Italian

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.

One of the nice things about this book is that every thing in it takes 45 minutes or less to prepare.  And the other nice thing is, most of the recipes are actually easy to make on a budget – Spaghetti with tomatoes and anchovies (let’s face it, you either like anchovies or you don’t and some of us do!); Red Snapper with Fresh Tomatoes and Black Olives; Chicken Braised with Tomatoes and Black Olives; Veal Stew with Green and Yellow Peppers; Savory Three Meat Loaf with Simple Tomato Sauce; Red Cabbage Slaw; Marinated Green Beans – you get my point.  And everything we’ve tried, anyway, is perfect!

As recommended by Amy Ephron

Buy Every Night Italian

Venezia: Food & Dreams is a love letter to Venice. Reading it and cooking from it is a bit like looking at a Caravaggio painting. The dreamlike colors of the photos, the lovely setting of Venice, the simple yet forthright recipes. This book is written, photographed and designed in a dreamlike fashion; one that is so often associated with Venice. Tessa Kiros knows her subject well.

In addition to the wonderful recipes, Kiros sprinkles in her thoughts, and comments; her experiences in the city in the form of poetic moments. Many of the photos are of the city itself and its citizens, or of the colorful buildings, or of Carnival; not only of food and recipes. This book is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have come across in a long time. And the food and recipes, as I came to find out, are as delicious as the book is beautiful.

Kiros divides the book into sections that mirror an Italian menu: Antipasti, Zuppa/Pasta/Gnocchi, Risotto, Secondi, Contorni, and Dolci — with additional sections on Essential Recipes and Cicchetti, small bites unique to Venice.