A big dream came true, I’ve been to Sicilia. I’ve set my foot on that volcano, walked around, brought a few pieces of lava with me. I’ve been to Taormina, been to Siracusa, walked in the footsteps of Robert Malkowicz in Catania – even tried to go and eat in “U Sapuritu”, but they were closed for ferie. Been to Ragusa, after the stories I’ve heard from Michele. Tried a proper Sicilian cannolo. Tried caponata in 3 different places, all different, all delicious. Tried vino grown on the slopes of Etna, brought 2 bottles home. 🙂 Tried different granitas, including pistachio one, mandorle, limone- that one was excellent. Been to Bronte, saw pistachio trees, brought back a load of delicious things made with their famous pistachios.

The portions they serve are staggering. Our first breakfast in Trecastagni was a cornetto with pistachio filling, the size of a small loaf of bread. Delicious, but I could feel my waist expanding immediately.

On a visit to Bronte we all had a different granita, mine was pistachio, very rich, filling, delicious.

When we took our first look and taste of Catania ( dirty Catania, with piles of rubbish everywhere, the side of the roads where shocking) I wanted a nice tagliata di tonno, ordered one and received it quite overdone. Disappointing. I asked the owner where I could get a proper nice cannoli, he directed me towards a pasticceria with a bunch of rude, ignorant bastards for staff, but the cannoli, at 3 euro per piece were superb.

And then, on our doorstep we discovered a real gem. Well, we didn’t discover it, one of our Etna guides told us about the place and that it wasn’t that good. Therefore, off we went to Nikosia, a vineyard and an osteria. Stunning surroundings, beautiful building, great staff. A young Claudia, who matched some of their own wines to our food. Bread, olive oil, everything was superb.

Caponata served in a cannolo? Sure, why not?

Arancino version posh, amazing, with some rose wine Claudia brought over just to see what we thought of it.

We bought a bottle of their dessert wine to take home, but the next evening, our last evening in Trecastagni we went straight back to them. And one of the best looking and tasting plates during the whole week was their beef carpaccio, topped with everything- pistachio mousse, fresh fruit, ricotta salata, which I tried in different ways and I loved it, bought some on the market in Siracusa. Wild strawberries too, normally I’m not a fan of fruit and meat/fish together, but this was a triumph.

I wish I could have finished my secondo, but I struggled and then the chef came out of the kitchen to say hi and brought me a chunk of vacuum packed ricotta salata, cause Claudia told him we came from Tuscany. One of those will now go to Enrico, I know he will love it.

In the end I manage to not look like that:

When the time comes to revisit Sicilia I would go back to Nikosia in a flash. I’ve not tried a sweet iris, that Michele recommended. I would want a nice tagliata di tonno, but barely cooked. I will run back to mercato, the one in Siracusa was a real treat. Some fresh spices, nuts and herbs were brought home from there.

Sicilia was very much enjoyed, next top destination is up north and hopefully will happen in autumn. 🙂

Yum!

First tasted it at Molly and Enrico’s a couple of years ago and loved it. Enrico was kind enough to make a bowl of it for Florek’s birthday party and it was so popular I barely got to taste it. So I figured it was time to have a go at it myself. Luca Pappagallo was consulted, as was Enrico and this afternoon I made it. And I love it. And Florek loves it too.

I started with a large white onion, roughly chopped , a carrot and a celery stick, gently fried on olive oil, while in a small wok I had some oil heating up and some red and yellow peppers ready to fry. The chunks were not too small, as caponata must not turn into a mush, one needs to see what’s what. After the peppers the whole aubergine went into the oil, also cut into a medium sized chunks.

When the veggies were resting on kitchen towel, I added some passata to the onion and celery, seasoned with salt, added the veggies in, some dry oregano too. Green and dark olives, stoneless. And finally I increased the heat under the pan and added 2 tbsps of white wine vinegar and some sugar. Once the vinegar evaporated I checked the seasoning and it was ready to come off the heat. Final touch should be basil, but I had none and also toasted pine nuts, super delicious, added texture and nuttiness. My own sourdough completed the picture.

Brava Oluta! :-))

I’ve made a Sicilian dish for lunch today. Recipe from Pappagallo, for a change. 🙂 I always have an aubergine or two in the fridge since moving to Italia, I always have a few bottles of quality passata in the pantry, one thing I didn’t have was ricotta salata to be grated on top. I had to substitute it with Parmigiano Reggiano, but hopefully I get to try the real deal in Sicilia in 64 days- Izzie keeps count! 🙂

First job, before I unrolled my mat for pilates this morning was to slice the aubergines, sprinkle some salt on them and let them release some water. I gave them almost an hour to do so. Towel dried them and fried, in batches.

A quick and simple tomato sauce was spitting all over the cooker, pasta was cooked. Once the melanzane were ready, I roughly chopped them and added to the sauce. Adjusted the seasoning and we were ready to eat.

I am currently into 6th consecutive week of doing a 25-40 minute workouts 5 times a week. I’ve never in my life lasted that long. Not too sure what a plate of this delicious pasta with fried melanzane did to my efforts this morning, but it was a lovely lunch!

Again, from Pappagallo. 🙂

Not the lightest and healthiest of meals, but it’s not that often that I make a sauce like this, so hopefully we’ll live. Having said that, I should really repeat the blood tests, see if my cholesterol is any lower.

So, the dinner this evening was heavily inspired by Luca Pappagallo, but I made the sauce a bit differently and skipped fennel seeds and garlic. Gently sweated off half a small onion, then crumbled in 2 Tuscan sausages and cooked them until nicely brown. A good slosh of cream. Gorgonzola piccante, in small pieces, a generous handful. Black pepper and fresh sage. I ended up adding a little bit of cornflour mixed with water to thicken the sauce a bit. No salt was needed. Gnocchi went in, straight from the boiling water. A rich, filling, tasty plate of food. Served with lovely grilled asparagus, crunchy and delicious. I had to have some, as a week ago we have been cooked for by one of our friends, a competent cook, but he murdered his asparagus, it was mushy and desperate on the plate, I really don’t know what the hell happened there.

A few days ago I cooked one more thing from Luca’s book, easy, simple and delicious, next time I will serve it with a crunchy green salad like a veggie schnitzel. Aubergine splices, salted and left to release some water, platted dry after about 30 minutes. Tossed in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried. Excellent!

And finally a giant lemon I was given today by Anna. A real monster, I think I might make a lemon pound cake tomorrow and give her half.

I purchased 2 books by Luca Pappagallo, as it is nice to have the cookbooks on the shelf, not just internet for inspiration. And what a pleasure to flip through a beautiful recipe book with a cup of tea while making a shopping list for next day!

This was our lunch today. It was a busy and exciting morning, Florek has booked flights and hotel in Catania, where we’ll be holidaying in less than 3 months time. The top of my travel wish list is happening! We will take the trip towards the craters of Etna, a major thing on my bucket list, I was booking it while the tomato sauce was spitting all over the stove.

I had no anchovies, the mistake which I will fix this afternoon. Luca started his sauce by chucking some anchovy fillets onto the olive oil, some garlic, then passata. I added some fresh tomatoes and a chopped shallot, because why not indeed. Aubergines were roughly chopped and fried until deep golden, in a separate pan. When the tomato sauce was seasoned and happy looking, a bunch of green olives went in, then the melanzane, a bit of oregano and it was ready to welcome the pasta in, straight from the water, the only right way!

Delicious, will be made again, this time with anchovies and maybe a different pasta shapes, not spaghetti. 🙂