Product Description

Sicily is where Europe ends and Africa begins, a sun-fired melting pot of East and West. In this exciting new book, esteemed food and travel writer Clarissa Hyman takes us on a cook's tour of the island, introducing us to the best pasta makers, the finest ingredients, and delicious recipes. The essence of Sicilian cooking is its simplicity. Whether you want to make a vitalizing weekend breakfast, a quick after-work supper, or host a relaxing dinner party, these easy, robustly flavored dishes are sure to provide inspiration and win compliments from family and friends. Handmade pasta, grainy cheeses, pungent herbs, aromatic spices, crunchy nuts, fresh fish, tender lamb, and a mouth-watering selection of vegetables and fruit provide the basis of more than 75 authentic dishes you'll want to turn to again and again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #617637 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .47" h x 8.92" w x 10.30" l, 1.41 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Library Journal
Despite the plethora of books on Italian cooking, Sicily has received little attention. Few book are available other than Mary Taylor Simeti's classic culinary history, Pomp and Sustenance, and Clifford Wright's Cucina Paradiso; Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene's more recent Sicilian Home Cooking offers a very personal interpretation of Sicilian food. Here, British food writer Hyman provides a thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable glimpse of the heart of Sicily, its history, and its food which she describes as "gastronomy born out of serial conquest," which began with the Greeks and included the Vandals, the Arabs, and the Spanish, all of whose influences are still visible in Sicilian cooking. The 75 recipes are organized by time of day, from breakfast to dinner, and although some of them can be found in more general Italian cookbooks, others will be unfamiliar to most readers. Hyman also includes lovely mini-essays on topics from Sicilian fish markets to Palermo's street food, and vibrant color photographs add to the appeal of her book. For most collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
International cookbooks stay popular all year round, and Italian food continues to dominate the scene. Cucina Siciliana focuses on everyday foods from Italy's southernmost province. There, as Clarissa Hyman and her coauthor point out, the influence of North Africa varies typical Italian dishes. Couscous appears as well as accustomed pastas. Rich, ultrathick tomato paste dried in the sun colors many dishes, and mint's aromas season others. Hyman's recipes are relatively easy to follow, but keeping flavors authentic requires access to specialty shops for cheeses such as caciocavallo and sheep's milk ricotta. Spectacularly rendered photographs reproduce Sicily's intense Mediterranean colors. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Clarrisa Hyman is an award-winning food-travel writer and restaurant reviewer whose work has appeared in The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Country Living, Food and Travel, Food Illustrated, Manchester Evening News and Carlton Food Network's Simply Food. She has twice been nominated for the prestigious Travelex writing award and in 2000 was named as Food Writer of the Year by the Guild of Food Writers in Great Britain. Clarissa began her media career as a producer for Granada Television and maintains a TV presence appearing as a food industry commentator on programmes such as BBC Watchdog.