Gelo di mellone: our summer watermelon pudding

Do you know what the "gelo di mellone" is? It's the name of a very traditional summer pudding that is made ONLY in Palermo and its province. Mellone in Italian is a generic word to mean melon, but this dessert is actually made only with watermelon and has a delicate and delicious fresh taste. 

We like to eat it plain, just as a pudding but we also use it as filling in the pie, to have a more important dessert! You find it in all the patisseries of the Sicilian capital in summertime and you can also see the single-portions (mini-pies) as well as the big pie.

Ingredients & preparation for 8-10 people:
1 lt fresh watermelon juice
100 gr. starch
200 gr. sugar
50-60 gr. dark chocolate chips
a glass of jasmine water
*pistaches and cookies to serve (but not essential)

Before starting to prepare the "gelo" you need a couple of jasmine flowers. Wash them and leave them in water for 24 hours. 
Now you are ready to start:
1. Cut the watermelon and put the pieces in a blender, having removed the green hard parts and the seeds. Blend until it becomes all liquid.
2. To strain the juice and remove the solid little parts we usually use a kitchen tool similar to the one we use to press the tomatoes for the sauce, it's also similar to a colander, but bigger, like the one in the pic below. When you have finished to strain the juice you can measure how much of that you've got. Usually a quarter of a big watermelon should be around 1 liter.

3. In a sauce pan mix the starch and the sugar, then, when you have obtained the proper amount of juice pour it little by little, stirring constantly with a spoon or a whip. When the ingredients are all melted together place the sauce pan under a low heat. 
4. Add the jasmine water and gently keep stirring until the liquid starts to boil and become as consistent as a pudding. As soon as it is quite solid (few minutes) turn off the heat and place it in little bowls for single portions or in a large mold or tin instead.

5. Let it cool down and after at least 40-45 minutes, if it is not warm anymore, put the chocolate chips on top and if you like also some pistaches as the one shown in the big picture above.
6. Place in the fridge at least two hours before serving it. Then, to finish up the decoration in the best possible way just stick two wonderful cookies or other kind of biscuits to accompany the pudding and you will enjoy it so much that you are definetely going to make it every single season! Happy & sweet Summer :-)))

Let's talk about "CAPONATA!"

Do you know what "caponata" is? With this word we generally refer to the caponata made of eggplants (or aubergines) but it's actually a generic word to indicate a specific Sicilian sweet & sour sauce with which we like to cook and season several kind of vegetables, but not only.

In ancient times people used to have it with fish and white meat as well, while today we make the traditonal one with eggplants and different other versions like artichokes, carrots and even green apples. Delicious!!!

What probably happened in the past was that rich and noble people used to have it with fish and meat, but the majority of the population coudn't afford it, so they just substituted the expensive food with a cheaper one, and the fried eggplant/aubergine was the perfect ingredient for its  soft consistency and its not particularly strong taste.

 

History: To talk a little bit more about the introduction of the caponata sauce in Sicily we have to go back to the Middle Age, during the Saracen domination. Infact they were the ones to introduce it in our island.

Its secret is the perfect balance between the sweet (sugar or honey) and the sour (vinegar).

Then capers, olives, onion, celery and tomato sauce were added in the following centuries on a drizzle of olive oil.

It was a dish that became very popular among Sicilian sailors on ships, because it was easier for them to eat the rusk on board with a more scented sauce.

For us it's a side dish or sometimes even a starter and definetely needs some fresh rustic bread to be appreciated at the most.

Recipe & preparation of the Caponata sauce:

1 onion

200 gr green olives

50 gr salted capers

50 gr celery ribs

1 cup of tomato sauce

1/3 cup of sugar

2 or 3 tablespoons of vinegar

salt

olive oil

1. In a small sauce pan put some water and blanch the celery already cut in pieces. 2. In a frying pan put some olive oil on a low heat and add the thinly chopped onion. 3. Let it sauteè a bit, then put some tomato sauce, celery, capers and olives. 4. Now for the sweet and sour sauce pour some vinegar first, then sugar and salt, one after the other.

It's always hard to define quantities precisely when you have a family recipe. As the flavor of the caponata has to be very balanced it's important to taste the sweet&sour sauce while cooking and adding sugar or salt or vinegar if needed.

