CHI HA ARTE....

Chi ha arte, ha parte

He who has an art, has a role in life

- Italian proverb

Everyone, of course, is an artist in Italy and that includes my local butcher, who on Saturdays makes these pretty parcels of minced meat and ham in pastry:

They look good cooked, too!

A BIRTHDAY LUNCH IN POZZALLO

Valentine's Night is a night to stay in for many single people, as who, when they are on their own,  wants to tread a restaurant floor covered in rose petals, listen to romantic music or watch couples gazing into each other's eyes all evening? It would be like twisting a knife further into your own wound and it never ceases to amaze me that couples don't get this.

However, it's my birthday and it's been a lovely day in Sicily so I was delighted when my friend Carol invited me to lunch at a restaurant in Pozzallo, a town whose main street backs directly onto the beach.  First, here are a few photos of Pozzallo as it looked this afternoon:

XV century Cabrera Tower

Now I want to introduce you to Carol.  She writes about Sicily and other places where she has lived or which she has visited and you can find some of her articles here.

OK, let's get to the food and these are the dishes we ordered:

Cavatieddi pasta with ricotta and peas for me

and lolli pasta with fava beans for Carol:

Then I had what Italians call a "mixed roast" but is really a mixed grill 

with a mixed salad

while Carol enjoyed chicken cutlet and chips:

There was my favourite gel al limone for dessert and you could just tell that this had been made with the freshest Sicilian lemons:

Simple food, perfectly cooked - the best!

And finally, here is your birthday girl blogger:

I had a great time.  Thanks, Carol. xx

BAKING A HAM IN SICILY

OK, at the end of the festive season I admit it: if there's one Christmassy aroma I miss, it's that of a clove-studded, glazed ham baking away in the oven.

Italian hams are cured in a different way to British ones, and you cannot buy the equivalent of a gammon joint to soak, boil, glaze and bake yourself [not that the soaking is strictly necessary any more]. You can, however, get cooked ham which is similar to the British variety so I didn't see why I shouldn't glaze one of these joints, or part of one. I talked to Mr T in the deli about it and he didn't see why it shouldn't be possible either. He brought out a whole new Prague ham, said he would cut off as much as I wanted and then set the rest on his cold counter. That was an offer I could not refuse and so I purchased my ham.

The ham did not have a lot of fat on the top to score, but I have found this to be the case with a lot of small British gammon joints, too. Anyway, I did my best, stuck the cloves in and cobbled together a glaze from my homemade cranberry sauce, some marmalade made by a friend and, well, it would have been a pity to waste that amarena syrup from the jar of Amarena Fabbri I used for my "chocolate thingies" the other day, wouldn't it? The cooking smell was seasonal and friendly, the finished ham looked almost like the "real" thing and it tastes just fine:

And now I'm done with nostalgia for another year....

NEW YEAR'S DAY FEAST AT GINA'S

There was feasting yet again at Gina's today and this is what over twenty lucky people ate:

After an antipasto of aubergine salad there were home-made cannelloni of spinach and ricotta and of meat:

Then there was polpettone , one of Gina's specialities:



There were also spiedini



accompanied by chips as only Gina can make them, cooked in her wood-burning oven in olive oil and with rosemary



and mushrooms



and dressed peppers



plus peas and green salad.

Afterwards there was fruit followed by dishes of pastries




and I took along what I imaginatively call my "chocolate thingies" which I have now perfected:



Recipe for Welshcakes Limoncello's Chocolate Thingies:
To make 25-30 of these, you will need about 250 gr of the best, pure white chocolate and 250 gr pure dark chocolate or vanilla-flavoured chocolate. Have some small paper cases ready on a heat-proof plate. Into these sprinkle some chopped, toasted almonds [no need to toast them if you have fresh Sicilian ones] and a cherry from a drained jar of Amarena Fabbri cherries. Melt the chocolate one bar at a time in a microwave or a double boiler, watching it carefully as it catches in an instant. [If you use a microwave I suggest you heat it on medium for 30 seconds at a time until it is ready.] Use a small teaspoon to fill the cases with chocolate. Decorate with chocolate vermicelli, more chopped almonds, edible silver balls, etc. Leave them in the fridge for at least a couple of hours and until ready to serve. Everybody likes these!

L'ANNÉE DES RETROUVAILLES

I haven't seen my French friend Marie-Laure for 6 years and at the beginning of each year that I've been in Sicily we have promised each other that that year would be "l'année des retrouvailles". However, family commitments, work and life in general had prevented such a reunion - until today. Marie-Laure and her Welsh husband, David, are on holiday in Modica so we met up at the Bar Edicolè for a long, leisurely and loquacious lunch.

