Azzurri time, let's have something TRICOLORE!

Three wonderful drinks with the colours of our flag, hoping that they will bring luck to our football/soccer team tonight. We are fighting vs England.

Thanks to tradizionisicilia for the lovely picture! Enjoy and always FORZA AZZURRI :-)

"Caldofreddo": a MUST when you go to Trapani or nearby

Do you know what "caldofreddo" is? Caldofreddo is a very particular ice cream prepared in the western part of Sicily. Literally in Italian these are two separate adjectives that mean hot (caldo) and cold (freddo), so it would be just like saying "hotcold".

But what is exactly that we are talking about?

It is basically a huge bowl of ice-cream made in layers and served in a traditional Sicilian terracotta bowl that we call "lemmo". You can normally choose two ice cream flavors, I often go with hazelnut and coffee, or hazelnut  and pistaches.

They first put a flavor, than a thin layer of victoria sponge or a soft big cookie that we call savoiardo (similar to the one we use to make tiramisù, but usually made artisanally), then the second flavor, and on top whipped cream covered in melted dark chocolate and a topping of hazelnuts in pieces.

Needless to say that you start getting high as soon as you taste the whole thing! So here it is my suggestion: if you happen to visit the province of Trapani, you definetely want to go inside a Gelateria and ask for a caldofreddo. The best one I had was many years ago in San Vito Lo Capo (pic above), a lovely village with an amazing beach and seaside, but I know for sure they do it also in Trapani and Erice.


So... hurry up folks: Sicily is waiting for you... the sun, the sea, the beach, and... the caldofreddo!!! :-)))

'Pasta con l'anciova', breadcrumb is the secret!

Do you know how to make one of our most renowned plate of pasta? It's what we call "pasta cu l'anciova" which means pasta with anchovy, plus tomato puree as the main ingredients. When you will prepare it you will smell the parfum of Sicily!!!

Ingredients & preparation for 4 people:

400 gr - pasta (better if Margherite) - 150 gr tomato puree or extract - 1 clove of garlic - 5-6 anchovies - 6 spoons of breadcrumb - extra virgin olive oil - *Perfect for vegeterians as well!

First of all, you probably know already that we have tons of different shapes of pasta. For this specific one we don't use normal spaghetti, but the so-called "Margherite" which are long, thick, half straight and half curly. They are cute and funny!

So, let's start with putting on the pot for the pasta as usual. For preparing the sauce, take a sauce pan, put it on a medium heat with a drizzle of oil of olive and a clove of garlic. After a minute put the anchovies and with a a wooden scoop or a spatula cut them into tiny pieces until they are completely melted. Now it's time to add the tomato puree, which is usually quite dense and thick. Use the same wooden tool.

In the meantime if the water is boiling, salt it and drop the pasta in (if you don't find the margherite just use spaghetti or penne). With a dipper pour some water pasta in the sauce to help the puree melt easier and quicker. You will see that it will look like a proper sauce in few moments.

The amount of water that you had depends on the rest of the ingredients, especially the tomato extract so be careful in balancing because we don't want the sauce neither too dense (remember that we have to add the breadcrumb) nor too watery.

Once the sauce is done put a frying pan on a high heat with 5 or 6 spoons of breadcrumbs, add some olive oil and start mixing the two with a spoon, stirring continuously as we don't want to burn the breadcrumb on a side.

This is very important because it will substitute the usual grated cheese that we normally put on pasta dishes. Little bit of story: The origin is obviously a poor one, infact people in ancient times couldn't afford to buy cheese to put on pasta, so they created this solution that was definetely cheaper!!!

Ok, everything is ready now, drain the pasta and mix it well with the sauce.
If you are uncertain about the quantity of sauce I would say: better to be abundant in this specific case, because as I said before we don't want to eat something that is too dry. Now do the dishes adding a little bit of what we call "muddica atturrata", which is the toasted breadcrumb.

Tip: To avoid the sauce from being too dense and dry, better to leave aside (for example in a mug or cup) some water where the pasta has cooked that you can add on your need. To serve it properly place the breadcrumb into a boat that you normally use for gravy and enjoy!!!

Sicilian mandarine and orange jelly: light and refreshing!

Do you know how to make a lovely parfumed Sicilian mandarine and orange jelly? This is the easiest thing in the world, it's delicious and perfect to refresh your mouth especially after having eaten a big meal and it's the best way to give vitamin C to your kids when they are too lazy to peel an entire orange!

