Sicilian Home Cooking

Starred review from April 16, 2001
With this long-awaited follow-up to their James Beard Award–winning La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio,
the mother-and-daughter team triumphantly continues to re-create the hearty, rustic home cuisine served at their restaurant in a 13th-century abbey in the Sicilian mountains. As before, the fare is ravishingly seductive, and much of it enticingly simple. A host of antipasti includes Hot Eggplant Sandwiches and Lettuce Tart made with a dough enriched with eggs and a bit of vanilla. Although they rarely serve egg dishes in their restaurant, the Tornabenes aver that no Sicilian home cook could do without Eggs Poached in Fresh Tomato Sauce, and Pizza with Potatoes, Sausage and Rosemary or one of its many relations is a standard Sunday night treat for mother and daughter. They celebrate pasta with such creations as Paolo's Pennette with Fresh Figs and Pancetta. For more substantial courses, the Tornabenes bring forth Sicilian Oven-Braised Veal Shanks, Chicken Soufflé and Gangivecchio's Shrimp en Croute. Vegetable side dishes range from Fried Stuffed Cardoons to the fragrant Baked Potatoes with Bay Leaves, and to conclude are the waist-threatening Almond Parfait and Chocolate and Cheese Tart with Cinnamon, which can be enjoyed with one of their homemade dessert wines. (May 1)Forecast:With the strength of the authors' first book and a seven-city nationwide tour, this work's basic yet lovely fare will make it a credible contender among the crowded shelves of Italian cookbooks.

May 15, 2001
Gangivecchio is the restaurant Wanda Tornabene opened more than 20 years ago in an effort to save her family home, a former 13th-century abbey in a tiny mountain town in Sicily. Even before the publication of Wanda and daughter Giovanna's first cookbook, La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio, the restaurant had, somewhat improbably, gained an international reputation. But when that book won a James Beard Award, they found their lives changing even more and with the resulting "American invasion," as Giovanna calls it, the restaurant, which had been suffering financially, began to prosper again. Fortunately, the restaurant has retained its uniqueness and charm as have the Tornabenes, in their new book. Like the earlier one, this contains many reminiscences and family stories, along with family recipes, mostly from Wanda (whom her daughter refers to as "our perilous boss") for rustic, satisfying Sicilian home cooking: Granny Elena's Bean and Pasta Soup, Summer Couscous with Herbs, Delicious Veal Roast with Mushrooms. An absorbing and very personal cookbook, this is highly recommended.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2001
With Michele Evans' assistance, the mother-daughter team of Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene has brought out a successor to their prize-winning volume of recipes from their popular Sicilian mountain inn, Gangivecchio. This time they feature "Sicilian Home" "Cooking," foods they and their neighbors prepare for themselves. The new volume brings its share of surprises: vegetable tarts with fennel, artichokes, peas, and spinach, another with ricotta and hazelnuts; pasta with figs and pancetta; and a fish pie of cod and shrimp. Reflecting Sicily's proximity to North Africa, couscous has its own chapter. Those who cooked from the authors' first volume will want this one, too. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)