A recipe book that reflects the way I cook and eat: uncomplicated, direct and adaptable Italian family food that reflects the season. From tomato and salted ricotta salad, caponata and baked Sicilian pasta to lemon crumble, honeyed peaches and almond and chocolate cake, it features authentic recipes that you will want to cook again and again.

'This is a recipe book that reflects the way I cook and eat: uncomplicated, direct and adaptable Italian family food that reflects the season. The two kitchens of the title are my kitchens in Rome and Sicily. In a sense, though, we could have called the book "many kitchens" as I invite you to make these recipes your own.

For the last twelve years Rachel Roddy has immersed herself in the culture of Roman cooking, but it was the flavours of the south that she and her Sicilian partner, Vincenzo, often craved. Eventually the chance arose to spend more time at his old family house in south-east Sicily, where Rachel embraced the country's traditional recipes and the stories behind them. Here she shares over 120 of these simple, everyday dishes from her two distant but connected kitchens.

Rachel Roddy's 2015 debut, Five Quarters, remains a delightful read, quite apart from the recipes. It tells the story of the author's move from London to Rome, and the resultant change in her relationship with food. In Two Kitchens, she relates the next stage of her Italian education: an exploration of the culinary culture of Sicily, where her partner was born. The flavours are fresh and summery - chicken balls with lemon and ricotta, for example - and much time is devoted to vegetables and other side-dishes. As in Five Quarters, Roddy's warmth, humour and love of Italian ingredients shines through the prose.