As the warmest season of the year approaches, one steers away from the stews and casseroles of winter, gravitating to fresher flavors. And there’s a new cookbook that might have the answer for the perfect summer meal: Bitter Honey by Letitia Clark.
Clark’s cookbook is the result of the British chef’s two years of living on the Italian island of Sardinia. She moved there for love, escaping the rainy days in London, and she never left.
Her recipes are an homage to the sun-scorched island’s traditions and healthy Mediterranean ingredients, such as fennel, figs, rosemary, and “the best extra-virgin olive oil.” With these ingredients, Clark provides the reader with a welcome escape to far away coasts.
“Cookbooks should be escapist,” she says. “They give us the joy of being transported to a different place. I would be very happy if people felt like they were able to escape their apartments in New York by reading the book.”
The title, Bitter Honey, comes from a typical – and slightly bitter – Sardinian honey, made from corbezzolo, an evergreen shrub that grows wild on the island’s coasts featuring round, sweet red fruits with an appearance not unlike strawberries at first glance.
Letitia Clark in the kitchen (ph courtesy of the Author)
The recipes range from fresh salads with a variety of fruits and vegetables, a combination she remembers Italians loving after being initially suspicious (unlike gravy, which was never appreciated), to time-consuming handmade pasta.
“The recipes are very approachable,” Clark says, explaining that everything is written with the city-dweller in mind. “They're recipes that you can make on a budget, in a small flat.”
Blood orange, polenta and ricotta pie (ph Matt Russell)
There’s a recipe for roasted eggplants with honey, mint, garlic, and burrata. There’s a salad with celery, orange, anchovy and hazelnut. Then there’s the recipe for malloreddus, a small Sardinian gnocchi named after baby calves in dialect, with crab, saffron and tomato sauce. Or perhaps a roasted chicken with lemon-anchovy butter is more your speed – representing an homage to Clark’s native country and its Sunday roasts. And we can’t forget the polenta cake made from blood oranges and ricotta, which looks like a beautiful hand-painted tile of sliced fruits if baked properly. (The recipe is also on Clark’s blog, if you fancy a sneak peek before buying the book).
Slow cooked courgettes (ph Matt Russell)
Lastly, there’s a recipe for roasted suckling pig, il porceddu, Sardinia’s most traditional dish and the only exception to Clark’s “approachable recipes” rule. She says it felt unethical not to include it, since the recipe is so important to the island, but she continues: “I don’t expect people in New York to find a small pig and roast it.”
If you find yourself inspired by Bitter Honey’s Sardinian flavors, and you do decide to go and find a small pig in New York, and roast it, please share your attempts with us on @laCucinaItalianaUSA on Instagram, we’d love to see your version of Clark’s Sardinian homage!
Letitia Clark in the kitchen (ph courtesy of the Author)