If you want to do it with eggplants/aubergines we usually use 2 big rounded ones (the Tunisin type), we first put them under salt and fry them (read the exact process here). Different is for artichokes and carrots which are actually blanched or boiled and then  seasoned with the sauce on a medium heat.

I really hope you can enjoy this scrumptious dish as much as we do.  
I am sure you will lick the plate clean and can't wait to try another version of this wonderful recipe of our historical food tradition. A bit of caponata cheers your life up and everyone loves it, veggies and not veggies. Enjoy!

Sicilian cheeses: la vastedda del Belice

Do you know what is the so-called "vastedda del Belice"? It's a local exquisite cheese coming from the area of Belice, in the province of Agrigento.

The vastedda, which is the only "pasta filata cheese" (or stretched cheese) is made from sheep and has an ivory color. In the past it was produced only in Summer (from May to October) but now you find it all year round. The experts used to produce it in summer to try to recuperate the pecorino cheeses that had come out with some defects. Infact the name itself in Sicilian dialect vasta or vastedda means wrong, gone bad.


Basically these pecorini were stretched at high temperature, creating a new kind of oval-shaped cheese that was perfect to be eaten fresh in few days and it was extremely tasty too! Farmers started to eat it with bread and tomatoes at their lunch break in the fields. Nowadays this local cheese is a POD and is produced in the provinces of Agrigento, Palermo and Trapani. 

From the Sicilian food "Pasta alla Norma" to "La Norma" opera

I couldn't tell you about Pasta alla Norma without posting Casta Diva, the most famous aria of Vincenzo Bellini's masterpiece, La Norma, here sung by Maria Callas.

I hope you can appreciate it as much as I did, because I think that music is just as sublime as food. Enjoy!

"Pasta alla Norma", what's the story of this incredible dish?

Do you know how to make pasta alla Norma? And what is the story of this Sicilian dish? The pasta alla Norma is originally from Catania, the second bigger city in Sicily and is dedicated, just as the name suggests, at the famous opera lirica LA NORMA composed in 1831 by Vincenzo Bellini, a musician from Catania.

I have actually heard two different stories about this dish: the first one says that the name of the dish was given by a playwright Nino Martoglio, also from Catania. He was comparing the goodness of the pasta with the opera lirica and exclaimed: This is a Norma! (meaning as goos as the Norma...)

Second story is that while writing this masterpiece Vincenzo Bellini used to go to a restaurant and ordered always this dish of pasta, so the owner finally name it after his opera to homage Bellini. Besides, it is said that at those times the dish had a very special presentation: it was like a mountain-shaped plate of pasta with eggplants/aubergine at the bottom, all cut in pieces or slices and then on top the tomato sauce with grated salted ricotta covering everything. It was a very creative representation of the Mount Etna with its land, lava and snow.

Making the Norma is very easy if you have the right ingredients. For 6 people you will need:

600 gr maccheroni or spaghetti

500 ml tomato sauce

olive oil

grated salted ricotta

basil

salt
aromas (cinnamon, nutmeg)

2 eggplants or aubergines

Preparation:

In Sicily we have two varieties of eggplants or aubergines: the oval ones and the rounded ones. These last ones (the pic on the right) are the best and the most used in the kitchen because of their sweeter delicate taste. We call them "tunisine" which means Tunisian, allegedly because they used to come from there.
1. When we use eggplants/aubergine we cut them in slices or dices, depending on the dish we are gonna make and then we place them on a colander with abundant salt and leave it aside for about 15 minutes. My mother taught me since I was a kid that this is good for giving eggplants/aubergines a sweeter taste and letting release the bitter they contain. After that you just have to wash them under running water and they are ready to be cooked.

2. Second step is frying. In a pan put some olive oil and start frying your eggplants until they become slightly brown on both sides (not black!). For this dish you can either do slices or cubes, it doesn't really matter!

3. Prepare pasta as you normally do, boiling it in salted water. While pasta is cooking put some tomato sauce in a sauce pan with some fresh basil and adjust with salt, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to make it more parfumed.

4. As soon as pasta is drained cover it with the tomato sauce and the eggplants/aubergines and grate on top the salted ricotta or instead, if you don't have it, some parmisan cheese. It will still be delicious and you will just ask for more.