It was the first time I've had a full lunch at the Edicolè and I must say the food was excellent. To start, I had pasta with mushrooms and pancetta



while both Marie-Laure and David had rice salad with tuna:



Then we each had arrosto misto with salad:



After all that, Marie-Laure and David could only find room for coffee but I, being more used to Sicilian portions, managed an ice cream!

Then we all headed back to my apartment for another reunion, that of Marie-Laure with Simi, whom she had not seen since my gorgeous one was a puppy:



A happy day and Simi thoroughly approved of the company!

FOODIE FRIDAY

I needed a fast supper tonight so what better than a chunk of freshly made schiacciata [focaccia] bread from a local baker and these little squares of minced meat topped with salame and cheese from the butcher along the street? Added a little of the chicken and artichoke salad I made yesterday, put a little bowl of olives on the side and Roberto's your uncle!

ROSA'S POLPETTE

What a nice surprise I had at lunchtime today when Rosa [who cleans my flat, organises me and looks after me like a sister] arrived with a dish of these delicious polpette. Of course I had to sit her down and get her to tell me the recipe and she has given me permission to share it here. It's a kind of Italo-Albanian recipe and Rosa, like many cooks I know, doesn't give precise quantities, so we can all have fun working them out for ourselves!

8 oz [about] finely minced veal or beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 or 2 red peppers, chopped
a little rice [no need to parboil first]
pane grattuggiato [fine breadcrumbs]
2 eggs
some homemade tomato sauce
salt and black pepper

Mix everything together well. Form into ball shapes. Put them in a frying pan with about 4 tablesp olive oil and fry till they take on a good colour. Put them all in an ovenproof dish with water to just cover and cook at 200 C. "How long for?" I asked. "Oh, you'll have to test them every now and then and when you judge the rice to be ready, they're done", said Rosa. If you like, sprinkle a little lemon juice over the polpette to serve.

INVOLTINI CON ZUCCHINI

Found these oven-ready at the butcher's this morning and they looked so pretty that I just had to try them! [Tomatoes neatly stuffed with minced pork, topped with zucchini and tiny cherry tomatoes.]

POLPETTONA - COTTA!

Here's how one of yesterday's polpettone from the butcher looked after I'd cooked it tonight and you can also see how I chose to present it. One was quite enough for a cosy supper for two [I have frozen the other one].

Note to my students: "looked after I'd [ = "had"] cooked it" - the meaning is I cooked it first, then this is how it looked!

WHAT 40 € WILL BUY

We have had our sun back today, along with a temperature of 22 C outside at lunchtime and so, for the first time in weeks, I felt like sauntering down to the location of "the best butcher in town": it is not far away, but it is an uphill walk back and that is not easy when you are carrying a lot of bags in inclement weather.

Here's what I got there for 40 € :

Back row, left to right: 6 super-sized lemons, 4 arancini [rice balls - all right, pyramids, then], 2 "thingies" [about which more below].

Middle row, left to right: 1 kilo small pears, 1 kilo lamb pieces on the bone, a large pack of basil.

Front row: 6 breaded veal escalopes and a pack of datterini tomatoes.

I have made arancini but in my opinion the experts can make them better and that is generally my philosophy about ready-prepared food: make what you know will turn out well at home but buy what can be prepared better professionally. I would guess that this is the philosophy of most Italians, too. Why make a mess egging and breading escalopes yourself if a butcher will do it freshly on the premises and make a neater job of it? Now, you may be wondering about the "thingies" at the back right of the first picture and so was I ! I asked the butcher if they had a name and he said they were "sort of polpettone" [big meatballs] of pork mince encased in very thin beef fillet. When I cook one I will let you know how it tastes!

I am out of touch with UK prices by now, but wherever you are, I would be interested to know whether you think this was a "good haul" for my 40 euros!

According to survey results published today, you can forget the sushi bars that have become popular all over Italy in recent years because pasta is still the number one food preference here. The percentage of those who eat meat often has increased by almost half since 2007 but strangely the popularity of pizza is decreasing. 77.7% of Italians taking part in the survey said they still buy local specialities, choosing cheeses, salami, oil, bread and wine, in that order. Consumption of liqueurs is down [but I don't think these statistics take into account those made at home, which reminds me, it's about time I got my own little distillery going again!] Wine production is lower than in 2007 because of climactic factors. Consumption of mozzarella di bufala is up in Italy, despite recent problems. Well done, the Italians, for supporting, on the whole, their own, beloved food produced in the time-honoured way.

By the way, I am still awaiting the plumber-electrician man - pazienza!

POLPETTINE

There are some Italian dishes that are such a joy to prepare, the process requiring so much care, pazienza and love, that I forget about everything else and am completely happy when engaged in the task.

