Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Sicilian Kitchen: Traditional recipes, history and curiosity
Sicilian Kitchen: Traditional recipes, history and curiosity
Sicilian Kitchen: Traditional recipes, history and curiosity
Ebook306 pages2 hours

Sicilian Kitchen: Traditional recipes, history and curiosity

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

Sicilian cuisine has started to develop since the times of Ancient Greece. It is no coincidence and the first great chefs in history were born in Sicily. But do you know how and why arancini were born? Or did I get the cassata is it called so? Would you like to prepare delicious cannoli or the mythical eggplant Parmigiana? This is the book I love for you. Here you will find not only many traditional Sicilian recipes, but also news, curiosities and history on each dish indicated. You can make a beautiful stitched figure, either by preparing a delicious recipe for your guests, or by marveling them with a parrot that eats and when it was born with a recipe. Bon apetit!
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMONDO GUIDE
Release dateJun 30, 2020
ISBN9788835857662
Sicilian Kitchen: Traditional recipes, history and curiosity

Related to Sicilian Kitchen

Related ebooks

Regional & Ethnic Food For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Sicilian Kitchen

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Sicilian Kitchen - MONDO GUIDE

    AUTHOR

    DID YOU KNOW THAT…?

    Sicilian cuisine began to develop back in Ancient Greece time.

    Over the centuries it then acquired its own distinctive traits distinguishable all over the world, but deriving also from influences that tell us about its history, dominations and cultural contaminations.

    The regional cuisine of Sicily could be considered a great history book.

    It is also regarded, with good reason, as the richest and most picturesque cuisine of Italy.

    Just think of the famous cassata, or arancine, or granita, all world-renowned and relished dishes.

    Sicily benefits from a mild climate and sunny weather, so oranges, lemons, almonds, pistachios, olives and prickly pears are grown.

    A fleeting glimpse at the recipes will show how the same dish can be cooked with different names – and some variations – in different parts of Sicily.

    Sometimes, other dishes that are typical of a certain area of Sicily are so unique and peculiar that they get an exclusive certification of its production area.

    It is clear that Sicily, as an island, could be influenced very positively by other cultures and mainly by other cuisines, especially African, Greek and Arab ones.

    It is no surprise that the first great chefs in history were born in Sicily.

    Labdacus of Syracuse and Mithaecus of Sicily, for example – the latter of the two wrote no less than the very first cookbook in history.

    We should also remember Archestratus of Gela, the first great food critic who wrote the famous poem called Gastronomia.

    Here is a list, far from exhaustive, of the most typical Sicilian products:

    Cheese:

    Sicilian caciocavallo

    Sicilian goat’s milk cheese

    Sicilian pecorino

    Sicilian provola

    Red pecorino, with traditional Italian regional food products certification

    Ragusano, with protected designation of origin

    Cosacavaddu ibleu, with the same characteristics as Ragusano

    Provola of Nebrodi Mountains

    Provola of Sicani Mountains

    Provola of Madonie Mountains

    Vastedda from Belice Valley, the only Italian stretched-curd cheese made from ewe’s milk

    Olives:

    Biancolilla of Palermo and Trapani

    Cerasuola of Agrigento, Palermo and Trapani

    Giarraffa of central west Sicily

    Moresca of Catania, Caltanissetta, Enna, Ragusa and Siracusa

    Nocellara of Mount Etna

    Nocellara of Belice Valley

    Ogliarola of Messina

    Santagatese of Messina

    Nasitana of Messina province, near the Tyrrhenian sea and Nebrodi Mountains

    Round Iblea of south eastern Sicily

    Verdese of Caltanissetta, Catania, Ragusa and Siracusa

    Other typical products:

    Red Garlic of Nubia

    Giarratana Onion

    Leonforte broad bean

    Villalba lentil

    Messina new potato

    Siracusa new potato

    Beef heart tomato

    Pachino tomato, grown in south east Sicily (PGI)

    Menfi thorny artichoke

    Aci Kohlrabi

    Siccagno tomato of Bilìci valley

    Polizzi round bean

    Scicli sweet bean

    Ustica lentil

    Without further delay, let us now discover the traditional Sicilian cuisine, its history and stories.