*In some families they also like to add some mozzarella cheese in cubes before serving the pasta. They mix all the ingredients together in the pan and then serve with the mozzarella still thready. It is just an addition to the original recipe, but I swear they are both unforgettable and suitable for vegeterians. Enjoy!

Thanks to my friend Giuseppe for sending me the picture of his lovely pasta alla Norma!

Mint-flavored potato salads, a delicious summer side dish

Do you know how to prepare a lovely fresh side dish with mint-flavored potatoes that taste like Summer? Easy. Just keep on reading :)

The dish I am talking about today is inevitably tied to summer memories back in my childhood and especially to my Grandma: nonna Nuccia, so I wanted to render homage to her with this picture.

In july and august we used to live all together in a big country house and we all prepared something for dinner or helped mum and grandma in cooking. The mint-flavored potato salads was a typical dish she liked to prepare and eat as well. Very easy and tasty, perfect for a light summer meal.

Recipe for 6 people:

1 kg potatoes

a small bunch of fresh mint

2-3 cloves of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

vinegar

salt

black pepper

First wash the potatoes under running water then boil them in salted water inside a large casserole.

In the meantime prepare a kind of marinate in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, black pepper as you like, some vinegar, the fresh mint thinly chopped and the garlic cut in thick slices (you don't have to eat it but at least would perfume the dish together with the mint and will make a difference!)


Try the potatoes with a fork, when they are cooked (careful not to overcook them!) drain and let them cool about half an hour, then remove the skin and cut them in pieces, placing them in the bowl with the marinate and mixing well with the oil and the other ingredients together. They have to stay in the fridge at least a couple of hours before being served because they must have time to season and become tasty at their best. Then your palate will enjoy this lovely combination of freshness and goodness!


I like this side dish not only because of my memories but also because is perfect when you are desperate and don't know what to cook. Everyone usually love potatoes and if you want to prepare them in a light Mediterrenean style.... this is definetely the perfect way. You will make all the people happy as it perfect also for vegeterians!

Sicilian Wine Pairings with Sicilian Cuisine, 2nd part

As I promised some days ago here it is the second part of the pairing between Sicilian wines and Sicilian recipes. The article is written by Jacqueline, sommerlier and wine lover. Here you may find her blog.

"It wouldn’t be a proper discussion of Sicilian wine without Nero d’Avola, and one of my favorite Sicilian red wines is the Corvo Rosso, a blend of Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, and Pignatello. 

Nero d’Avola, quite possibly the most important red grape in all of Sicily, originated in the southeastern part of Sicily as it prefers hot and dry climates, but it is now widely planted throughout the island.  The grape produces wines with characteristics of dark fruit, berries, and plum, and hints of spice and pepper, and a smooth texture. Pignatello, also known as Perricone, is a red grape grown in Sicily and Sardinia, and is used mainly for blending with Nero d’Avola and Nerello Mascalese. 


Corvo Rosso is a very dependable red wine with both red and dark fruit characteristics and a bit of peppery spice to add another dimension to the flavor. The wine is smooth yet a bit on the rustic side, and is best for enjoying with a casual Sicilian dish. The Sfincione (traditional pizza of Palermo) featured in the Sicilian Cuisine Blog is a delicious “pizza” consisting of a soft dough and topped with tomato and onion and caciocavallo cheese, and often enjoyed as street fare. Such a casual dish should be paired with the unpretentious yet equally delicious Corvo Rosso.

One of the most unique and fascinating Sicilian wines I’ve tasted is the Scilio Phiale Etna Rosso. Phiale is a blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, also known as Nerello Mantellato. Nerello Cappuccio grows in the volcanic soil near Mount Etna, and is known for producing wines with notes of red and dark fruit and a pleasant spiciness. Phiale is a dark and complex wine, with characteristics of the ashy soil where its grapes are grown, as well as very dark fruit, spice, wood, and a slight bitterness. The texture is full and dense with a very long finish.

I believe this wine would be an excellent choice with the Brociolone, a wonderful recipe posted on the Sicilian Cuisine Blog which is a sort of pinwheel of pounded beef, and stuffed with salami and caciocavallo cheese, and cooked with red wine. This hearty Sicilian dish calls for a substantial wine, and the Scilio Phiale Etna Rosso would make for an ideal pairing."