Product Description

There are some places worth traveling to just for the food: Rome, Venice . . . and now, Birmingham, Italy.

In this companion to his first, best-selling cookbook, the beloved Southern chef Frank Stitt travels to Italy and brings the best of Mediterranean cuisine back home. To Stitt's mind, the two regions—Italy and the American South—share commonalities. Both native cuisines have a tradition of turning humble ingredients—ground corn, bitter greens, cured pork, the daily catch—into poetry on the plate. And as the chef points out in his lively introduction to the book, this is elemental cooking based on the purity and simplicity of the freshest and finest ingredients.

Yet leave it to Stitt to make Italian cuisine his own. "There's no Pompano in Venice, but ours, fresh from Apalachicola, fits into the cartoccio (Italian fish stew) perfectly; our Chilton County white peaches are squeezed by hand for a bellini; our wild Gulf shrimp, oysters, crab, and fish are easily a match for their Mediterranean equivalents," Stitt writes. This appealing new cookbook includes the best of the Southern-influenced Italian recipes he has served at his Birmingham, Alabama, restaurant Bottega Restaurant and Café, for the last two decades—the Tomato Chutney and Roasted Sweet Pepper Pizza, Lamb Shanks with Sweet Peas and Mint, and fabulous desserts including Zabaglione Meringue Cake. Accompanied by sweet recollections of his journeys to Italy, this inspiring and accessible cookbook proves once again why the novelist Pat Conroy calls Stitt "the best chef in America."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137113 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 269 pages

From the Inside Flap
Frank Stitt’s Bottega restaurant and café in Birmingham, Alabama, "combines Southern cooking ideology and Italian tradition to craft a new style of eating," says Mario Batali, which is why "I think it is one of the best Italian restaurants outside of Italy." The dishes are "never precious, always inventive" (The New York Times): a lima bean and orzo soup with escarole, a pork scaloppini with greens and polenta, a capellini gratin.

Bottega was born from Stitt's lifelong passion for Italy's food and way of life. From his travels, the beloved Southern chef has brought home the rustic simplicity of Italian cuisine and added his own ingenious twists, like the Tabasco sauce he uses to spike a dish of Potato Ravioli with Crawfish and Candied Lemon or the tomato chutney in the Roasted Sweet Pepper Pizza. As one of the South’s earliest supporters of regional producers, Stitt makes ample use of local ingredients, inspiring the reader to do the same: "There’s no pompano in Venice, but ours, fresh from Apalachicola makes a great cartoccio [baked in a parchment bag]," Stitt writes. "Our Chilton County white peaches make a great bellini."

This deliciously appealing new cookbook—with more than 200 recipes—includes the best of the Southern-influenced Italian dishes Stitt has served at Bottega for the last two decades. It’s all here. From such signature appetizers as Charred Onion Dip, Parmesan Soufflés, and Crabmeat Bruschetta to delicious crisp-crusted pizzas that infuse Italian classics with American inventiveness.

Freshness and simplicity are key, so expect beautiful salads and pastas, as well as main courses with clean tastes, such as the Duck with Peaches and Moscato or the Tuscan Porterhouse with Lemon, Olive Oil, and Arugula. Bottega’s famous dessert menu is also well represented, with recipes such as Zabaglione Meringue Cake, Coconut Pecan Cake, and a simple Warm Cream Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Almonds.

It could be said that Italians and Alabamians share a love of food that is unadorned. Whether it’s ground corn, bitter greens, beans, cured pork, or the day’s catch, both cultures respect ingredients for what they are, not for what they might be. And it’s this purity of vision that’s the hallmark of Stitt’s cooking, for which he has been honored with so many awards.

Accompanied by anecdotes from Stitt’s many journeys to Italy, this inspiring and accessible cookbook proves once again why the novelist Pat Conroy calls Stitt "the best chef in America."

About the Author
Frank Stitt is the chef and owner of Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant and Café, and Chez Fonfon, all located in Birmingham, Alabama. He has won the James Beard Award for the Best Chef of the Southeast and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance. He is the author of Frank Stitt's Southern Table.

Customer Reviews

Perfect companion
I'm a big fan of Frank Stitt's first "Southern Table" cookbook. Don't think that he is limited only to Southern dishes. His new book is a great companion to the first book and offers a fresh approach to classic Italian dishes. One of my top choices for best new cookbook of the year.

Frank Stitt matches his previous standard
I purchased 4 copies of Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita: A Southern Chef's Love Affair with Italian Food as gifts for the holidays. I found myself resisting wrapping a copy because I was so caught up in reading through it! When I moved to Birmingham, Alabama, nine years ago, I found that Frank Stitt's Southern Table: Recipes and Gracious Traditions from Highlands Bar and Grill was a staple in kitchens of all of our friends. After eating at Frank Stitt's Highlands Bar and Grill, I knew why. He combines ingredients and courses in a way that is completely European, American, and Southern all at the same time. Frank's other restaurant, Bottega, takes Italian and gives it a nice Southern accent. I was pleased that "Bottega Favorita" included most of my favorites from the restaurant, including the wonderful pizzas and sandwiches there. Also, the recipes are not impossible for the casual chef. You probably will not have to hunt high and low for ingredients in specialty food stores. The photographs in the book are beautiful, too. This book really encourages you to attempt some of these wonderful dishes.

For anyone visiting the Birmingham area for a few days, I highly recommend both Highlands and Bottega for dining. You will not go home disappointed!

Amazing Food, Beautiful Cookbook
I actually bought this for someone else but recieved it as a gift for Christmas. I can't wait to try some of the recipes! I know that I can't do Frank Stitt justice but I will sure try. Even if you are not a cook it's a beautiful cookbook to thumb through. I love Bottega and now I can have it at home!!!