    Tips for every recipe

    Here are some useful directions, suitable for every recipe. Instead of repeating them in each recipe, we will list them here.

    Ingredients and servings

    Ingredients are meant for 4 servings, unless otherwise specified.

    Anchovies in the soffritto

    It is usually recommended to add anchovies to a soffritto, and let them melt on a low heat. Another technique is switching off the heat and then add anchovies.

    By doing so, they will melt nicely without burning. They will even be creamier – give it a try.

    Broth

    It is always useful to have a small pan of hot broth aside, while you are cooking. If you need to thin a recipe, or to prevent it from burning, you already have the liquid ready.

    Desalting capers

    When a recipe calls for capers, we always mean salted capers.

    Soak them in a glass of cold water for some minutes to remove the salt before use. Then rinse them thoroughly before adding them to your dish.

    Frying

    When frying, it is better to follow these two golden rules that will prevent your fried food from getting soggy.

    Rule number one: fried food must rest on absorbing paper but only for the time necessary to dry, that is a few minutes. If it rests there for too long, the oil in the paper will be reabsorbed and the food will be soggy.

    Rule number two: salt must be added only after you remove the food from the absorbing paper, and put it on the serving dish. The reason, again, is that salt on hot fried food will make it mushy.

    Frying vegetables without their juices

    Before you fry vegetables such as aubergines or zucchini you should slice/dice them, place them in a colander and sprinkle with salt.

    Then put on a weight to press them, like a pan full of water. In this way, the salt will extract the excess of bitter water in the vegetables, and they will be sweeter and crunchier.

    Putting a baking tray in the oven

    When you have to put a baking pan in the oven, be it for meats or vegetables, we mean a tray greased with olive oil. If it is for cakes, we mean that before putting food (usually cookies) on it you have to line it with baking paper.

    Peeling potatoes

    When the recipe calls for potatoes cooked and peeled, you are supposed to peel the potatoes right away after you boil them, that is when they are still hot. You can wrap them in a clean tea towel and rub them gently. The reason is that when the potato is still very hot, peeling is much easier. Hence the hot potato game!

    Hot chili

    According to Ayurveda medicine hot chili is to be considered a real medication, so if you do not like it or it is too much, just omit it. The recipe will not be affected and you will find it more enjoyable. Should your guests like it, you can also put some red chili powder or red chili olive oil on the table.

    Parsley in the soffritto

    When a recipe needs parsley to be added to chopped garlic and onion (or to the classic garlic, oil and red chili combo), it’s not meant to fry with the soffritto because parsley would burn and become bitter. Parsley must always be fresh, added to soffritto only when the soffritto is ready, or after you switch the heat off.

    Peeling cherry tomatoes

    For many recipes, you will have to use peeled cherry tomatoes (Pachino of Piccadilly variety). The best way to peel them is to make a crisscross cut with a knife on the bottom and plunge them in boiling water for a few seconds. Then put them in cold water and the skin will come off, almost by itself.

    Oven temperature

    When you need to put food in the oven at a required temperature, the oven is always supposed to be pre-heated.

    Oil temperature for frying

    Fried food recipes need the oil to be properly hot before frying.

    Mincing garlic and onion for soffritto

    When preparing your soffritto, instead of adding sliced onions and whole cloves of garlic, just mince/chop them. Your soffritto will be tastier because the garlic and the onion will quickly release their juices.

    Soaking raisins

    To soak raisins, put them in a glass of hot water for a few minutes before using. Raisins will absorb some of the water and be soft again.

    Wines and liqueurs to match your dishes

    In this book we often suggest a wine or a liqueur to pair with a recipe. The ones we suggest may be difficult to find either because they were recommended by sommeliers, or because they were chosen as the perfect pairing to enhance the flavours of the dish. Basically, you can serve red wine with meats and white wine with fish, but with desserts just serve fortified wines or sweet wines.

