by Vicky Bennison is the manifestation of a cook’s dream: a group of Italian grandmothers sharing their recipes for a classic fare. The book grew out of a YouTube channel Bennison started in 2015 that grew popular for featuring recipes and stories from Italian women who have been cooking for decades. The book introduces each recipe along with the woman who developed it and a little of her story. There’s Elisabetta, who has run a restaurant in Tropea, Calabria, for 60 years and has perfected macaroni pasta with onions. Or Adriana, whose recipe for spaghetti with lemon pesto comes from her mother and is typically made with lemons from Procida, an island off Naples (though regular lemons also work just fine). Other recipes include Anna’s Roman stuffed tomatoes, Teresa’s pork and sausage lasagna from Faenza and Caterina’s tagliatelle with aubergine and salted ricotta from Sicily. (Cookbooks)