BUONA PASQUETTA - HAPPY EASTER MONDAY

This Easter traditional processions are back and Modicans, yesterday, were able to enjoy their beloved Madonna Vasa Vasa, the Easter Sunday procession in which statues of Mary and of the Risen Christ are carried around the town until, eventually, they meet. Other towns have also been able to celebrate in their traditional ways, although there was much polemic about this at first. In the end, I think, it was conceded that people cannot live under Covid restrictions forever and at some point they have to be trusted to be as careful as they can while attending such events. Let us hope that all will be well.

I did not attend, preferring to spend the day here with my dog and perhaps have a day of reflection but I certainly did not lack for food! A kind friend brought me lamb impanate (pies) and cassate (also known as cassatelle or cassateddi) di Pasqua. These last are very different from the iced cassate beloved of tourist magazines and are pastries filled with ricotta and honey. They are a particular speciality of south-eastern Sicily. I made for myself my spezzatino di Pasqua of lamb, onions, artichoke hearts, yellow pepper and potatoes spiced with sumac and flavoured with rosemary and sage. (Lamb cuts are smaller in Italy than in the UK, hence the seemingly vast quantity. I will freeze some.)  The last photo shows two slices of a superb colomba (dove-shaped cake) which was also a gift and it is flavoured with Modican chocolate and amarena (black cherry) icing. Can I make colomba?  I have never tried because there are professional bakers who do it far better than I ever could and have space and equipment for the long, natural rising required, as with panettone.

Happy Easter Monday, everyone!

CROSTATINE DI ZUCCA

I'd never made pumpkin pie before and had expected it to be a nerve-wracking task. However, I was determined to have a go this year as I wanted to make tartlet versions for London Town Modica, Centro Linguistico Internazionale.

We can't get canned pumpkin here and sometimes pumpkin takes ages to soften, but this time all went well. Although I'd consulted lots of recipes, in the end I guessed the cooking time for my mini pies and I was really pleased with the way they turned out!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

BUON GIORNO DEL RINGRAZIAMENTO!

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 22

Some bars have stopped making their own ice cream now that autumn is setting in - setting in by Sicilian standards, that is.  Mr Fargione, however, continues to make his and today I found him happily putting together these pretty gelato vol-au-vents.  Yes, they taste as good as they look!

TREAT OF THE WEEK - 6

When a friend offers you one of these perfect, tiny fruit tartlets with a coffee, it would be churlish to refuse - wouldn't it?

BEAUTY PARLOUR DESSERT

My friend Carmela the beautician gave me this recipe, so in her honour I have named it "Beauty Parlour Dessert".  The honey and the egg wash are my additions:

Take a 230 gr piece of ready-rolled pasta sfoglia or puff pastry and lay it flat on baking parchment on a baking tray.  [The pasta sfoglia we can buy in Italy comes rolled in baking parchment already, so all you have to do is straighten it out onto the tin.]  Sprinkle about 1 tablesp pane grattugiato or fine fresh breadcrumbs on top of the pastry.  Now add 1 tablesp sugar to 250 gr ricotta, mix it and spread the mixture over the breadcrumbs.  To this, add 3 - 4 peeled, cored and chopped apples and drizzle over about 1 tablesp honey. Then sprinkle over a handful of sultanas, a handful of pinenuts and a little powdered cinnamon.  Roll up the pastry from a long side and seal the ends well.  Add a couple of tablsp milk to a beaten egg, mix with a fork and brush the mixture over the pastry. Cook at 180 C for 30 - 35 mins.  Let it cool a little before lifting onto a plate. 

This is best served cold, with a little more ricotta, cream or ice cream. I think I'll serve it with some cinnamon gelato next time.

Grazie, Carmela!

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!

OUR JUBILEE AMBASSADOR?

This is Giovanna, an EIS student who has recently spent a few days in London.  As you see, she has come back full of enthusiasm and we think she should be Sicily's Ambassador to the Jubilee celebrations in the UK!

Giovanna also brought us some delicious, homemade chiacchiere to celebrate the end of Carnival:

LATE SUMMER BREAKFAST

Lemon granita and a pastry. 