    Flour

    When you see white flour in the ingredients it’s the Italian 00 flour (type W405), which in the US is known as pastry flour and, in the UK, as soft flour. When you see plain flour, it’s the Italian 0 flour (type W550), soft flour in the UK, pastry flour in the US.

    Parmesan

    By this name we mean only the PDO cheese called Parmigiano Reggiano and not what is made and sold outside of Italy under the name of parmesan.

    APPETIZERS

    Citrus Anchovies

    Did you know that…?

    Anchovies in Italian are also called alici, which derives from the Latin word hallex, a sauce prepared with this kind of fish. They are oily fish, varying in length from 12 to 15 centimetres. In Sicilian dialect they are called masculine, which means cunning.

    Ingredients

    600 gr of small anchovies, gutted

    3+1 oranges

    3+1 lemon

    A bunch of parsley

    Red chili

    Extra virgin olive oil

    Salt

    Pepper

    Directions

    Wash the anchovies, pat them dry and put them in a bowl. Pour the juice of 3 lemons on the anchovies and let them marinate for one hour. After that, drain them and arrange them like sun rays on a serving dish. Now prepare the sauce.

    In another bowl combine the juice of 3 oranges, oil, salt, pepper and red chili, then pour it gently on the fish. Slice the remaining orange and lemon and put them on the serving dish. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

    Keep them aside before serving, to absorb the flavour of the sauce.

    One more thing before you turn the page

    Please consider serving this dish more often at your table. Anchovies contain proteins and Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, iron, phosphorus and selenium, and also B-group vitamins.

    Sicilian Arancine

    Did you know that…?

    Legend has it, that the Arab emir Ibn At Timmah invented the rice pie. The emir would carry one in his bag, when hunting. Later on, this pie was enriched with meat and given the shape with which we know it today, because it was easier to carry.

    Ingredients for 30 arancine

    Rice – 200 gr (not parboiled)

    Ragù (tomato and meat sauce) – 100 gr

    White flour

    Water

    Breadcrumbs

    Salt

    Extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil for frying

    Directions

    Rice and ragù

    First boil the rice in salted water and prepare the ragù, then let them cool. Then mix them until you get a stiff risotto. Make walnut-sized balls.

    Batter

    Now prepare the batter. In a bowl put 2 tablespoons of flour and gently pour a little water. Keep on mixing till you get a smooth, semiliquid batter, somewhat elastic and not runny. Now dip the rice balls in the batter and coat them well, then roll them in breadcrumbs.

    Frying

    Now you are ready to fry your arancine. Heat plenty of oil in a deep pan, and then add your arancine one by one without crowding the pan or the oil will cool down. Check the browning of your arancine, turning them from time to time. When they are ready put them on absorbing paper, and we recommend not leaving them there too long, or they will get soggy.

    One last thing before you turn the page...

    The Sicilian arancine are officially part of the list of traditional Italian regional food products (PAT) published by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, with the official name of arancini di riso.

    Babbaluci (snails) with garlic and parsley

    Did you know that…?

    The Sicilian name for the small land snails babbaluci is supposed to derive either from Arab word babush, the typical women’s shoe with the curled toes, hence the Sicilian babusce (cloth slippers), or from old Greek boubalàkion, (buffalo), because of their resemblance to the animal’s horns.

    Ingredients

    Snails 1 kg

    Garlic – 4 cloves

    Extra virgin olive oil as per taste

    Parsley

    Salt and pepper as per taste

    Directions

    First wash the snails under running water, until the water is perfectly clear. Put the snails in a pan and cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil on a low heat. When it boils, add salt and turn off the heat but only after the snails will have come out of the shell. Rinse the snails again under running water to clean them properly.

    Now prepare a soffritto with garlic and oil, when it turns golden add the snails to absorb the flavour, stirring gently for a few minutes.

    Switch then the heat off, add plenty of parsley and a little black pepper.

    Serve your babbaluci when they are almost cold.

    One last thing before you turn the page...

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1