In the beginning of the new cookbook, Seafood Alla Siciliana: Recipes and Stories from a Living Tradition, author Toni Lydecker quotes Goethe:"To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything". And you'll certainly feel this way after reading this beautiful book. When the publisher contacted me and sent me a copy, I couldn't wait to
read it after all, this is where my mother was from. This is not just a collection of recipes but an in depth look at Sicily itself its history, its food, its wine, its culture.
Lydecker is a noted food writer, specializing in Italian cooking. When she finally goes to Sicily to learn the regional seafood cooking there, she immerses herself, learning dishes from home cooks to restaurant chefs. She visited winemakers and toured food processing plants. She toured the Agostino Recca anchovy plant, the makers of my beloved anchovies. Her stories and notes about these visits are well worth reading and really add to this book.
In our house, we think Jamie Oliver walks on water. Every recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italy rocks. And all you have to do is follow the directions. The variation on spaghetti carbonara with chicken instead of ham is genius. The Prawn and Parsley frittata is totally great (and I don’t even like frittatas and neither does Jamie Oliver).
Can you imagine a cookbook with ingredients but no measurements? My cookbook that I got from the school I attended in Florence many years ago is like that. So is the cookbook "A Tuscan in the Kitchen". Tuscans are funny that way. Because they grew up cooking without measurements, they can't imagine why anyone else should need them. 
How could I not get this book? The title is me. What makes this better than most wine pairing books is that it really delves into the recipes and specialties that make each region unique, explaining wine types, laws and labeling terms along the way. The recipes aren’t always quick or easy, but they are authentic and quite flavorful.