Sicilian food: for some people is "bizarre"

Yesterday I came across this amazing video about Sicilian cuisine. Protagonist is Andrew Zimmern, an American chef visiting Sicily and looking for "Bizarre food", which is actually the name of his tv show. This episode is set in our beautiful island, from Palermo to the deep south, I thought it was a great idea to share it with you. I hope you like it!!!

Thanks to Eternallyprofound for having uploaded this video on youtube.

All you need to know about garlic healthy properties

Some people love it, some other hate it, probably for that terrible breath that leaves on everybody's mouth when we eat it. I am talking about garlic, one of the kings in Sicilian cuisine. Raw or cooked you find it in innumerable Mediterrenean recipes, but the majority of people probably doesn't know the amazing healthy properties of this incredible herb, used as a medicine throughout history to help treating a large varieties of diseases such as:

1. Common cold and sore throat 
2. Blood system and hypertension
3. Everything connected to the heart: heart attack, coronary condition, high cholesterol
4. Osteoarthritis and artherioscerosis
5. Prevention of some cancers: lung, prostate, breast, stomach, rectal  and colon cancer

Especially during this time of the year in which winter is about to come (or in some countries has already arrived) just keep in mind that eating raw garlic in food can be a big help to strengthen your immune system, fight seasonal colds and also an amazing prevention for more serious situations.

The bruschetta as a starter could be an idea, pasta with Sicilian pesto could be another one and a potato side-dish a third one. These are only few recipes that I suggest to refresh your mind. Enjoy!

A creative Sicilian delivers the entire 'pizzeria' at your home!

Yesterday I read a very funny (not to mention amazing) story on a website called Palermoviva. A creative Sicilian pizzaiolo living in the province of Palermo this past summer started delivering pizza with its "ape".

Which is the piece of news? You could ask. Well... this guy does brings you pizza but also brings you an entire mini pizzeria outside your home, where he actually prepares and cooks your pizza on the spot. Isn't he a genius?

The people who have tasted it say the pizza is very good!

I like what the article says: "People think that us southerners are all lazy, but when you have to face an economic crisis, you start being really creative about the type of jobs you can do".

So the message is that you can fight the crisis with your own initiative! Enjoy!

Pics and article come from http://www.palermoviva.it/apepizza-a-domicilio.

Colorful Sicilian Marzipan Fruits: history and origin

Photo Credit: terrenormanne.it

The so called "frutta di Martorana" (Martorana's fruits), also known as "pasta reale" (royal pastry) or "marzapane" (marzipan), are typical Sicilian almond sweets that we prepare and eat only in the period before and soon after the day of November the 1s and the 2nd, which are dedicated in our Christian tradition respectively to All Saints and to the commemoration of the Deads.

Photo Credit: partecipiamo.it

 Main ingredient of these sweets is the "pasta di mandorle", almond pastry, which took its name Martorana after the aristocratic woman Eloisa Martorana, who made build a Benedicte Monastery near the church of S. Maria dell'Ammiraglio at the end of the XII century. This church is infact also known as Martorana. 

Nuns to celebrate the festivity of All Saints used to prepare these almond sweets that reproduce forms and colors of many fruits and vegetables such as cauliflower, tomatoes, carrotts, chestnuts, peaches, apricots, mandarines, figs, apples, pears and a lot more.

Regarding the names, it was also called "pasta reale" because was particularly appreciated at the table of the King of Sicily Ruggero II, while the term "marzapane" has Arab origins: marzaban was a measurement used to indicate the capacity of a wooden box, where usually were sent almond sweets coming from Armenia or Cyprus.

Afterwards with the same pastry they also started to make sheep for Easter, to remember the sacrifice of the Lamb.