Our Busiate Partè

Grazie mille Giuseppe Sciurca, Valeria Signorino, and Chef Nino Elia with assistance from Bill DiGilio for making today’s Make Busiate Pasta with Giuseppe Sciurca and Biancomangiare with Nino Elia a success! I was too busy cooking, managing, and then eating to take photos (oops!). So, these inspired reports below have been provided by RoseAnn Pusateri-Rowe…

Busiate Pasta Festival in Salemi, Sicily This Weekend

This weekend Sicily is bringing it home! It seems every town has a festival in anticipation of next week’s Ferragosto holiday. For example, the town of Salemi, pictured, will host the Sagra della Busiata, the pasta shape typical of Trapani Province. Throughout the historic center there will be kiosks of different preparations of the corkscrew…

You Can Too

These are the able hands of my husband, Joe, making the typical fresh pasta, busiate, from Trapani. Joe, along with our traveling companion, Fred, made a big beautiful bowl of busiate during our hands-on cooking class in Trapani’s historic center. (I contributed too, but my ringlets weren’t as well-formed around those darn reeds!). You too…

Tumminia, Sicily’s Ancient Grain

Tumminia (pictured at Molini del Ponte in Castelvetrano), also called Timilia, is an ancient grain variety cultivated in only a few locations in the Belice Valley in western Sicily. Once milled, it plays the role of principal ingredient in Castelvetrano’s Slow Food designated pane nero (black bread). Filippo Drago, owner of Molini del Ponte in Castelvetrano, makes…

It Holds the Pasta 

This Thursday, Aug. 11, the town of Salemi celebrates the 12th Edition of the Sagra della Busiata; That is, a culinary festival dedicated to the corkscrew-shaped, long pasta particular to Trapani province. In this photo, taken in May by Vincent Titone, I am attempting to make busiate. Our Sicilian hostesses in Castellammare del Golfo made…

A Slow Taste of Sicily

Busiate pasta is particular to western Sicily, specifically Trapani province. It’s special because it’s made to look like ringlets and when it is made by hand, it is created by wrapping the dough around knitting needles. It’s traditionally served with Trapanese style pesto; that is, a pesto made with garlic, some basil, some tomatoes, olive…