03 May ‘Sharing Puglia’ Book Launch, Cafe Latte

Puglia (pronounced more like PUL-ia) is the region at the south-eastern tip of the Italian peninsula and is renowned for its beautiful scenery with its limestone sea cliffs, olive groves, fishing towns and whitewashed houses. Its climate and location provides Puglia with fresh seafood and soil allowing for wonderful olive trees, fruit orchards and vegetable fields to be cultivated. In fact, Puglia is historically an agricultural region and access to all this fresh and fabulous produce is reflected in their cuisine.

Luca Lorusso and Vivienne Polak aim to capture the cuisine from this region in their book, Sharing Puglia. Luca was actually born and raised in Puglia, so it’s a place he is well familiar with, and one that has produced many dishes close to his heart. Sharing Puglia will guide readers in utilising simple ingredients to create these amazing dishes.

Hosted by Luca’s own Caffe Latte in Hawksburn, we celebrated the launch with fresh oysters and plenty of other nibbles like the amazingly tasty foccacia with an addictively crispy base…

…and the pea and cheese arancini, which I overheard someone say were the ‘closest you can get to Sicily’.

Fava Bean Puree on Crostini

Polenta Chips

Herbed Prawns

Puff Pastry w. Chocolate and Hazelnut Sauce

Luca and Vivienne told the story of the origins of Sharing Puglia and humorous anecdotes from the time they spent together traveling the region to collect recipes. The book covers all courses, from antipasti and soups to meat and vegetables, and even bread, desserts and drinks. It would be a great addition for people looking to expand their Italian cookbook collection.

Disclaimer: I was invited to the launch of Sharing Puglia as a guest.