Acquacotta: Recipes and Stories from Tuscany's Secret Silver Coast

• HARDIE GRANT.

Acquacotta is a celebration of the traditional cuisine of a lesser known part of Tuscany, the Silver Coast, which forms part of the territory of Maremma. Acquacotta, literally meaning "cooked water", is Maremma's most famous dish, a soup made of slowly simmered tomatoes and onions and poached eggs. There are countless variations, and every town has its own. The book includes personal stories, memories and lessons from the people (producers, winemakers, breeders, fisherman) Emiko has met. The Silver Coast is a geographically quite narrow area in the southernmost coastal part of the region – and includes the island-like promontory of Monte Argentario, the island of Giglio, the lagoon town of Orbetello and the last Tuscan town on the border of Lazio, Capalbio. Surrounded by thick, wild boar-inhabiting, forest-covered hills and twisted, ancient olive trees, the area is known for its rustic peasant cooking, where hearty soups, hand-reared chickens or rabbits, foraged wild vegetables, mushrooms and chestnuts and wild-caught game have long provided sustenance - and still colour the local cuisine. Acquacotta will champion the food Emiko loves to eat and cook - comforting, low-maintenance and easy to prepare. It's food that calls for sharing with friends or family, gathered around a big table. And like most peasant cuisine, it is about getting the best out of a few ingredients and providing a belly-filling meal that not only doesn't cost the earth, but is delicious. Acquacotta offers more than 80 recipes across five chapters divided by themes: Dal Bosco - which means feed from the woods and includes foraged and hunted foods; Dal Mare - which means from the sea and includes typical seafood of the area including from the lagoon; Dal Orto - which means from the vegetable patch; Dal toria - which means from the farm and include dishes inspired by the farm tradition in the area, which often includes legumes, grains, rabbit, poultry and eggs; Dolci - sweets, preserves and homemade liquors.