More on Caponata...and poor Sicilians

     I took a really amazing Sicilian Cook Book out of the Library called Sicilian Home Cooking: Family Recipes from Gangivecchio by Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene. I adore it so much that I ordered it along with 2 other of their Cook Books from Amazon.com. So many of the recipes are almost identical to some of the dishes my own family makes, some with some really interesting differences, like their Frittatini, which they call Fuiulate di Lucia (Lucia's Fritters) uses mint instead of parsley. The book is filled with really funny family stories and great insight into Sicilian culture: "For example, the word caponata ... comes from the word capponi (capons). Cooks liked to serve stewed vegetables with the fowl; since the poor people could not have the capons themselves, they used the name for the vegetable dish to make them feel rich." Sicilians were the original vegetarians. I always say that I could easily be a vegetarian on a Sicilian diet, with so many hearty and nutritious beans and vegetable dishes. Next time I am in Sicily I will definitely visit the Tornabene's restaurant, located in Gangivecchio, a town in the Madonie Mountains.