Ingredients and preparation for 4 people:

1/2 liter of fresh mandarine and orange juice (about 6 mandarines and 8 oranges, but really depends on how big and juicy they are)

2 spoons of sugar

25 gr. fish glue

First of all, you need to obtain 1/2 liter of fresh mandarines and oranges juice, so you have to squeeze them carefully removing the pulp afterwards. If the juice is already mixed to a large quantity of pulp you can use a small colander to strain the juice.
Once you have your half liter, leave it aside for few minutes and in a medium sauce pan put a glass of water at room temperature and the thin sheets of fish glue. This is an eatable substance that looks like a small transparent sheet of paper. When you buy it, is hard, then you leave it 10 minutes in the water and becomes like jelly.

Once it is so, on a medium heat put your sauce pan with the fish glue that has melted in the water and stir slowly, it will melt completely!

Now it's the time to add our lovely squeezed juice and keep stirring. When the juice is still liquid but hot (it doens't have to reach the boiling phase) we can remove it from the heat and pour it in our bowl and let it cool off, stirring from time to time.

As soon as it's cold let's put it into the fridge and leave it there for at least 3 hours. After one hour or so, go and check if the "thing" is actually becoming a real jelly. Normally it sure does and you can enjoy the freshness and lightness of our Mediterrenean fruits. Enjoy!

Ps - Don't forget that if your oranges are particularly sweet or you just try to avoid sugar as much as possible, you can eliminate it, I prepared it many times without it and the result is still excellent!

A delicious spring pasta: Bronte's pistaches pesto & speck

Do you know what the pesto of pistaches is? It is a sauce made of mashed pistaches from Bronte, a town near Catania, and it is mixed with some salt, pepper and oil of olive. It is a product that people normally buy in supermarkets but I don't think you find it anywhere else out of Sicily.

The recipe that I am going to put is something my mum and I created on a sunday morning, while we were thinking about an original nice way to dress our pasta. We like to try combining different ingredients so we decided to use not only a Sicilian pistaches pesto but also some speck, which is a smoked Parma ham typical of the region of Trentino Alto Adige, up in the north, added some creamy cheese as well and it was just fabulous! We couldn't have a better result! 

So with a little more imagination we can say that Italy is united in this dish also in our three colors of the flag :) 

Ingredients & preparation for four people:

380 gr. penne rigate (or any other type of pasta you like)
4-5 tablespoons of pesto

80 gr. speck thinly sliced and chopped in pieces

2-3 tablespoons of creamy cheese (like Philadelphia or similar)

3-4 leaves fresh mint

some grated lemon zest
black pepper

Cook the penne as usual, adding salt when the water boils. While they are cooking, in another sauce pan or frying pan, put the chopped speck on a medium heat, after a couple of minutes add the pesto of pistaches and some hot water taken from the pasta, add the creamy cheese as well, a bit of black pepper, the leaves of mint and some grated lemon if you like them all and... voilà the sauce is ready!
As soon as the penne are cooked, drain and sautè them in the sauce pan with the dressing, mixing well all together. Sprinkle with Parmisan cheese on top and the whole of Italy is served right on your table! Delicious!!!

Local Expert Award ? The Sicilian Cuisine Blog is in!!!

This short post is to thank the website Charming Sicily to have awarded me with the title of 'Sicilian Local Expert'. It's always nice when somebody you don't know drops you a few lines to say how much appreciates your blog, but it's even nicer when somebody actually thinks you are worth getting an award, even if a virtual one!

To be honest with you, I have never felt like an expert, so I am particularly honoured, therefore I will treat it as very valuable indeed! Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart :-)))

Exquisite fava beans mash: the Sicilian "maccu"

Do you know what is the so-called "MACCO DI FAVE"? In Sicilian the word macco becomes maccu and is used to name an exquisite dish we prepare with dried and peeled fava beans. It is a mix between a thick soup and a puree, because when you cook fava beans they mash up and become an homogeneous soup. You can also have it with pasta, as one of our 'minestra'.

Here comes the recipe for 4 people:

250 gr dried peeled fava beans

3 ts tomato sauce
a small bunch of wild fennel (like 20% of the one in the pic)
3 ts extra virgin oil of olive
hot chili pepper (a little piece or half of it)
salt

Preparation:

First of all, wash the fennel under running water. In a pot on a medium heat put some water (about 1 litre) with the fava beans. As soon as the water starts to boil add salt, fennel cut in small pieces and half of a little chili pepper and reduce the heat at the minimum.

Let the beans cook slowly, stirring from time to time so that they don't get stuck at the bottom. To obtain the mash they have to cook about one hour all together, but it also depends on how water you put. If it's too much wait until the majority of it is absorbed by the fava beans. 
After the first 25 or 30 minutes, add the spoons of tomato sauce and olive oil. Finally, serve hot with grilled slices of rustic bread spread with a clove of garlic.
It's simple, it's healthy and delicious, everyone loves it and is also perfect for vegeterians. Can we ask for more? :-))