecorino and nuts; with Pecorino and Prosciutto; with Grilled Eggplant
-Lemon cake (from her native Georgia)
-Rustic Apple Bread Pudding
-Winter Pears in Vino Nobile
“Of all the herbs, basil holds the essence of Tuscan summer.”
-Fennel soup
-Pizza with onion confit and sausage