Italian food: comfort food of the purest kind. Like so many of us, Sergio Herman has been captivated by Italy’s food culture for many years. Who doesn’t love a plate of pasta? Italian cuisine is loved all over the world, and the food is part of our collective culinary heritage. But the focus always seems to be on authenticity; there is little experimentation with new flavour combinations.

Sergio is changing this with his personal take on ‘cucina nuova’. In over 60 recipes – which are well within the reach of the home cook – he presents dishes that are based on Italian classics, but have their own logic and distinctive twists that fully reflect his vision of the new Italian kitchen. So rather than an authentic pasta carbonara with bacon, think in terms of carbonara with pipe rigate and North Sea crab, or pappardelle with Zeeland mussels and ‘nduja instead of vongole.

Let’s allow ourselves to be surprised by the Italian kitchen.