Food and Drink

Black squid on golden cous-cous

Posted on Wednesday 16th of November 2011 under Food and Drink | Monzu Chefs | Recipes

Last week-end I prepared this dish for a lovely dinner with great friends. It is one of those dishes that many people prefer to avoid because they find the colour of squid ink unappealing. I like the sharp shining black in my dish and love the taste. It was a little risky for a dinner party, but my friends enjoyed it too and the company was so nice that we simply did not care about "a black smile";)!

Lemon, fennel and oregano bread in terracotta moulds.

Posted on Wednesday 02nd of November 2011 under Food and Drink

The 2nd of November is "U juornu re muorti" the special day dedicated to those who are no longer with us. As I have described in previous posts, people visit the cemetery taking flowers and candles to the graves of dead relatives and friends, and, in Sicily, children find presents `brought' to them by the "muorti".

But today we are all at home due to really heavy rain. It has been raining for more than 48 hours non-stop, roads and fields are covered in mud and we decided to stay home.

A Sicilian interpretation of Chef Colonna's Cacio e Pepe

Posted on Friday 09th of September 2011 under Food and Drink | Recipes

From Rome's style pasta Cacio e Pepe to loveSicily's ragusano cheese and chilli pepper version.

Chocolate, wine and grapes cakes. Vendemmia 2011

Posted on Thursday 08th of September 2011 under Food and Drink | Recipes

To welcome the new "vendemmia" (grape harvest season) I worked on a cake of mine, a 100% cocoa and Frappato wine cake, and developed a new recipe for individual small, muffins like cake with a heart of "drank" grapes.

I chose red grapes produced in Mazzarrone, cleaned them, cut them in half and removed the seeds. Then I soaked them in Nero d'Avola passito wine for a couple of hours in the fridge.

Pasta e cucuzza

Posted on Monday 29th of August 2011 under Food and Drink | Recipes

Sicilian summer recipes include some healthy hot soups. One of the main ingredients for some of these is a long shaped kind of courgette that we simply call cucuzza. We also use "tinniruma" (tenerumi), cucuzza's greens, in summer recipes.

You can find it in markets and even in supermarkets, but this time I got it from Angelo's father in law who has a passion for gardening and made a fantastic vegetable garden to produce organic vegetables for its family.