What I have eaten in Sicily

We are now back from Sicily. The weather was great, beautiful sunny day every day, hot but not too humid, food and wine were excellent and people were really nice.

Before we left for Sicily, I made a list of food I wanted to eat in Sicily (see my earlier blog - what I want to eat in Sicily). Here are what I have managed to cross off.

• brioche con gelato - sweet brioche bun cut open and filled with gelato. Well, I sort of have had this but with granita instead of gelato inside - see my earlier blog "Be cool in Sicily". The combination of nice soft warm brioche roll and head-freezing lemon granita works very well, especially in Sicilian summer!

Lemon granita with a soft warm brioche roll.

• caponata - one of my favorite; sweet and sour eggplant dish, served cold or at room temperature. Alfina, the chef at Hotel Feudo Vagliasindi, has made a delightful caponata for starter.

Sweet and sour caponata - Alfina made it delicate and rather refreshing taste

• pasta alla Norma - pasta with tomato sauce, diced fried eggplant (aubergine) and grated salted ricotta. According to legend, Sicilian composer from Catania, Vincenzo Bellini suggested the name of this dish to the chef of a restaurant near the opera house where he was rehearsing his famous opera "Norma". Alfina made it really tasty. My husband does not like aubergine but even he really enjoyed this dish. She used strozzapreti pasta instead of spaghetti, which was cooked to perfect al dante! Apparently the name of pasta strozzapreti associated with the word 'strangle' as it looks like taut rope!

Alfine made this dish with strozzapreti pasta coating the tasty sauce really well.

• pasta con le sarde - saffron-coloured pasta with fresh sardines, wild fennel leaves and a small dollop of sun-dried tomato. I had this at Restaurant Dino in Taormina. It was a very tasty dish but I was rather disappointed by the way they cooked this as it did not resemble to what I have always imagined from having read different Sicilian cooking books and TV programmes I have seen! I did not like the past they used - don't know what is called -  although I admit it did pick up anchovy sauce rather well, and also there were lots of anchovies in the sauce but there was no fillet of fried anchovies to top the dish and no currants used. I had also imagined the pasta to be more yellow - orangish colour to reflect saffron. Maybe I shall try making this by following George Locatelli's 'Made in Sicily' book to see how this would turn out to be. I shall let you know of the result but I don't know how or where I can get fresh sardines around here....???

Restaurant Dino's version of Pasta with Sardine - Taormina, Sicily.

• pesto di pistacchio - pistachio pesto. Well, Sicilians', especially area around Mt Etna where we stayed uses pistachio a lot! They use it for gelato, sweets, coating fish fillets like breadcrumbs and also for pasta sauce. Alfina at the hotel made this wonderful ribbon pasta with pistachio pesto sauce with ground pistachio nuts as decorations. This was a lovely dish, which was nutty and creamy but not too strong. I have also bought a jar of pistachio pesto from a wine shop in Randazzo so that I can make this at home. I wish I had also bought pistachio flakes whilst in Sicily but my husband says that we can buy this at any local supermarket - have you seen this in Tesco or Sainsbury's????

Alfina's delightful pistachio pasta!

Well, that's all! Unfortunately I could not cross off all of my list but I have tried dishes I otherwise would not have tried so I am happy with this. Don't know when we would go back to Sicily or if we ever go back at all but it was an interesting food experience, and I get to come back home with lots of pastry di mandola (Almond cakes) which is my favourite.  I shall eat it reminiscing a lovely time we had in Sicily, especially the lovely view of Mt Etna from our terrace of our hotel.....

What we are eating in Sicily

Well, guess where we are....we are in Sicily now!!!   I am writing this, sipping lovely glass of vino and looking at Mt Etna!  Weather is lovely, sun but not too strong with nice breeze, temperature around 24C. The place is surrounded by vineyards and just relaxing. What else can we ask for???

Enjoying local wine with local Pistachio with a view of Mt Etna. 

Daughters, Emily and Maria are already asking what we have had for lunch earlier when we arrived. In our household, the first thing we ask each other, after hello, is 'what did you have for lunch or dinner?' Yes, we are all obsessed about food in our house....but in a good way.

Anyway, my husband and I had a light and quick lunch to share between us.  The hotel knows we don't eat meat so they made us local pasta dish, pasta alla norma - tomato sauce with aubergine (or eggplant). The pasta was handmade and cooked perfectly al dante dressed with very delicious rich tomato sauce with aubergine with a hint of basil. My husband does not like aubergine but he really enjoyed this one. And I really liked the pasta - handmade pasta tastes so much nicer and this one was well coated with the sauce.

This pasta dish was one of my 'To Eat' list in Sicily so I can now cross this one off the list already!

We also had grilled vegetables - sliced grilled aubergine and green and red peppers. Olive oil dressing was really rich in golden colour, with touch of dense but sweet balsamic vinegar and some crushed garlic. It was really tasty exactly as it looked and we mopped up all the dressing with lovely Sicilian bread. 

We are meant to get fish for dinner. I wonder what's for dinner....

What I want to eat in Sicily....

My husband and I will go back to Sicily again this month for holiday. It all started when my sister in law and her husband went to Palermo while ago and recommended us to go there. I could not find any good flight connections to get there and could not decide on a hotel to stay, I started looking for package tour to Sicily and we ended up going to Taormina. That was 2 years ago and we really enjoyed our holiday there.

