Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from Sardinia, Hardcover

In Bitter Honey, seasoned chef Letitia Clark invites us into her new home on one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean Sea - Sardinia. Cooking here reflects life: it is a slow and relaxed affair. Meat is almost always slow roasted over an open fire, often on a rustic spit. Cheese is made and matured slowly, using age-old methods and tools. Beans and legumes, and most vegetables too are cooked long and slow, extracting all their sweetness. There is no sense of urgency about anything. The recipes in this book don't take long to make, but you can taste the ethos behind every one of them - one which invites you to slow down, to enjoy yourself, to nourish yourself with food, friends, and family.

Try your hand at Roasted eggplants with honey, mint, garlic & burrata, or a fresh, zesty salad of Celery, orange, anchovy and hazelnut, followed by Malloreddus (the shell-shaped pasta from the region) with crab, saffron and tomato, or a Roast chicken stuffed with ricotta and chard. If you're craving something sweet, follow up with an Almond panna cotta with poached apricots, or a bowl of Mascarpone and sour cherry ice cream. Each of these recipes, and the stories behind them, will transport you to the glittering, turquoise waters and laid-back lifestyle of this Italian paradise. With beautiful design, photography, full color illustrations and joyful anecdotes throughout, Bitter Honey is a vacation, a cookbook and a window onto a covetable lifestyle in the sun - all rolled into one.

Letitia Clark was born in the UK in 1987. After completing a degree in English Literature at Durham University she put her love of food into practice and completed the diploma course at Leith's School of Food and Wine. Her first professional kitchen was The Dock Kitchen, where she worked for a year. Craving the literary side of her life she went back to Edinburgh University to complete a Masters in English Literature, while cooking and baking in the now notorious Peter's Yard in the evenings. From here she briefly pursued a career in publishing, before feeling herself called back to the stove and becoming head baker at Spring. She worked her way around the pastry and savory section, before accepting a job as Head Pastry Chef at the now Michelin-starred Ellory. After 7 months here, with itchy feet yet again, she moved to Morito, where she met her Sardinian partner, Luca, who was also a chef. Craving open spaces, rustic Italian food and a self-sufficient lifestyle they quit their jobs and London and moved to rural Sardinia. Here they are building a small farm and dairy, while Letitia writes about the food they cook and records the recipes.