A white focaccia with onions: can I please have some more?

Do you know how to prepare a lovely rustic white focaccia with white onions and caciocavallo cheese? (We call it white because there is no tomato sauce.) Apart from the bread itself to prepare this recipe you will need:  high quality extra vergin olive oil, salt, oregano, 2 white onions, 50 gr. caciocavallo cheese (Sicilian local cheese).

First of all, to make the focaccia bread: you can prepare it on your own by following this simple recipe unless you can find a very good dough ready to be cooked in a deli or market. Follow the instructions, then, while the dough is rising, cut in rings and scald the onions and cut also the caciocavallo cheese in little cubes. 

With your thumb do little imprints into the dough and brush some olive oil on top, the onions rings previously scalded, the cheese in cubes, a little salt because the cheese is very tasty and finally sprinkle with oregano.

Put in the oven at 180°c (should be 425 degrees) for about 15-20 minutes. Have a look at the bottom to be sure that under is brown and not white. If too pale let it cook for 5 more minutes until golden brown. 

That's it!!! You made your lovely white mediterranean focaccia! Now you just have to eat it and enjoy, and you will agree with me... it won't be enough!!! :-)

The story of the "Caciocavallo all'Argentiera", the Sicilian fried cheese

Do you know how to cook the Sicilian fried cheese called caciocavallo all'Argentiera? We need only three adjectives to describe this dish: easy, tasty, interesting.

Easy because it only takes 10 minutes to prepare it. Tasty because the main ingredient is our local traditional cheese called: "caciocavallo", which has a very strong taste. Interesting because the story of this dish is old and extremely particular.

In Palermo there is a street called via dell'Argenteria, near the famous food market of the Vucciria. The name of the street takes origin from the argentieri who were working there (people who used to work silver). The story tells that a wife of one of these silver workers one day created this dish for two reasons: 1. to exploit the fire that was always on and 2. to make believe the neibourghs that they were having rabbit for lunch. Infact the secret is that the combinations of the ingredients: oil, garlic, cheese and vinegar smelled exactly like a cooked rabbit.

So they could pretend to have rabbit for lunch every day, but they actually had instead only fried caciocavallo cheese, which was a lot cheaper.

And that's the funny story of this dish and its recipe.

Ingredients & preparation:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

2-3 slices of Caciocavallo cheese

oregano

a pinch of black pepper

3 tablespoons of vinegar

In a frying pan heat the olive oil on a medium heat, add the garlic and after a minute put the pieces of cheese. Let them cooked covered for a couple of minute, let them fry on both sides until the slices become golden.

Now add the vinegar, the pepper and finally a nice abundant sprinkle of oregano. Prepare the serving dish and decorate with a bit of fresh watery fennel just like in the picture. It will contrast with the tasty salted cheese flavour. And don't forget to serve it with a nice glass of red wine. Enjoy!