ALVARO'S MAMMA TOSCANA - Softcover

Alvaro Maccioni is the owner and chef at La Famiglia restaurant, the popular Chelsea eatery which in 1996 became the first restaurant outside Italy to win the Academia Della Cucina Italiana prize. This is Maccioni's first book, which is a surprise as he has been cooking for over 30 years and is reasonably well known in England, having been described as the "Godfather of many a London trattoria".

In Alvaro's Mamma Toscana he offers 150 authentic--and sometimes historical--Tuscan recipes. You'll find anguilla marinata (marinated eel), pappardelle con la lepre (pasta with hare sauce), pollo ai semi di finocchio (chicken with wild fennel sauce), and fegatini con funghi frifolati (chicken livers with porcini). A description of where the dish originated or a personal anecdote about Maccioni or a member of his family accompanies each recipe.

Tuscany is enchanting and Maccioni's tome to the region's food certainly is too. It's a worthwhile purchase for aficionados of Italian food. --Dale Kneen

Alvaro Maccioni is something of a legend in restaurant circles - he has been described by British food critic Fay Maschler as 'the Godfather of many a London trattoria.' Born and brought up in Vinci in Tuscany, Alvaro was destined to take over the family farm but instead headed for the famous hotel school in Lausanne. He came to England in 1958 and began work as a waiter at the Mirabelle restaurant in Mayfair. It was here that Alvaro began to meet the royal figures and film stars who would later patronise his restaurant in Chelsea. Alvaro has been cooking excellent, authentic Italian food at La Famiglia since 1975. It remains a favourite for many, not only because of the exceptional quality of the food, but also because of its wonderful ambience. James Murphy is a renowned food photographer whose work has appeared in both prestigious cookbooks (The Mezzo Cookbook; Quaglino's the Cookbook; Mosimann's World among others) and magazines such as Marie Claire, Good Housekeeping, BBC Good Food and She.