OTTOBRATA

The Ottobrata festival at Zafferana Etnea takes place on every Sunday during October and is a showcase for food products from the Etna area, local crafts, art and street performers. My friend Carol King and I set out for Zafferana last Sunday and I'm jolly glad we did!

The town perches below smoky old Etna

and we were just in time to see a rainbow in the fountain [well-spotted by Carol]:

There is a model of the crater in the square:

There were stalls as far as the eye could see

 but you still got an idea of what a peaceful place this must be for most of the year:

OK, so Carol [seated left, in headscarf] and I played at being tourists for this shot.  I think I should wear a hat like this every day!

There were tastes of everything on offer and there were so many varieties of honey that I couldn't decide where to begin:

There was no shortage of cheese either!

Then it was on to one of my favourite towns, Militello in Val di Catania, where the Festa della Mostarda e del Fico d'India [prickly pear]  was in full swing.  Luck was with us again as the parade of traditional Sicilian carts began a few minutes after we arrived:

The horses looked so proud of their finery and happy, like us, to be out in the sunshine:

I wonder if I could get some plumes like this to add to my flat cap?

Now I'll let you enjoy more of the colourful parade: 

I was too tired to cook when I got home but some of this "black" bread from Castelvetrano [Trapani] tasted delicious spread with some olive and aubergine pâté that I'd bought. The bread is made with timilia or tumminia wheat, which is becoming rarer.

And this balsamic honey - yes, I did finally choose one - made an interesting salad dressing:

Congratulations to the good folk of Zafferana Etnea and Militello in Val di Catania on their fine festivals.

CHICKEN WITH ORANGES AND COURGETTES

This dish, from the June edition of Vero Cucina, turned out to be delicious: the chicken joints and orange slices are marinated in olive oil, ginger and saffron and then cooked slowly with the zucchini and, later, the olives in a mixture of brodo and honey:

I'm looking forward to making it again during the Sicilian orange season when it will, I am sure, taste even better!

MILITELLO CHICKEN

I invented this dish last night and have decided to call it "Militello Chicken" in honour of the mandarin honey I found in that town last week:

Marinate 8 or so chicken breast escalopes - an Italian butcher will cut these very thinly for you but in the UK you may have to pound them thin - in the juice of 2 clementines, 2 tablesp olive oil and a half teasp saffron powder [or the contents of 2 envelopes of saffron powder in Italy].

After about 2 hours, lift the escalopes out and let them dry a bit on kitchen paper. Heat 2 tablesp olive oil in a ridged griddle pan and cook the escalopes on both sides. [Stand well back as you put them in.] Lift them out onto a plate. They will be a nice, golden colour like this:

Make a dressing with 2 tablesp olive oil, 1 tablesp mandarin honey [or orange blossom honey or, failing this, ordinary honey with some orange juice] seasalt and black pepper. Toss the dressing with salad leaves to which you have added some clementine segments and serve with the chicken:

Buon appetito.

A TASTE OF HONEY

Behold, reader, the lovely colour of this mandarin-flavoured honey that I found in Militello yesterday.  Yes, it tastes as good as it looks!

HONEY STILL FOR TEA

Long ago, when I was young and even more foolish than I am now, a man left me feeling very sad: I cried, I grieved, I lost 3 stone in 6 weeks and thought of nothing but my own misfortune. Then, one day, a friend literally dragged me along to her house and fed me honey sandwiches. Ever since, I have regarded honey as a primary comfort food.

The honeys of Sicily are many and varied and a delight for the taste buds they all are. But I think my favourite has to be this pale one made from the sulla plant [a kind of red-flowered honeysuckle] which was known to the ancients. It smells heavenly and very good on a fetta biscottata at teatime it is.