Product Description

Valvona & Crolla has been described as 'the Sistine chapel of continental delis'. Founded in 1934 by the Continis' ancestors, the Italian shop and restaurant is legendary in food circles for its excellent food and drink. Now, co-owner Mary (author of the bestselling "Dear Francesca" and co-author of the "Easy Peasy Cooking" series) presents 200 delicious and authentic recipes. Organised season by season, the book offers a year of sumptuous delights from around the country of her heritage, together with recommendations for wines to match them. Starting with the festive flavours of winter, such as a creamy chestnut soup with smoked pancetta, moving on to the best of spring's vegetables with a broad bean and spinach frittata, fresh seafood dishes in the summer, and finishing with the truffles, olive pressings and slow-cooked casseroles of the autumn, this beautifully written and evocatively photographed book adds up to a food diary of personal stories, history, anecdotes and recipes, all imbued with the warmth and local knowledge that only a true Italian family, passionate about food, can deliver.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2227 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
A loving and lyrical tome of a cookbook --Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 9th October 2009

suggestions for sumptuous, seasonal cooking spiced with memories of the shop, it's character and history --Saga, 1 December 2009

Celebrate home cooking the Italian way --Country Life 25 Novmember 2009

You can't go wrong realy, if you approach food in this celebratory spirit --London Evening Standard, 26 November 2009

About the Author
Mary Contini is the granddaughter of Italian immigrants who moved to Scotland at the beginning of the last century. She has been a director of the Edinburgh deli, Valvona & Crolla Ltd, since 1983. She is the author of five other books, including the bestselling Dear Francesca - a beautiful evocation of Italian family life and food, and the children's cookery series Easy Peasy. Philip Contini is the grandson of the co-founder of Valvona & Crolla. He joined the family business in 1970 and took over as Managing Director in 1986. He has won numerous prizes and accolades for his Italian wine list and has driven the business forward to establish it as one of the leading independent food retailers in the UK. Mary and Philip live in Edinburgh with their two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Valvonaandcrolla-licious
Valvona and Crolla is an Edinburgh institution, and rightly so. Many delicatessens and gourmet shops have sprung up over the years, but none compare to Valvona and Crolla on Elm Row. Nothing I have ever bought from there has been a banger (except from the exquisite Fonteluna sausage that is!). The staff are always warm and particularly knowledgable, friendly and helpful.

All of which to point out that i was expecting big things from this book. It doesn't disappoint. Mary Contini writes with a good sense of humour and a talent for relating food-anecdotes. It's a style that will be familiar to readers of her other books. But the difference with this one is that it is much more concertedly a 'cookbook', which means the test is in the recipes and there are loads of good ones from Roast Goose to Crab pasta to meatballs to delicious salt-cod, to hazelnut cake etc etc.

I highly recommend this BEAUTIFUL book.