Easy Tasty Italian is the debut cookbook from Laura Santtini and it is as unusual as its author. With a background in events management for MTV and a stint working for Lynne Frank’s iconic PR company, Santtini might seem to have an odd CV for a writer of cookbooks.
It all becomes clearer when it emerges that her father is Gino Santtini, founder of Santini in Belgravia (said to Sinatra’s favourite restaurant in London) and also the driving force behind the establishment of Santini restaurant in Edinbugh’s Sheraton. At various times throughout her life, Laura Santtini has put away her event organiser’s/PR Blackberry and headed for the stove, either working on her own projects or in the kitchens of the family business.
As she puts it, she has lost count of the number of times that she has made the journey from boardroom to cold room and back again.
Her book is as diverse as her career. Part family memoir, part history, part lyric sheet, the recipes are interspersed with philosophical digressions, relationship advice and musings on alchemy. The recipes are simple and, mostly, don’t require a huge amount of technical know-how making the book a practical choice for the home cook to use in the kitchen.
Neatly, it is written so that veteran chefs will be able to glean a couple of hints from it as easily as novices who have yet to make their first pesto. At the same time as being genuinely useful, the many different threads which link into the recipes mean that it is also the sort of book that you could happily read in bed.
One of the major thrusts of the book is Santtini’s suggestions for ‘flavour bombs’: ready-made rubs, sauces, pastes, potions and food bling that can be used to pep up everyday dishes. For example, she suggests a truffle and anchovy elixir as a way of transforming tomato-based pasta sauces or a coffee and cardomon rub to add some magic to roast meat.
It is unconventional, fun and and functional, a rare combo.
Easy Tasty Italian is published by Quadrille, £20.