Photo by Charlotte Bland
I have shelves and shelves of Italian food-books, both in English and Italian. There is no earthly reason I should ever need another one. But that’s not really how it works. I can reason my way out of amassing any more but, in the words of Pascal, la cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point — the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing about. Or, as Letitia Clark’s Sardinian husband said to her at the beginning of her writing career after a literary agent had told her that there were just too many Italian recipe books and that people had had enough of Italy: “People will never have enough of Italy. It’s like saying people have had enough of love. Or ham… And anyway, Sardinia is different.”
And the thing is, too, Letitia Clark’s books are different: she has a distinctive voice and approach, immediately recognisable from her previous titles, Bitter Honey and La Vita è Dolce and delightfully in evidence in this, her third. Part of what she offers is the dream of swapping the English life for an Italian one, but it is her particular aesthetic that is the draw, and the beautiful books she creates just soothe the restless soul; they also, however, offer a practical approach to making that dream seem real. Furthermore, I trust her palate: her recipes combine delicacy with a certain elegant gutsiness. I should give you a few of the sort of dishes I mean: Egg Pasta Ribbons with Mascarpone, Lemon, Mint and Broad Beans; Spaghetti with Garlic Breadcrumbs, Anchovies, Chilli, Wild Fennel and Lemon; Slow-Cooked Chicken with Red Peppers, Anchovies and Basil; Sausage Lasagne with Ricotta, Pecorino and Fennel; Ricotta Cloudballs ("non-meat meatballs”); and Endive and Speck Gratin.
But Clark is foremost a baker, and the sweet recipes are a particular joy: Instant Ricotta Doughnuts with Saffron and Blood Orange; Butter and Honey Brioche Breakfast Buns; Orange Blossom and Honey Amaretti; Strawberry, Lemon and Ricotta Almond Layer Cake; Melon and Ginger Sorbet; Cherry and Mascarpone Custard Crostata; and Roast Squash, Dark Chocolate, Olive Oil and Clementine Cake, to name a few. And it’s from this section that I’ve chosen a recipe to share with you today: Clark’s beautiful, blackberry-dotted Courgette Ginger Cake with Lemon, Yogurt and Mascarpone Icing.
Wild Figs and Fennel by Letitia Clark (Hardie Grant, £30).
Photography © Charlotte Bland.
