Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene run a restaurant in Gangivecchio, their 600-year-old family home in Sicily. This is their second cookbook, and it focuses on home cooking, Sicilian style. Italians are well known for their generous hospitality, and the Tornabene women are great ambassadors. Through dozens of personal stories, some funny, some sad, they invite you into their home to sit at their kitchen table while they reminisce, gossip, educate, and feed you some of the most enjoyable comfort food
Concetta, a former maid of friends of ours, was famous for this dish. During a memorable lunch about twenty years ago, she gave Mamma the recipe. Mamma remembers that lunch well because so many dishes were served. She always refers to it as "The Mortal Invitation."
Servings: 6
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
8 small eggplants
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh tomato sauce
2 tablespoons raisins
Red wine vinegar
10 fresh mint leaves, chopped
6 slices (about 8 ounces) caciocavallo or soft pecorino cheese
Heat 1 cup of the olive oil in a large skillet. Cut eggplants into thin slices. Fry half of the slices until golden on each side. Drain them on paper towels. Add another H cup of oil to the pan. Fry the remaining eggplant slices. Drain on paper towels.
In a clean large frying pan, heat 3 tablespoons of oil and saut? the onion until soft, about 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Arrange the eggplant slices on the bottom of a shallow 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Spoon the Salsa di Pomodoro evenly over the eggplant.
Combine the onion and raisins. Spoon them over the top of the eggplant mixture. Sprinkle lightly with vinegar and mint. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cover with the cheese slices. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve at room temperature.
