La cucina umbra di Maria Luisa Scolastra
Recipes by Maria Luisa Scolastra
Text by Judith Stoletzky
Photographs by Justyna Krzyanowska
A runaway publishing sensation in Germany.
Regional cuisine. Seasonal cooking. No compromises. Those are the rules of Maria Luisa Scolastra, the superb chef at Villa Roncalli in Foligno, who delves into Umbrian tradition and uses only local products to create astonishingly modern dishes.
In this corner of Central Italy, far from the usual tourist destinations, this exceptional chef prepares recipes learnt from her mother and deeply rooted in the local area. She pays close attention to the quality of her ingredients, using only vegetables and spices from her own kitchen garden and buying only from trusted farmers. Her olive oil comes strictly from a handful of oil presses in the region.
This recipe book is the fruit of an encounter between a German writer and an Italian chef and uses the journal form to describe seasonal changes in Maria Luisa’s cooking. We smile at the author’s sometimes ingenuous remarks, typical of the foreigner’s astonishment in Italy, and thanks to some gorgeous photographs we find ourselves steeped in a timeless world that is still powerfully attached to its land and its traditional values. Maria Luisa Scolastra reveals the secrets of her cooking in sixty recipes, accompanied by advice and suggestions as to the most appropriate wines to go with her food. Henceforth, soups, pulses, and truffles will hold no secrets for you.