Daily Italian

Tobie Puttock's love affair with Italian food began when he was an 18-year-old working in Melbourne's acclaimed Caffé e Cucina. The passion flourished as he cooked his way across Europe, working 18-hour days in Italian-speaking kitchens, taking time out for snowboarding excursions and the odd very long lunch in a mountainside trattoria. This simple, edgy, and energetic cookbook is the result of that experience. With beautifully illustrated photographs it rewrites some of the rules and ignores others. However far it pushes the boundaries of tradition, it sticks closely to the guiding principle of great Italian cuisine: that cooking is, if nothing else, an act of love.

Tobie Puttock has worked at the River Cafe in London alongside a bevy of high-profile chefs, including Jamie Oliver, and at Italian kitchen Termini in Melbourne. In 2006, Tobie opened a new Fifteen restaurant in Melbourne, serving Italian food made with the best produce available and prepared with care, imagination, and plenty of heart. As director, he oversees the training program for employing and mentoring disadvantaged kids to become industry professionals. Most recently, Tobie opened his new venture, The Kitchen's Cat, which embodies his passions about food—locally sourced produce creating authentic Italian food served in a comfortable environment. Tobie is the author of Cook Like An Italian and Italian Local.