In honor of the Ferragosto holiday, I made gelu di mulune, a traditional Sicilian summer dessert, yet with yellow watermelon from my New York State farmers market. Then added Modica chocolate pieces and fresh pistachios from San Biagio Platini (Agrigento). So to repeat my explanation from a couple of weeks ago… Ideal for a hot…
Tag: dessert
Sicily’s Watermelon Sugar
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…
Cassatelle Sweet Calzones From Sicily
Cassatelle (pictured) are sweet calzones stuffed with a mixture of fresh sheep’s milk ricotta, confectioners’ sugar, and chocolate chips. They are fried, and upon being served, are dusted with confectioners’ sugar. When eaten warm from the fryer, they melt in your mouth. Cassatelle follow cannoli in terms of my favorite Sicilian dessert (Yes, more than…
A Sicilian Dessert Made With Grape Juice
Mosto d’uva, or grape must, which is normally used to make wine, can also be used to make Gelu d’uva (Let’s call it “grape mousse” in English.). Our hosts in Licodia Eubea showed us how to make this typical dessert during our cooking experience during July’s Life in A Remote Sicilian Town tour. Gelu d’uva…
Sicily’s Cake: Cassata
There is much debate about the origins of cassata cake, but one thing is clear: it is as elaborate as the Baroque architecture one finds throughout Sicily–and it is as decadent. So much so, that until the mid-20th century, cassata was only eaten by the masses on Easter Sunday. Cassata is made up of sponge…
Sweet Ricotta Cream, High School Students, and I
It may not be the season exactly for cuccìa, but in lieu of researching and writing a post, I spent the night making the wheatberry ricotta pudding pictured along with cannoli cream for dozens of cannoli, not pictured… All for a lecture/presentation tomorrow about the feasts and foods of Sicily at a high school in…
The Way To My Heart
Happy Valentine’s Day! Hearts made from the same pastry as cannoli shells?! Why, yes! Now, just add ricotta mousse and fresh strawberries, and you’ve found the way to *my* heart … and seen a preview of the dessert for our Experience Sicily Valentine’s Sicilian Style dinner on Saturday night, 16 February. We’ve got one seat…
The Kingdom’s Gelato
When I saw this gelato flavor tonight in Ischia, I had to try it! Kingdom of Two Sicilies flavor… What!? It is pistachio with fresh almonds and flakey pastry dough mixed in (the same dough used to make sfogliatella pastry, pasta sfoglia). Oh, yes! Grazie.
A Treasure Chest of Marzipan from Sicily
A colleague from Acireale, Sicily visited me this weekend and brought me a box of “paste di mandorla” from his local pasticceria, O. Condorelli … i.e., marzipan pastries from Sicily from a pastry chef that specializes in making marzipan. What you see here is only half of what was in this box on Sunday morning….
Gelato Dreams
What’s your favorite flavor? Because on this, a day scientists have cited as the most depressing day of the year, dreams of gelato in Sicily can cheer us all up. Here’s a selection available from one of my favorite spots: La Rotunda in Casteldaccia, Palermo Province.