Thus it was yesterday when I made these polpettine - another recipe from the Cucina del Sole book, which I love because it has instructions like, "Add an egg or 2", "Roll the mixture into balls and then, when they feel right, add seasoning " and , most importantly, "Use your hands" [something which my mother always told me a good cook does]. In other words, the book allows the cook her instinct.

I am the first to admit that my food pictures aren't perfect and, just like my meatballs, they are not of uniform shape and size: I do crop out some of the kitchen paraphernalia and sometimes use the "auto enhance" but I don't otherwise "doctor" them - I wouldn't know how! - and I don't steal them from recipe books, either. I tell it like it is in my kitchen!


The meatballs contain: lean minced beef, chopped capers, basil, garlic, pane grattuggiato [very fine breadcrumbs] plus olive oil and egg to bind . After being browned, they are cooked in a home-made tomato sauce [here my summer's labour is rewarded as I always have some in the freezer] to which red wine and sugar is added, along with a little chilli [I used my chilli spray, which I find excellent]. Chopped almonds form the garnish.

BRACIOLINE ALL'ARANCIA

I thought I'd try a different way of making bracioline [filled meat rolls, in this case, veal] last night and was pleased with the result: the veal scaloppine are lined with prosciutto crudo and filled with orange segments. They are then dipped in a mixture of egg and milk and rolled in pane grattuggiato [very fine, fresh breadcrumbs which we can buy]. They are cooked on the hob and served in a sauce containing onion, white wine, fresh orange juice, grated orange rind and, of course, seasoning. The sauce is thickened with a little cornflour. The blood oranges available at the moment are perfect for this recipe. In Britain I used to find recipes like this, involving dipping and coating, rather messy to prepare but this is not the case here, with the availability of pane grattuggiato. I ran out of oranges with which to garnish the dish, so used clementine and lemon slices.

BRACIOLINE

Another happy result from following my new cookbook: veal escalopes rolled around a filling of pancetta, finely chopped garlic, parsley and basil, a few capers and some grated pecorino or similar cheese. These are then cooked in a sauce of a little minced pancetta, chopped onion, garlic, carrot , tomatoes and red wine. Oh, I nearly forgot - a little chilli can be added, either dried or I used my spray chilli seasoning, which I like more and more. Traditionally, the sauce can be used upon a first course of pasta, with only a little being reserved to accompany the bracioline as a main course.

Some time ago my lovely "foodie" commenter Ludlingtonian asked me about the difference between braciole and involtini: I replied that, strictly speaking, braciole can be made from meat with the bone in [which is not the case in this particular recipe] though most cooks I know here use the terms interchangeably. The -ina suffix [singular] on bracioline implies "small", but I don't think anyone worries much about the various terms any more!

ARROSTO DI CARNE

I showed a similar picture nearly a year ago, but for newer readers, this is what you get when you order a mixed roast at my favourite bar, the Altro Posto: hamburger, sausage [which has been flattened out and roasted] and chicken thigh, all cooked in olive oil, seasonings and with rosemary.

ANOTHER IDEA FROM THE BUTCHER

At the butcher's on Saturday I found these swirls of pork meat, stuffed with a little chicken and cooked ham, balancing ever so prettily on slices of cucumber. Of course I had to try them. I just brushed them with olive oil again to cook.

I CANNOT RESIST....

Ha! I bet you all thought I was going to say "these shoes", didn't you? I cannot resist buying thin-skinned lemons with the leaves still attached, such as these. The perfume is heavenly.

On another food-related matter, a pleasant waitress in one of the bars seems concerned for the state of my soul because I eat meat on a Friday. I'm sure Dorothy Parker's maxim can be applied to foodie sins as well:

"Whose love is given over-well

Shall look on Helen's face in hell,

Whilst they whose love is thin and wise

May view John Knox in paradise."

Buona Pasqua a tutti!

OF CUTS OF MEAT AND THINGS

I baked these pork chops last night with apples and in a honey and mustard sauce [Dijon-style mustard being available here] then took the photo just to show you how the chops are cut differently to those found in Britain. You do sometimes see a shape similar to the British cut, but the chops are smaller and thinner.

Lamb, as I've mentioned, is more difficult to find but will be coming into the shops more frequently in the run-up to Easter. The best way of obtaining lamb chops is to go to the frozen food centre and get them to cut up a whole shoulder. I then freeze the chops I don't immediately need.

Carrots are the bane of my life [along with water!] as they are usually sold in large packs like this. I've just turned this lot into soup, which brings me to a discussion I had with Irma over Christmas, about Italian cuisine not having a great repertoire of soups. Apart from minestrone and the wonderful Tuscan ribollita, they are rarely served and this must be because pasta is king. Spezzatino, which we would call casserole or stew, is a different matter and the cubes of meat used in its preparation are much larger than in Britain.