I’ve been fascinated by Italian cuisine ever since I was a
little girl. I remember sitting at the kitchen table,
watching my Sicilian-American grandmother stir a big
pot filled to the brim with simmering, bright red tomato
sauce. She would be there all day, wooden spoon in
hand, stirring that pot. The whole house would smell of
onion, garlic and basil – surrounded by a sweet tomato
aroma.
Even as a child I realized that there was something
different about my grandmother. She didn’t bake
chocolate chip cookies or knit sweaters like the typical
“American” grandmother. That’s when I started
thinking...where did my grandmother come from?
One day while in high school, my curiosity got the best
of me. I held my grandmother hostage in the kitchen for
two hours and made her show me how to make her
tomato sauce. I wrote down what she said word for
word, despite her reminding me repeatedly “there aren’t
any exact measurements. You just have to taste it and
look at it.” I then made her explain to me our entire
family tree, half of which was still somewhere in Sicily. At
the end I had a giant piece of paper full of scribbles and
a lot of Italian names.
Today I cherish the fact that I have this recipe not just
because its tastes good, but because I know that my
Sicilian ancestors ate the very same thing. We can time
travel through food. Isn’t that amazing?
I’ve gathered these recipes from Italian friends, everyday
people from all walks of life. These aren’t the dishes that
you’ll find in Italian restaurants or in cooking magazines.
These are the dishes that you’ll find by peeking through
Italian windows – by time travelling inside Italian
kitchens.
Buon appetito.