THE WOW FACTOR

These traditional chocolate biscuits, made by the mother of a student of mine, are quite simply the best I have ever tasted:

Normal dieting will be resumed as soon as possible - or maybe not.

AN IMPROMPTU LUNCH

Like all Sicilians, my friend Marco never visits without bringing a gift so when he unexpectedly rang my doorbell just now, he presented me with freshly made focaccia and pasticcio from a local rosticceria and some oranges from his garden:

The pasticcio is filled with broccoli and onion.

What a pleasant lunch I am about to have!

CARNIVAL TIME - 2

I like the fact that the Carnival chiacchiere biscuits are different from pasticceria to pasticceria, even in the same town.

CAPPUCCINO COOKIES

I made these in honour of the Befana yesterday.  For those of you who are in Italy, the recipe is in the January edition of A Tavola.

You are supposed to use white chocolate drops but I used the white chocolate covered coffee beans I got at the Chocobarocco Festival, so I am calling my version "Cappuccino cookies".  They are easy to make - I am a great fan of dough that does not need to be rolled out - crunchy and delicious.

NEW YEAR'S EVE LUNCH WITH IRMA

Irma is another friend who is a wonderful cook and this is what we ate for a long lunch today:

There were home dried tomatoes with a piquant dressing

followed by this elegant pasta dish of ham and chiodini mushrooms, invented by Irma

and served on a basil purée:

Then there was roast pork

prettily served with a fennel and orange salad and apple purée:

Now, I have to say I'm proud of this.  I had invented a semifreddo of white torrone to take along as a dessert.  I got the idea from a magazine but the recipe seemed unnecessarily complicated to me, so I adapted the semifreddo of marrons glacés recipe from Il Cucchiaio d'Argento and it worked very well.  I found the chocolate letters and numbers in the supermarket.  [They are by paneangeli, if you're in Italy.]

After that, there was Irma's cobaita [or giuggiulena in dialect]

plus mustaccioli biscuits filled with nuts and fig paste and nucatoli honey biscuits.

Now I have to find room for a dish of lentils, to bring myself good fortune in the New Year!

Happy 2011, everybody, from Simi and me! xx woof!

NATALE DA GINA

I was lucky enough to be invited to spend the main celebration, late on Christmas Eve,  and Christmas Day lunch, with my friend Gina and her family.  As regular readers will know, Gina is a wonderful cook and when her mother-in-law is there too, the feasting never ends!  So without further ado, here is what we all ate over Christmas:

Christmas Eve began with a choice of red pasta

or white pasta with mushrooms but of course, we all had both!

Then there was fried baccalà [salt cod].  [I can't eat this because I am allergic to fish.]

Whenever Gina's mother-in-law presides, there is a wonderful polpettone

and Gina had made this steak pie:

There were condimenti of dressed peppers

and patate al forno cooked with rosemary:

There were fennel and green salads too [not shown] and then there was fresh fruit to clear the palate

before we embarked upon Gina's homemade torrone

and her mother-in-law's delicious almond biscuits:

Finally there was panettone [not shown] and then it was midnight and time to open the presents.

A good night's sleep and suddenly it was time for Christmas Day lunch, beginning with this delightful antipasti arrangement:

Then there was pasta al forno

 followed by special sausages

and this dish of meltingly tender lamb with potatoes.

After the salads, there was gel al limone

 and of course there was a tray of Sicilian pastries

followed by panettone which could be cut into star shapes:

If you're wondering if I can still stand up after that lot, the answer is just about!  Thank you, Gina and family for a wonderful Christmas.

TWO SWANS A -SWIMMING

Who could resist these beautiful choux pastry swans in Bar Cicara this morning? Not me!

A WELCOME REOPENING

Our local rosticceria has reopened after a month's holiday and it is so good to catch the aroma of freshly made arancini wafting along the street again.

Look what a nice trayful of focacce, arancini, traditional soft, Modican pizza and pasticcio you can get for €7.80 - just right to share with a friend for supper: