Tag: pasta
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Busiate: Sicily’s Curly Pasta
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 thin, long reeds and rolling and pulling your hand in a particular way, creating the curls. From personal experience, I can…
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Ricotta is Right
This beautiful plate of “pasta alla Norma” was my dinner back at the beginning of June in Bagheria, Sicily my grandmother’s hometown. It is the classic Sicilian pasta dish, made with maccheroni (in this case rigatoni) with a light tomato sauce, sautéed (or fried) eggplant, grated salted ricotta, and if available, fresh basil. Please take…
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Spaghetti with Colatura di Cetara in Napoli
As our adventure in Napoli comes to an end, I was thrilled to see spaghetti with colatura di Cetara on the menu at the trattoria we ate at last night. Back in 2013, I wrote this article for the Inquisitive Eater about exactly this! Although I’ve made this dish at home, it was magnificent to…
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Memorable Maccheroni
Yes, of course the mosaics at the Roman Villa del Casale are always amazing to see, but I equally look forward to the maccheroni alla Norma at Trattoria La Ruota down the street!
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Pesto Control
Local trattorias, like one of my all-time favorites, Don Ciccio in Bagheria, usually offer seasonal specials that we covet because they only appear on menus annually, when the produce is fresh from the garden. For example, this bucatini pasta appears to be dressed with a familiar basil pesto; however, basil is not the base here,…
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Stirring Your Soul
I’ve taken many cooking classes in Sicily throughout my travels, and I always learn something new. But what I take home with me goes beyond the recipes that we have learned in our hands-on lessons and market tours–what I have absorbed is the sensibility of how a Sicilian cooks. First thought: What is in season?…
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Simple, Seasonal, and So Good
For dinner on Tuesday night, my cousins went straight to my heart by treating me to a meal at Trattoria Don Ciccio in Bagheria, one of my top favorites on the island. I enjoyed bucatini pasta with a simple sauce of Romanesco broccoli with pine nuts, olive oil, onions, and breadcrumbs.
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Where Should We Eat?
You’ve just woke up after a nap you took to recover from your overnight, international flight. You are hungry. You only have so many dinners to enjoy in Sicily. Now, what? Planning an international trip can be daunting for many people. And Sicily specifically, is so rich with things to do–and food to eat!–and is…
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Norma in New York
Tonight I had an opportunity to to enjoy Norma Gastronomia Siciliana in New York City… Another of now, a few, Sicilian focused restaurants in La Grande Mela (The Big Apple). I ate spaghetti al “Rais, ” which is spaghetti alla chitarra Setara (a brand of durum wheat pasta from Naples) with fresh tuna, mint, cherry…