Recipes
Wild asparagus, shrimp and cocoa nibs risotto
Posted on Thursday 04th of March 2010 under Food and Drink | Recipes
Spring is in the air in Sicily and we celebrated with a very seasonal risotto we prepared during a cooking class last Tuesday. Risotto with wild asparagus, shrimps and cocoa nibs.
Prepare the asparagus and the shrimp.
Prepare the asparagus by breaking off the tough ends (the woody part of the spear) and cutting the tender part into 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces (tips longer). Clean the shrimp, deveine them and keep the shells for the stock.
Then make a wild asparagus and shrimp-shell stock.
loveSicily in Rhodes Across Italy
Posted on Tuesday 02nd of February 2010 under Food and Drink | General | Recipes | Via Ritiro
For those of you who missed loveSicily on Gary Rhodes new TV series Rhodes Across Italy on the BBC Good Food Channel here is the video.
I met young Sous chef Clare Lanza in the centre of Modica and after a walk and a visit to Antica Dolceria Bonajuto we went to the cookery school and prepared "chocolate chicken" following my grandmother's recipe.
Scorzette d'arancia
Posted on Thursday 21st of January 2010 under Food and Drink | Recipes
When I lived in Venice, my friends used to say that I was too fussy about two things: the beach and oranges. Now guess who spoiled me? Sicily, of course. The free golden sandy beaches of the Ragusa's coast line and the fresh top quality oranges this land produces.
I grew up eating oranges brought to us by friends who had small orange gardens in the area, mostly of the Tarocco variety. One of my mother's friends in particular, Mariuccia, still has a wonderful garden right in the archaeological area of Cava Ispica and, luckily, her son is currently taking good care of it.
Croccante di Mandorle: Sicilian style almonds nougat
Posted on Thursday 17th of December 2009 under Festivities | Food and Drink | Recipes
Croccante di mandorle (almond nougat) is an excellent sweet that you find all over Sicily throughout the year, but during Christmas time it becomes an absolute must have dolce in every Sicilian household, part of the nougat (aranciata, kubaita, torrone bianco) selection served at the end of a meal together with dried fruit.
To make your own croccante you will need:
1kg pealed almonds
250gr sugar
120gr honey
1 orange
How to make:
Timballo di riso alla Siciliana for Thanksgiving and Eid al-Adha
Posted on Thursday 26th of November 2009 under Culture | Festivities | Food and Drink | Recipes
Thanksgiving, the time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude, and Eid al-Adha, the end of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, are taking place at the same time this year. And what does Sicily have to do with it?
This coincidence just made me think about the influence of both America and North-Africa in Sicilian cuisine. What would Sicilian food be like without tomatoes, prickly pears, potatoes, cocoa or rice, eggplants, sugar, marzipan, etc.
