Sicily Italy
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I was born in Sicily, in a town called Siracusa but I was raised in Floridia. If you ever decide to take a trip to Italy go to Sicily you'll love it.
A little car tour to Floridia, Siracusa |
A little satellite tour to Floridia |
History of Sicily Click Here |
Take a virtual tour of Sicily Click Here |
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La cucina siciliana: East meets West in the kitchen Sicilian cooking is unique in Italy, blending extravagant Arab and northern techniques with simple peasant ingredients, mainly the catch of the sea and the pick of the garden.Pasta con le sarde is the perfect example: featuring a sauce made with sardines, raisins, pine nuts, fennel, saffron, parsley and capers, its origins go all the way back to the Phoenicians. Pasta alla Norma combines tomato, eggplant and tasty ricotta salata. Swordfish and tuna dishes abound, especially in May and June. But the Sicilian tooth is most glorious when it's sweet. Sicilians think nothing of having a brioche stuffed with ice cream for breakfast. Try it, if you dare. Cannoli and cassata we've all tasted, but rarely have we encountered anything as dazzling as frutta di Martorana, perfectly authentic looking marzipan fruits and vegetables originally made by the nuns of the Martorana convent. And when you're in Messina, get a group together to sample my favorite Italian sweet, la pignolata, a delicate mound of lemon-scented crispy deep-fried batter balls covered half with vanilla and half with chocolate icing. I can taste it as I write this, and my eyes water along with my mouth. Here's what our fellow ex-ex-patriot Rosemary has to say about Sicily: In my early Rome days, a friend of my roommate often drove up from Palermo for weekend visits. Ciccio (Chee-choe) was a real personality and a lot of fun, so typical of the southern Italian male. He insisted, though, that he was Sicilian, not Italian. This he had in common with most from that island; when Sicilians leave for the mainland, they say they're "going to Italy." It's an old story. Besides being absolutely certain that he was God's gift to women, Ciccio also fancied that he was the James Beard of Europe. Susan and I didn't give him much on the first claim, but thought he came pretty close on the second. So we allowed him to slaver after us while she and I slavered after his cooking. Poor guy.... We played him like a hooked trout, shamelessly leading him on to keep him cooking for us whenever he came to town. Though Ciccio's polpette (meatballs) seemed a bit strange to me at first, they came to be my favorite dish. He made them big and juicy, and brought them to the table drenched in heavy garlic tomato sauce. Imagine my surprise when I bit into my first one and found...raisins! Sicily has great veal, and Ciccio used to bring it up with him from Palermo, freshly ground by his butcher; then he'd mix everything by hand. I substitute turkey for some of the veal and do mine in the processor, starting with a small onion, 2 cloves garlic, some fresh basil leaves and a few sprigs parsley. Add 2/3 lb. ground turkey, 1/3 lb. each of ground veal and lean pork, 1 T Dijon mustard, 2 T grated imported Parmesan, an egg, salt (if you must) and pepper to taste. Keep adding Italian-flavored breadcrumbs until you're happy with the consistency. Turn the mixture into a bowl and add a good handful of raisins. Shape into meatballs (about 15) and brown in a non-stick frying pan, then drop them into a rather loose tomato sauce in which you've put a lot of garlic, oregano and fresh basil. Let them bob around in it for a couple hours, at low heat. You can serve them on top of your pasta if you want, but frankly, spaghetti and meatballs is an American concoction. To be authentic, Italians--and Sicilians--eat the pasta first, then serve polpette as the meat course. by Rosemary Torigian |
Sicilian
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