La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio/Gangivecchio's Sicilian Kitchen

Starred review from October 28, 1996
The mother-and-daughter authors of this charming cookbook run a restaurant in a restored 14th-century monastery in rural Sicily. Their unique recipes will foil many common preconceptions about Sicilian cuisine: not on the Western part of the island, the Tornabenes exhibit little Arab influence; nor, being inland, do they rely heavily on fish. Rice Balls in Chicken Broth, Milk Croquettes and Quacelle-Style Fava Bean and Potato Casserole all make something delicious out of virtually nothing. A salad of Arugula with Pine Nuts and Pomegranate and the restaurant's signature Veal Rolls Stuffed with Ham, Provolone and Pecorino are more sophisticated. The Tornabenes throw in Sicilian classics like Baked Sardines Stuffed with Pine Nuts and Currants and two types of Rice Ball Croquettes. The company is as spirited as the food as, with help from cookbook and travel writer Evans, the Tornabenes spin engaging tales. On their first trip to New York, they transported a rolling pin and some cheese; occasionally, they've been too softhearted to eat the animals they've raised (including a wild boar named Giorgina); they describe a bread-making experiment conducted with friends who "need wine like cars need gasoline to work." Family photos and recipes from Paolo Tornabene (Wanda's son, Giovanna's brother) and his wife, Betty, who together run a nine-room inn in what was originally the stable, enhance this warm and friendly volume. 35,000 first printing.

November 15, 1996
In a tiny town in the mountains of Sicily, the Tornabene family runs a restaurant whose authentic Sicilian fare has attracted international attention. In 1978, when the family fortunes were on the wane, matriarch Wanda decided to open a restaurant in the 13th-century abbey that was the ancestral home, serving her treasured recipes and those handed down from her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law in turn, both talented cooks as well. The restaurant, expanded and thriving, is still serving those dishes today, with contributions as well from Giovanna, Wanda's daughter, and her son and daughter-in-law. Local produce and other ingredients figure strongly in their cooking, but with coauthor Evans, the Tornabenes have succeeded in making these recipes, from Sicilian Potato Croquettes to Gemelli with Aromatic Herbs to Peasant-Style Artichokes, accessible to the American home cook. Particularly because Wanda at first had no intention of sharing her family recipes with a wider public, this is a privileged look at a remote and personal adventure. Highly recommended.

September 15, 1996
So much has been written, produced, and marketed in recent years about the glories of northern Italian cooking that people have ignored the accomplishments of the cooks of southern Italy, especially those of the island of Sicily. The mother-daughter team of Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene bid fair to overcome that omission with their cookbook celebrating Sicily's achievements. Founded on the cooking done in the family's restaurant in a converted fourteenth-century abbey in the mountains of central Sicily, this intriguing cookbook allows the American cook to reproduce authentic Sicilian dishes rarely tasted and certainly underappreciated in this country. The straightforward simplicity of most of the dishes recalls Marcella Hazan's expert adaptations of northern Italian home cooking for Americans. Highly recommended to round out any collection of Italian cookbooks. ((Reviewed Sept. 15, 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)