Watermelon Sugar…. Ideal for a hot summer day, gelu di mulune or, in Italian, gelo d’anguria (or gelo di melone), is a watermelon custard that is served chilled, in little cups. This one, made at the not-to-be-missed shop of il Monastero di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria in Palermo, is topped with chocolate chips (Jasmine flowers and…
Tag: cibo
Pastella: Another Dream from Palermo’s Menu
A snippet from the article I wrote for Dream of Italy‘s April issue about Palermo and its street food… Pastelle, pictured, are deep-fried, hand-held dreams. Vegetables such as broccoli, carduna, artichoke hearts, eggplant, and squash are coated with a thick flour-and-water batter, while sardines are lightly battered. One could compare them with Japanese tempura, yet with…
Daily Bread
For Sicilians, a daily ritual is going to the panificio (a bakery) or the fornaio (a bakery with a serious oven) to purchase your bread for lunch and/or dinner. There’s nothing like fresh bread — like this batch I photographed in Bagheria. Mmmm….
No Time to Paste! I mean, Waste!
August is tomato season in Sicily, and as a result, there is no time to waste! Once the tomatoes are ripe, it’s time to make “estratto” or what we call in English, “tomato paste.” Once made, estratto is jarred and preserved to be used in sauces and stock throughout the year. Making estratto is a…
Summertime Delight: Gelu di mulune
During summer, and especially at Ferragosto (August 15), Sicilians eat gelu di mulune or, in Italian, gelo d’ anguria, a watermelon custard that is served chilled, in little cups. Ideal for a hot summer day, this one was made by my cousin Tanina. She decorated it with jasmine flowers.
Arancina: I Shouldn’t Have, But I Did
Last week, I featured the Catania-style arancino. Well, this evening upon returning to Bagheria, since I had yet to have a Palermo-style arancina on this trip, I indulged. Here you can see that an arancina is truly shaped and sized like an orange, but isn’t one! Hence the name… arancina. It’s not an orange, but…
Catania’s Rice Balls
I’ve told you about the Palermo-style arancina–a breaded and fried rice ball with a center of peas, caciocavallo cheese, and beef ragu that looks like an orange. Important to note: the end of the word is an A. ArancinA. Well, in Catania, on the east side of Sicily, they have a similar recipe, but with…
Jumping Tastebuds
I’ve known about zibibbo wine, which is a Marsala-like, dark wine I’ve drank in local trattorie and bars in Palermo, but last night at a special dinner hosted by Italy’s Best Foods importer Gustiamo, I had some of this zibibbo syrup, or what they call an elixir, in my welcome aperitivo. Oh my, my tastebuds…
To Tomato? or Not to Tomato?
There is an argument among Sicilians–to put tomato sauce or not in the recipe for pasta con le sarde (Pasta with sardines). Usually, I am in the “without” camp, but this dish, which was what I ate for dinner on Wednesday night in Palermo, made me think twice. I loved how the waiter repeated twice…
Pasta with Sardines for Saint Joseph’s Day
Among the main dishes eaten for Saint Joseph’s Day, or La Festa di San Giuseppe, is Pasta with Sardines, or Pasta con le sarde. The legend of how this dish came about is another post. So today, I’m just focusing on its relevance to the upcoming March 19th feast for Saint Joseph, which falls around…