View of Mt Etna from our hotel ground in Taormina

We thought we would then go to Palermo this time, but again could not find good flight connections and any hotels we fancied.  One day I was watching some food and wine programme on TV and saw a presentor visiting a winery at the foot of Mt Etna and had a wonderful lunch there. I thought why not staying at agriturismo near there, perhaps at Tenuta San Michele,  the one owned by Murgo wine producer. Unfortunately the Agriturismo Murgo was fully booked for dates we wanted to stay but we now have found another great place to stay near Mt Etna.

Anyway, I bought a book of Sicilian cooking Eat Smart in Sicily by Joan Paterson and Marcella Croce (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eat-Smart-Sicily-Decipher-Adventure/dp/0977680118/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347562546&sr=1-1) when we went to Taormina for the first time but never properly appreciated this book then. Now more obsessed about Sicily and its cuisine, I revisited this book and have noted all the Sicilian food I want to eat this time.  Here are my list:

• arancine agli spinaci - deep fried, saffron-colored rice balls filled with spinach and béchamel sauce.
• brioche con gelato - sweet brioche bun cut open and filled with gelato.
• caponata - one of my favorite; sweet and sour eggplant dish, served cold or at room temperature.
• carciofi arrostiti - roasted artichokes: mixture of olive oil, chopped mint and garlic is poured into artichoke hearts, which are then wrapped in aluminium foil and roasted over hot coals or in warm ashes.
• cassata - classic Sicilian cake of Arabic origin; assembled from layers of sponge cakes and almond paste (marzipan) filled with sweet ricotta cream, and beautifully decorated with icing, candied fruits and zucchini preserves. 
• cuscus di pesce - couscous with fish.
• insalata di arance - orange salad; oranges are peeled, sliced and mixed with smoked herring and sliced scallions, and dressed with olive oil and salt. 
• involtini di melanzane - eggplant rolls; slices of eggplant are grilled or fried and then rolled around a mixture of toasted bread crumbs, pine nuts, currants and cheese.
• pasta alla Norma - pasta with tomato sauce, diced fried eggplant and grated salted ricotta.
• pasta con acciughe e mollica - pasta with toasted bread crumbs and anchovy fillets. 
• pasta con i broccoli arriminati - pasta stir-fried with a cauliflower sauce with currants, pine nuts, saffron and anchovies dissolved in olive oil. If you have ever watched Inspector Montalbano, you would know what I am talking about.
• pasta con le sarde - saffron-coloured pasta with fresh sardines, wild fennel leaves and a small dollop of sun-dried tomato.
• pesto di pistacchio - pistachio pesto. 
• spaghetti con bottarga - spaghetti with grated, salted tuna roe (bottarga), olive oil and garlic.
• spaghetti con il nero di seppia - spaghetti with black cuttlefish ink.

Let's see how many I can cross off this list when we return from our holiday to Sicily...

Where to eat in Sorrento, Italy

First of all, my sincere apology if you are reading this.  I have been so engrossed watching Olympics and I have not got around to update my blog.  I especially liked watching swimming - how wonderful Missy Franklyn and Michael Phelps were and there were so many good Japanese swimmers but unfortunately just could not get gold!!!
Now it's over (I mean swimming), I am having withdraw symptoms ....

Anyhow, the day my younger daughter and her boyfriend are going to Sorrento, Italy is now tomorrow!  Even it it's not me going, I feel really excited!  The company director of the Italian restaurant we often go has given them advice where to eat in Sorrento. He is Italian and from Sorrento, and he has always in catering business so he knows so many people. He has sent us email to advise where they should go while in Sorrento and 'just mention my name', he says....

Here are his recommendations:

• The Fauno Bar in the main square Piazza Tasso for aperitif
• La Favorita for a nice and fancy atmosphere (and his father works there too!)
• Lanterna in the historic centre (one of his favourite)
• Leone Rosso Pizzaria, near the train station - not fancy but the best pizza in the town and not too expensive.
• The Delfino, seafood restaurant in the Marina (We went there, yeah, see my earlier blog!)
• Praiano for nice and unique evening and eat at the pirata (....? don't know what this means but perhaps he means 'on the shore'...?) - it's somewhere on Amalfi coast so you need a taxi to get there...
• Caruso (his favourite, and yeah we went there too, please also see my earlier blog!)
• Have fun at the Chaplin pub on Corso Italia
• Il Verginiello in Capri Island

Wow, I wish I could go all these places, eat lovely food and take lots of photos.......

I can only hope that my daughter and her boyfriend will manage to get to some of these places  whilst they are there, and I definitely want to see photos of food they eat.  I am sure my daughter would take photos - I have well trained my daughters to do that, ha ha ha. 

Well, whilst they are going to Sorrento, my husband and I are going back to Sicily next month.  I have already bought some books of Sicilian dishes and have marked all the food I definitely wish to try with bright yellow marker like a school kid. You can tell how much I am really looking forward to this trip.

One of my favourite Sicilian dishes which I just can't get it right (and many other dishes...) is Caponata.

So I have made an attempt to create my version of Caponata - well it ended up more like cross between Peperonata and Caponata, and did not taste like the ones I had in Taormina or at our favourite Italian restaurant here.  Perhaps, I might have put a bit too much vinegar in it and I should have put more aubergenes however it still tasted nice and even better the next day!  I added slices of mozzarella, basil and drizzle of 'Sicilian' olive oil!!!  Can't wait to go back to Sicily and eat the real stuff.