It may be a few years old but Piano, Piano, Pieno: Authentic Food From a Tuscan Farm is a splendid cookbook for Italian food enthusiasts. The title literally translates to "slowly, slowly, full" and is symbolic of the slow food methods used in preparing the more than 200 recipes in the book.
Written by Susan McKenna Grant, the cookbook is the result of the curious journey she and her husband Michael made over a decade ago when they left her native Canada to become organic farmers and chefs in Tuscany.
Grant runs Agriturismo La Petraia, a lush farm set on 165-acres in the heart of Chianti Classico, Tuscany's oldest wine region. The estate boasts vineyards, olive and heirloom fruit trees, an ancient chestnut grove and vegetable gardens.
Her cookbook is chock-full of recipes that call for fresh, organic, local ingredients - a type of cuisine commonly practiced in Italy. The book features authentic Tuscan recipes, as well as others she picked up on the road while traveling throughout Italy.
You'll find classic Tuscan dishes like Cinghiale in Dolce e Forte (sweet and strong wild boar) and Pappardelle Mare e Monte (pasta of the sea and mountain) and Italian staples like Pasta e Ceci, a pasta and chickpea soup from Naples.
With this wealth of recipes it's no wonder Piano, Piano, Pieno won Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Award, the Cordon d'Or Award for Best Culinary Literature Book and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Italian Cuisine Book.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon for $33.38. Grant is also the author of Dinamica: La Petraia Cucina Sistemica at KM 0.
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