Sometimes you happen across a cookbook that you know you’ll treasure for the rest of your life. That’s how I felt when I first looked through Chiara Lima’s beautiful cookbook Mamma Agata – “Simple and Genuine” Italian Family Recipes. I’ve written many times here on Ciao Amalfi about my adventures discovering and learning about cooking here on the Amalfi Coast. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that Chiara Lima, director of the Mamma Agata Cooking School on the Amalfi Coast, had written a cookbook of her mother Agata’s traditional family recipes. Here was a chance to step inside a family kitchen and learn about real home cooking here on the Amalfi Coast. And you couldn’t find a warmer or more welcoming kitchen than Mamma Agata’s to step in to!
More than just a cookbook, Mamma Agata – “Simple and Genuine” is a labor of love, telling the story of Agata’s life in Ravello, cooking up her wonderful dishes for movie stars and sharing her talents in the kitchen at the cooking school founded in 1994. Throughout the book you also meet Agata’s family, including her daughter Chiara who writes with passion and love about her family’s history and cooking traditions.
One of the hallmarks of Mamma Agata’s recipes, which is reflected in the title of the book, is that good food doesn’t have to be complicated. To make authentic home cooked Italian dishes all you need are fresh ingredients and the know how to accentuate and combine flavors. The recipes in this cookbook take you step by step through the process of preparing Agata’s signature dishes. The photography throughout the cookbook is extraordinary and leaves you yearning to move right in with Mamma Agata at her beautiful home in Ravello. Each recipe is accompanied by step by step photos that make following the recipes easy and natural.
One of my favorite touches in the cookbook are the sections called “Mamma Agata’s Recommendations” and “Mamma Agata’s Secrets” that are interspersed throughout the recipes steps. While I’m cooking her recipes, it really feels like Mamma Agata is there looking over my shoulder and offering little tips and suggestions to make sure I get it just right. Cooking isn’t simply about following a recipe, and I learned some really handy tips about cooking from these recommendations.
Mamma Agata and her family refer to their beautiful home and cooking school as “The Hidden Treasure,” and it truly is a magical spot on the Amalfi Coast. For those who have visited the cooking school and all the rest of you who might dream of visiting some day, this beautiful cookbook will be a real treasure. I can tell you that it has quickly become one of my most prized resources in the kitchen. It’s already been splattered by tomatoes bubbling away on the stove and filled with notes as if I’ve already owned it for a lifetime. Anyone who has traveled to and enjoyed the wonderful cooking here on the Amalfi Coast will also treasure this wonderful resource.
Psst… Don’t miss meeting Chiara Lima on her USA BOOK TOUR!
For those of you reading in America, Chiara Lima will be traveling to many locations on a book tour during the month of November, including stops Bernardsville, New Jersey and New York City before continuing on to Chicago and then Dallas. Check here to see all the details on the dates and event venues. Best of luck to my sweet friend Chiara on her book tour to America!
It is apparently dangerous for me to read blog posts like this early in the morning. Before I knew it I had ordered the cookbook, which ended up costing far more than I’d ever like a book to cost once shipping had been included. It better be good! 🙂
Ciao Annika! Oh, I think you’ll really be happy! 🙂 The tagliatelle with salsicce e pepperoni is one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever eaten. Oh… and the lemon chicken… and Mamma Agata’s divine lemon cake…. now I’m hungry! I know how much you love the Amalfi Coast, and I think you’ll really enjoy the photographs and meeting this family through the book. I’d love to hear what you think!
How did I miss Mamma Agata on my visit to Amalfi last year… So sad
Ciao Food Hunter! Oh no … you’ll just have to come back! 🙂
Saw Mama on masterchef BBC episode 21 and had the urge to order her book, god it was expensive, I’ve never spent that much on a cookery book before, so hope it’s got some good recipes in it,copied the gnocchi of masterchef going to have a go at that this bank holiday
Hi Michael, I hope you enjoy making the recipes! I use many of them and they’re some of my favorites! 🙂