Sicily Culinary Traditions E-Book

Rosario Tomarchio

• Herausgeber: Mnamon
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

We'll be taking, along with this young Sicilian author, a short trip through some cooking traditions.Here below are described the preparations of the most famous Sicilian dishes, but we also take advantage of this opportunity to read the specifications of a DOC of Ebrodi and of some legends about the island's rich culinary variety.

Leseprobe

Rosario Tomarchio

SICILY CULINARY TRADITIONSAnteprima

Sicily has been for thousands of years a land of passing of many different civilizations.

Each one of them has left their own traditions that have lovingly mixed with the others.

The traditions, sometimes of pagan origins, have merged mwith the roots of Christianity, giving birth to new ones.

Very often the tie that binds these traditions is the cuisine.

A simple cooking (cuisine) that has been passed down from generations with some differences which we are going to see from province to province.

Catania

The sweets of Sant'Agata

Linked to the tortures inflicted on the bosom of the Saint it’s the form of so-called "minne of Sant'Aita" (St. Agatha's breasts), small cassate covered with white icing and garnished (decorated) with a candied cherry. Connected to one of the many legends flourished around the figure of the Martyr are the " olivette of St. Agatha, "almond dough cookies, with a typical form and green coloured, covered with sugar or chocolate. According to tradition, in fact, Agata, pursued by the men of Quinziano proconsul, would stop to rest for a while, and as she was bending down to tie her shoes, an olive tree suddenly appeared, at the shade of which the young girl could shelter and eat the fruit.

During the days of the festival you can also enjoy many other typical confectionery specialties, such as fruit made ​​with almond paste and sugar, which faithfully reproduces shapes and colours of the local products of Sicily, the Sicilian cassata, made with ricotta, decorated by white icing and candied fruit, and, still, nougat, made with simple ingredients, almonds and sugar, skillfully worked by the hands of skilled pastry chefs from Catania.

Pasta alla Norma

Ingredients

360 gr. of penne or macaroni 600 gr. tomatoes (the quality used to make sauce) 1 large eggplant, seasoned ricotta for grating (not too aged), basil, 1 clove of garlic, extra virgin olive oil.

Preparation:

Cut the eggplant into 1 cm thick slices and arrange them in layers in a colander with a bit 'of salt. Leave them to purge the vegetation water for an hour, with a weight above.

Prepare the sauce by passing the tomatoes in a strainer. Then put the garlic in a saucepan with a little extra virgin olive oil and let it brown. Add the tomato purée, a few leaves of basil, a bit of salt and cook for about 15 minutes.

Fry the eggplant slices in olive oil and then wipe off the excess oil with paper towels. Keep 4 slices whole to decorate the dishes, the others cut into strips and put them in the pot of the tomato sauce.

At this point cook the pasta, once ready, drain and let it sauté for a few seconds in the pan with the sauce. Pour the mixture into the dishes, put on the whole slice of eggplant and sprinkle with plenty of grated seasoned ricotta.

Sarde a beccafico

Ingredients for 4 persons:

1 kg. of fresh sardines, a nice bunch of parsley, 4 anchovy fillets in olive oil, a handful of pine nuts, a handful of raisins, olive oil, juice of half of a lemon, bread crumbs to taste, about 8 bay leaves, salt and pepper; for the seasoning sauce: half a lemon, half an orange, a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Preparation:

For the filling of the sardines: put the pine nuts into a bowl, raisins soaked in water and squeezed, parsley washed and finely chopped (with a knife), anchovies drained and chopped, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a bit of salt. Whisk for about ten seconds until it forms a creamy green mix. Add the bread crumbs (I would say less than 100 gr.) and keep whisking until the mixture is thick but moist. If necessary, add a little more oil.

For the fillings of sardines: Take every clean sardine, spread it out with the inner side up and stuff it with a little filling, then roll it up on itself from head to tail and close it with a toothpick. Do this for all the sardines.

In the original recipe of the Sarde a beccafico, the breadcrumbs should be browned in a pan in oil before being used for the filling. Carlo and I have avoided this step in order to keep the taste of the sardines light and to decrease the amount of fat present in the dish. • Tradition has it that the sardines tail is not be removed, and that they must be placed in the pan with the upturned tail.

Sarde a beccafico are usually baked in the oven, we preferred the faster way of cooking on gas.

• An idea of a side dish: a salad of fennels, beetroots (those already boiled) and orange cut and seasoned with olive oil, salt and a bit of apple cider vinegar. •As idea of ​​recycling left overs (if any were needed): chop the sardines with all their contents, and use it to make season a plate of spaghetti.

Caponatina

The ingredients for this dish are:

Eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, onions, capers, pitted olives, a pinch of sugar, vinegar, celery, pine nuts.

Preparation

First wash the eggplants, cut them into small pieces, sprinkle them with salt and let them rest until they lose their bitter flavour. Also cut the peppers into strips and fry them in hot oil. When peppers are ready, collect them, rest them on a paper towel and fry the eggplants.

Then prepare a nice sauce: first of all fry the onion in hot oil, then add the capers, pitted olives, pine nuts, let them brown; finally add the tomatoes.

When the sauce is ready add the eggplants and the peppers and let...

...continue...