Valentina Harris was born into a fairy-tale. Her father was an English army officer who fell madly in love with her mother, an Italian countess, and so Valentina grew up in a Tuscan castle, complete with vineyards, olive groves, vegetable garden, chickens and a constant supply of guests. Harris remembers her childhood as an extended lesson in the culinary arts and would spend hours in the kitchen helping their chef, Beppino. She could slaughter a chicken by the age of eight.

'By the time I was five,' she recalls, 'I was exposed to conversations about whether or not the asparagus was in season yet, did we think these mussels were good enough to make a pasta sauce with or better to put in a soup? Every meal had a kind of celebratory mood. It was perfectly normal for there to be 30 people for lunch and 40 people for dinner. I thought everybody lived like that all the time.'

Even now, at the age of 47, much of Harris's time is still spent entertaining great swathes of people but, instead of cooking for them all, she teaches them to cook for themselves. Her acclaimed cookery school, Villa Valentina, opened in France this year, so she divides her time between there and her Balham flat. Her student son, Jamie, lives with her and is an aspiring chef, as is her eldest, Ben, who has worked at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Harris tried being a restaurant chef in the 1970s, when she first moved to the UK, but couldn't bear it.

Many of her 30 books have been influential, hits including Perfect Pasta and Risotto! Risotto! . She has done television but shied away from the spotlight as soon as the term 'celebrity chef' took off because, she decided, 'it was becoming much more about light entertainment than education. To me the education is the bit that mattered more'.

Recipes from an Italian Terrace is her most recent book, designed for lazy, hot days when all you want to do is to sling some perfectly marinated meat on the barbecue and relax in the sun.

They are not fussy recipes, but simple dishes designed for easy home cooking. 'Take very good ingredients. Don't mess with them. Make sure they are the best, make sure they are from around the corner, make sure they are in season. The books are based on these principles and I've kept all the recipes simple and quick.'

Recipes from an Italian Terrace is particularly important to her because it was shot last year at her Italian cookery school: 'All the recipes are tied up in my memory of the things we did there.' Sadly, that school had to close because the building had structural problems. However, her school has reopened in France and, never willing to lose sight of her fairy-tale beginnings, Harris makes regular visits to Italy to find a new location for next year.

· Tel: 020 8480 8367; www.villavalentina.com.

Recipes

From an Italian Terrace, Valentina Harris, £17.99, Cassell Illustrated. To order for the special price of £15.99, plus £1.99 p&p, call The Observer Book Service on 0870 836 0885.

Barbecued scallops and radicchio

This is a fabulous way to enjoy scallops or oysters. If you can get it, use paper-thin slices of Lardo di Collonnata instead of pancetta. Lardo is cured pork fat; Collonnata is set in the Carrara region, which is famous for its marble. There, the fat is massaged into lengths and rubbed with salt, garlic and herbs. It is then left to cure inside marble containers for about three months before being removed and left to dry on marble slabs. Served in very thin slices, it is white in colour, with a delicately spicy flavour and a distinctively delicate aroma.

serves 4
16 large scallops
16 large radicchio leaves
16 paper-thin slices good-quality pancetta or Lardo di Collonnata
16 tiny fresh rosemary sprigs
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil or melted pork fat

Wrap each scallop in a radicchio leaf and then in a slice of pancetta or lardo. Secure the wrapping with a wooden cocktail stick and tuck a tiny sprig of rosemary inside each parcel.

Brush lightly with a little olive oil or melted pork fat then lay under a moderate grill or over medium coals and cook until the pancetta or lardo is crisp around the edges, turning two or three times.

This is a delectably messy dish that requires everyone to use their fingers, so finger bowls or a nearby water source are a must. Only use prawns that are large enough to peel easily and not so small and fiddly that they drive everyone mad. You can add chilli to the garlic if you want an extra kick.

Prawns in tomato sauce

serves 4
1 kg large, raw shell-on prawns
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
250 ml passata
10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

First, give the prawns a quick rinse in cold water and pat them dry.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan, then add the garlic and fry over a gentle heat for about five minutes. Add the passata and stir, then cover and simmer for a further five minutes. Add the prawns and season generously with salt and pepper. Stirring constantly, cook the prawns over a high heat for about five minutes, depending on their size.

Cover with a lid and remove the pan from the heat. Leave to stand for about three minutes, then tip out onto a platter, sprinkle with the basil and serve either hot or at room temperature.

Chicken and pepper skewers

A very simple, but delicious dish - the combination of chicken and peppers never disappoints.

serves 4
2 chicken breasts, cut into 2cm cubes
juice of lemon
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbs fresh rosemary leaves
1 garlic clove, puréed
4 slices ciabatta, cut into 2cm cubes
1 large red onion, cut into thick chunks
2 large yellow or red peppers, cut into 2cm cubes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the chicken cubes in a bowl. Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and pour over the chicken. Mix together with your hands until the chicken is thoroughly coated in the marinade. Leave to stand for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, soak four wooden kebab skewers in water. To make the skewers, thread on the bread, chicken, onion and peppers until all the ingredients are used up. Start and finish each skewer with a chunk of bread to hold everything together firmly.

Brush the skewers with the rest of the marinade and grill or barbecue for about 10-12 minutes, turning frequently and basting with any remaining marinade or water in order to keep the chicken moist.

Serve hot or cold.

Black pasta with scallops and lemon

The pasta used in this dish is made from cuttlefish ink, which gives it its jet-black colour when cooked and its strong fishy taste. It perfectly complements the delicate scallops and sharp lime flavours in the sauce.

serves 4
extra-virgin olive oil
10 fresh scallops
2 lemons
350-400g black, cuttlefish-ink pasta
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a large handful of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley to serve

Heat a frying pan until it is piping hot. Brush with a little olive oil and sear the scallops for two minutes on each side. Zest and juice the lemons and reserve.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, toss in the pasta and stir. Cook until al dente, then drain thoroughly. Return the pasta to the hot pan. Add the scallops, the zest and juice of the lemons and about four tablespoons of olive oil.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Return the pan to the heat and turn the mixture quickly for about one minute to heat it through. Transfer to a warmed dish and sprinkle with the parsley before serving.