In 1959, when I was seven years old, we moved from Box Hill to Cumbrae Farm in Tyabb, just outside Melbourne. It was an isolated place and a chance to create our own little world. Sitting at a big wooden table I would watch Mum and Nonna cook while I made pictures covered in splodges of paint, olive oil, brodo (broth) and red sauce.

Many of my favourite recipes come from Sunday pranzo; lunch at Cumbrae Farm was surrounded by Italian flavours with all roads leading to Sicily. The food I love to eat and make is layered with Sicilian heritage and history. I grew up hearing the call to lunch: pranzo e pronto, mangia bello, mangia bella, mangia angeli alla mia tavola.

This is not simply a book of Sicilian recipes. Pranzo aims to inspire your excitement about cooking, to help you feel the food at the end of your fingertips – because cooking is good for you.