Two Kitchens: 120 Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome

What a great insight in real Italian food, a very well written book with great forwards about the recipes, well worth a purchase has given me a lot of inspiration.

Rachel roddy is probably one of the cookbook writers who have most shaped my cooking, especially on a day to day basis. This is a beautiful book and full of recipes that are delicious and can be integrated into day to day cooking. I also made the cassata cake for a friend's birthday, and I've rarely had so many raves about a dessert - described as 'outrageous' (in a positive way) and I'm still getting people telling me weeks later how delicious and memorable it was.

Where have I been, and what have I been cooking? I'm very sad to say that I had no idea who Rachel Roddy was, but now she's shot to the top of my list of food writers. I was musing whilst on holiday in Italy, and came across this book so I ordered it.......arrived home, flipped through the book and selected quite a few recipes..... shopped and cooked for a large gathering, and thrilled to say that each recipe worked absolutely brilliantly. I've now ordered her first book..... and taken to reading The Guardian. I will say, that my last dish to pull out "if I had the time" was her Queen of Pudding's on the last page....... glad to say that I had the time...... and it was a hit! Can't wait for her first book to arrive. Thank you Rachel Roddy!

Clear crisp writing: both as regards the background descriptions and the recipes. I live in Rome and have been to the market in Testaccio so can relate to the material. The recipes are easy to follow and I look forward to doing some of them.

In my opinion Rachel Roddy is one of the best food writers out there at the moment. What she does with words is seriously special and just like her first book this book is fantastic. I read it from cover to cover and got completly lost in it, I would be happy just to read it as a novel but then you also have the recipes which are also delicious...... Soups, salads, meat, fish, veg and pasta dishes. simple, good, delicious sicilian (and some Roman) food. Ive made loads from this book and everything has been so so good. This is the Italian food you dream of but rarely get in restaurants outside of Italy. Not only is Rachel an amazing writer she's also an amazing cook.

Rachel Roddy's first book quickly became one of my most used and several of the dishes in it have become our regulars (e.g. the pasta with lentils and the amazing porchetta which I have done for three big celebratory lunches). She manages to combine beautiful and evocative writing with well judged practical advice. I took the new book on holiday to south west France and cooked a number of things with the excellent vegetables we had. Her caponata is the best I have tried and her pasta with aubergines has become a favourite, although as she comments and recommends I have adapted it slightly to my tastes. I think she has quickly become one of our very best food writers whose books will last in the way Jane Grigson's have. And JG was also an excellent home cook who moved brilliantly into journalism. Buy this book! Can't recommend highly enough.

Nice book, lots of background, decent photos but not for novices to Italian cooking. Too little precision in the instructions, “… slice the eggs…slice the provola or mozzarella…slice the potato…”. How thickly? Tell me so that I can follow first time then adjust as I go. Fry aubergine slices (5mm, thank you!) in “5cm of oil”, 5cm! No! They’d be oil-crazy! I’ve never been to Italy, but fancied trying the food and this is a good book, but I’m doing some trial and error cooking a bit.

Gorgeous book full of delicious Sicilian recipes. Full of little anecdotes to go with the recipes. Simple and DELICIOUS!!

I gifted this to my mother who was born in Palermo, but also grew up in Rome, so she was very happy with the book. I would however want to add that I would've preferred less text, and more recipes.

It's not a cookbook. It's a novel about food. My absolute favorite! I savored reading it, rationed the pages. So many recipes from this book are on constant repeat at our household now. After my mom's phenomenal cooking, Rachel Roddy is the next one who shaped my cooking habits. A masterpiece!

Another excellent book by Rachel Roddy. Her writing is evocative of Rome (recently visited) and Italy. I purchased Five Quarters at the same time and am enjoying 'being there' as I read these books. Can't wait to get into the kitchen but so many delicious recipes am finding it hard to choose what to cook first.

Rachel writes exquisitely, describes people, places and food most invitingly and makes all her recipes user-friendly. It is said that it is difficult to write a second book as good as one's first, but Rachel has managed to do so.

Definitely a read that engrossed me. I must admit I have not cooked any of the recipes yet ( well I only finished reading it right now!) but will start this evening. A better read than a great number of novels.