SICILIAN RECIPES

ARANCINIArancini, a typical dish of the Sicilian kitchen, are fried rice balls filled with meat ragu and peas. They can also be filled with vegetables such as mushrooms or aubergines. Their name comes from the word “arancia” (orange), which they faintly resemble to. The arancini made in western Sicily are round while those made in eastern Sicily (particularly Catania and Syracuse) are conical. In Sicily, it is easy to find them at anytime and anyplace, always warm and fragrant.

Ingredients for rice: 50 gr Butter50 gr grated parmesan cheese 400 gr Rice 3 Eggs 1 pinch of Saffron

Ingredients for filling: 100 gr Fresh cheese 150 gr Ground beef meat 1 small Onion 3 spoons Extravergine olive oil Salt and Pepper 100 gr Peas 100 gr Tomato sauce

IngredientsIngredients before frying:FlourBread crumbEggs

Ingredients to fry:Extravergine olive oil

Preparation Boil the rice in salted water with the saffron, and then drains it “al dente”. Add 3 eggs, the butter, and the grated parmesan to the rice and let it cool off.Cook the peas for 10 minutes with a spoon of oil and two of water. Fry lightly the onion with 2 spoons of olive oil, then add the ground beef meat, add salt and pepper. Then add the tomato sauce and cook at least for 20 minutes. Add the peas and let thicken the sauce. With the rice previously prepared, form one little ball of the dimensions of a mandarin; make a socket to the center where you will place a spoon of sauce, and two or three small cubes of fresh cheese, then close it up with of the other rice. Place the balls in flour, then in beaten egg, and then fry in hot oil till golden. Serve the arancini warm.

CAPONATAThis dish of fried vegetables gathers together the typical flavours and smells of Sicilian kitchen. Aubergines were brought to Sicily by the Saracens. Sicilian people made them one of the most representative ingredients of their tradition.As for the origin of the name, there are different “schools of thought “. Somebody thinks that the sailors were the first to use this side dish that softened their hard crackers and they called it “jail capon”. Some others claim that the name was used by the French cooks, called “Monsù”, who seasoned a kind of fish that in Sicilian dialect is called “capone”.

Ingredients10 Aubergines

6 Red peppers

1 Big celery

1 Onion

300 g Green olives

3 Tablespoons of salted capers

1.5 lt Fresh tomato sauce

Salt and pepper

1 Glass of vinegar

2 Tablespoons of sugar

Oil for frying

Preparation

Wash the aubergines, remove their ends and stems; cut just a strip of peel. Now, cut the aubergine into big cubes and fry them in hot oil. Make the same with peppers.Clean the celery removing all the green leaves, cut it into pieces and boil it in salted water. Fry the sliced onion in a large pan. As soon as it is golden brown add the boiled celery, the pitted and chopped olives, the capers and the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper and cook . When almost cooked, add fried aubergines to the sauce, let it cook for few minutes. Meanwhile, melt the sugar in the vinegar and pour it on the sauce with the vegetables. It is a dish that is best appreciated if eaten cold.

PASTA ALLA NORMAPasta alla Norma is the most popular pasta with tomato and aubergines in Sicilian tradition. This dish takes its name from the opera La Norma, of the famous composer Vincenzo Bellini who was born in Catania. It is said that, many years ago, this simple and sublime dish was served to a few artists who performed “music dramas” at that time. The wonder of the artists was so great that they exclaimed: “But this is Norma!” meaning that the dish was an example of perfection and excellence like Bellini’s opera.

Ingredients

500 g of pasta (any kind of pasta)

1 kg Tomatoes

4 aubergines

Basil to flavour

2 cloves of garlic

Oil for frying

Salt and pepper

Baked salted Ricotta

Preparation

Fry the garlic and add the cleaned tomatoes cut into pieces and a few leaves of basil. Season with salt and pepper and cook over low heat. When the tomato is cooked, remove from heat, pass it through a sieve and set aside the so obtained sauce.Wash the aubergines, remove the stems together with a piece of the aubergine, cut just a strip of skin practicing a vertical cut from end to end. You can choose to cut the aubergines into slices or cubes. The result does not change. Then fry them in hot oil and place them on absorbing paper. Cook the pasta al dente, mix it with the tomato sauce and serve laying down on it the fried aubergines, some freshly grated salted ricotta and some basil leaves.

CASSATA SICILIANACassata or Cassata siciliana is a traditional cake especially from the area of Palermo, but it is possible to find it everywhere in Sicily. The Sicilian word cassata do not derive from the Arabic term qashatah ("bowl"), as is often claimed, but from “caseata” that means "cheese concoction“. It started to indicate a dessert until the late 17th century.

Ingredients800 gr Ricotta cheese

500 gr Sponge cake

250 gr Sugar

200 gr Candied fruit

150 gr Black chocolate

150 gr Icing sugar

1 Stick Vanilla

Marzipan

PreparationPut the sugar, vanilla stick and a couple of spoonfuls of water into a pot. Let the sugar melt on low heat and then remove the vanilla. Sieve the ricotta and put it into a bowl, mixing it well. Add the melted sugar. Chop up the dark chocolate and dice the candied fruit and add them to the ricotta, keeping aside a little candied fruit.Line a cake pan with plastic food wrap. With a sharp knife cut the sponge cake into slices and cover the bottom and the sides of the dish. Then pour the mixture into the cake dish and cover it with the rest of the sponge cake. In a pot, put 2 to 3 spoonfuls of icing sugar and heat it until it has reached the right texture.Take the cake out of the cake pan and put it on a serving dish .Put the marzipan to cover the whole cake and then pour the icing sugar.Let it dry and, then, decorate it with the remaining candied fruit and serve.