Nothing I like more than great Italian recipes is reading about them!One of my favorite authors about Sicilian cooking is Anna Tasca Lanza. Sadly, she passed away recently, and I first heard of her passing from the blog, South of Italy, while I was casually reading up on some of my favorite blogs (you can read an article in Giornale di Sicilia about Anna Tasca Lanza by clicking here).
I first saw this amazing cook on a Food Network show hosted by Tyler Florence many years ago. Tyler was profiling some Sicilian recipes, and he went to Sicily and met with Anna Tasca Lanza, She showed him (put him through his paces was more like it!) how to make involti di melanzane con capelli d'angelo (eggplant involtini with angel hair pasta -- click here for the recipe). After seeing her on the show, I wanted to learn more about her. I found myself moved and struck by her passion for cooking and the passion she showed while teaching others! On the internet I read that she operated a cooking school from her home in Sicily, just outside Palermo. Over the years I promised myself on my trips to Sicily that I would try to make a trip out there, but, unfortunately, it never happened.
Recently, a friend of mine asked me if I knew of any good books and recipes about Sicilian cooking, and it reminded me that Anna Tasca Lanza had written a book or two published in the United States. While English publications are hard to locate and are no longer in print, there are two books still available in Italian:
A few weeks ago, I purchased La Sicilia in cucina, and it is simply a stunning work. The recipes are well laid out, with full color pictures, excellent explanations and the recipes, while challenging and requiring some patience, are presented in a way that make them easy to approach. Even if your Italian is not perfect, you can still follow along. That's the beauty of cookbooks -- the international language of food is pretty much universal!
If you are looking for real Sicilian recipes, then you cannot go wrong with those two works by Anna Tasca Lanza!
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