Autumn cookery cooking
Here we are from one cookery course to the other with some pictures and a short report on our first autumn 2005 cookery course. First of all, our thoughts go to Anne and Luis who had to cancel to remain in the US and help relatives affected by Katrina. We hope they will be able to join us soon for another course. The first day of the course was dedicated to a visit of Ortigia, the old town of Siracusa, where we went to have a look at the market. The colors, the smells and the crowd of locals buying fresh fish and vegetables make it a wonderful introduction to the rest of the week.
The second day, we started working in the kitchen on the menu rustico. We prepared scacci with various fillings (aubergines, onions, potatos, ricotta and salsiccia, etc) and the classic cassatina di pasqua - pastry filled with ricotta with sugar and lemon zest. The highlights of the day where the "pastizzu di pesce" with fresh tuna and vegetables and a "scaccia a rota" with anchovies and cheese and pine nuts.
In the afternoon we were entertained by a very local event in a nearby village Testa dell'Acqua, their famous donkey Race, which is fanstastic because it is amything but a race. More a collection of humans and donkeys trying to explain to each other the terms of interaction and failing gloriously to achieve it.
The morning after, we focused on fish based recipes. We prepared the Tortino di Alici, a Cipollata di Tonno and a Dentex with pomegranate that we cooked in the oven with a crust of rock salt. We also enjoyed traditional Sarda al Beccafico and "Tonno alla mia maniera" with a ricotta stuffed mozzarella.
In the afternoon we had an olive oil tasting and a wine tasting session in the estate of a local prize winner olive oil producer and wine producer.
On the Tuesday, our highlight of our lunch at Il Duomo is not probably what some of our guests would have chosen, but we just loved it. Ciccio Sultano surprised us with a wonderful spoon of row meet served with egg yoke and a glass of Marsala wine. This was his reinterpretation of what his grandmother used to give him when he was a child to get some strength back after a flue. We certainly get enough strength to keep cooking for the rest of the week. In fact the day after we were back in the kitchen for a meat based menu. We had fun preparing the traditional arancini (spot the odd one out in the picture below!) and enjoyed especially the preparation of a beef fillet marinated with sugar and salt and then served on a cauliflower sauce.
The afternoon was dedicated to Modica and its chocolate; we visited Antica Dolceria Bonajuto for a chocolate demonstration and tasted also some of their excellent almond based biscuits. The last day in the kitchen we prepared two autumn versions of the Tortino di riso grigliato and the Raviolo aperto, two successful dishes during the spring courses.
In all a very enjoyable course both for the cooking and the great people we had with us. We even had a brief visit from a fellow blogger - Alberto of Il Forno (which you can just about make out in one of the photos above) with his wonderful wife decided to explore our corner of Sicily and spend a couple of days with us during the course! Finally we leave you with a picture of the sunset at the winery.
