FEASTING WITH AN OLD FRIEND

My friend Carol King, who has recently returned to Sicily, and I decided to celebrate Ferragosto a day late this year, so I kind of cooked her a little meal:

The antipasti included olives, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh datterini tomatoes, mini sausages, bresaola and Parma ham topped with Grana cheese shavings, marinated mushrooms and - I must tell you about this - watermelon with salted cucumber. My original intention was to chuck the cucumber - peeled, deseeded, chopped, salted, left then rinsed, drained and chilled - into the salad but at the last minute I thought it would be a nice addition to the dish of watermelon. Turns out I was right!  The seemingly small apples around the antipasti dishes are actually azzaroli or Neapolitan medlars, which are related to hawthorn. There are mini-pears as well and they are a fine partner for the cheese.

The main course was grilled chicken salad with grilled nectarines. (Yes, I have a thing for grilled nectarines!)   I marinated the chicken in culinary rosewater before grilling and seasoned it with sumac afterwards. I used the dressing I invented for this recipe. The other ingredients were grilled peppers and rocket leaves.

For dessert, I made strawberry tiramisù and Carol brought along the delicious sweet treats on the right.

Everything on this menu can be made in advance and all you have to do is make the antipasti look pretty and assemble the salad.

HIGH DAYS AND......

Cicara Caffeteria's tiramisù                           Strawberry tiramisù                                 Katia Amore's tiramisù

There are high days, there are holidays and then there are "take me high" or tiramisù days.

Now this most beloved of Italian desserts is to officially get its own day and, just in case you need an excuse to make or buy and eat it, that day is 21st March.  It will be celebrated in 34 locations around the world and is the initiative of Eataly and Clara and Gigi Padovani, who have written a book about the dessert and its history, including the hotly disputed topic of which region of Italy can claim to have invented it. 

I've made traditional tiramisù, have followed Katia Amore's recipe for ricotta tiramisù and Matthew Fort's for a strawberry version, which I in turn adapted into an apricot one.

I'm not brave enough to join in the argument about the origins of the dish - I'm just going to continue to enjoy it!

"NOTHING TO BE DONE"

So while you're Waiting for Godot, you might as well eat tiramisù!

Tiramisù at Cicara Caffeteria , Modica

WILL DAY

The subject of this post is not the second in line to the British throne but a much older Will, the bard of Stratford-upon-Avon, whose 450th birthday - or the generally accepted date of it - is being celebrated today.

Yesterday evening a friend who also comes from Stratford-upon-Avon gave a little party in the poet's honour, and tiramisù alle fragole, made to Matthew Fort's recipe which I've mentioned before, was my attempt at a themed dish:

As I tend to do everything arse-backwards, I'd decided on the quote I wanted to use first, and then tried to think of a dish. The quote, in case you cannot see it clearly, is,

"The strawberry grows underneath the nettle"

- Henry V

The "leaves" at the top were my best effort at making pasta di zucchero nettles and, by the time I came to the second one, I decided to leave out the fancy work on the edges. Most of the strawberries, of course, were underneath the mascarpone!

At the party the place settings were decorated with rosemary "for remembrance":

These were just some of the lovely treats:  Ah, sausage rolls!

 Another friend had brought hot cross buns all the way from the UK!

As you see, there was quite a mix of traditions

and in Sicily, in spring, there had to be ice cream!

My friend also provided what, as a teacher, I would call some "realia":

Then there were some readings from Shakespeare's works. [I read Sonnet XXIX, for  my Dad, who died 41 years ago this Easter.] Three friends made rather fabulous witches, I must say!  Finally, I lowered the tone by reading a little ditty I had composed: 

Will Day

Will Shakespeare, yours was quite a muse

from errors down in Syracuse

to propaganda for Queen Bess –

- your plays were thirty-eight, no less.

Poor Hamlet – what a tortured bloke,

for him existence was no joke.

He could have saved some brouhaha

if he’d just said, “Siamo qua.”

But let us find a cheerful fellow,

Macbeth won’t do, nor will Othello.

Bottom, Touchstone, Mistress Quickly

meddled in the plot quite thickly.

Down the ages comes their laughter,

hope it reaches the hereafter.

If it’s true what some folk say,

you never loved Anne Hathaway,

the sonnet lady was a lad,

we don’t care ‘cos your rhymes weren’t bad.

They claim that Bacon wrote the plays –

- one must admit, he turned a phrase,

but not like you, dear Stratford bard,

held for centuries in regard.

We celebrate your birth this eve

and some among us really believe

that though the thing is still the play,

you were Sicilian, anyway.

© Pat Eggleton, 2014

Notes

"Siamo qua" = "We are here" - a common Sicilian saying. It took me some time to realise that it is not an acceptance of physical location, but a reference to the fact that we are still alive and should be grateful!

The idea that Shakespeare was Sicilian is taken quite seriously here and books have been written about it.

BRUNCHING IN SICILY

Throughout Italy it has become fashionable for bars and restaurants to advertise lunch as "brunch" when what they serve bears no relationship to a brunch at all.  So yesterday, for St David's Day, I decided to do the thing properly for a few Italian and expat friends.

There was sausage and baked bean casserole in the kitchen for those who wanted it - the beans came from Cristaldi in Catania - and my main table looked like this:

I like to make "Glamorgan sausages" - which contain cheese, not meat - in round shapes and there they are on the left. Those are Nigella's "Welsh Rarebit muffins" next to them - what my muffins don't have in height they make up for in breadth - and that's homemade chutney and cranberry sauce being served with the cheese.

I know my bara brith, which I'd made on Sunday, didn't look perfect but sliced and served with butter and a friend's homemade marmalade, everyone thought it tasted good!

Those are my "chocolate thingies" on the cakestands, with my strawberry tiramisù at the back and almost-Cadbury's chocolate fingers on the right.  [Thanks, Lidl.]

My "tipsy cake" became rather an Italian one as, given the unavailability of sherry,  I used Maraschino in it.  I'd found the sugared sheep in the supermarket and decided they would be an appropriate decoration:

And of course there were Welshcakes:

A Welsh male voice choir CD,  my blown-up plastic daffodil, good company and a singalong completed the occasion.

A DIFFERENT TIRAMISU

Regular readers may remember that a recipe I very much like making is the strawberry tiramisù in Matthew Fort's book, Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons.  I have also adapted this dish successfully to apricots.  But when I saw a recipe for tiramisù alle banane in the January edition of Vero Cucina magazine, I admit I was hesitant.  However, I gave it a try and was very pleasantly surprised by the result:

The bananas are sautéed with a little butter and sugar before being layered with the crushed savoiardi biscuits and other ingredients and, as I don't like the taste of rum, I moistened the savoiardi crumbs with a little fichi d'India [prickly pear] liqueur.  If you don't want to use alcohol, I imagine fresh orange juice would be a good substitute.  That's freshly ground cinnamon over the top and, as it's carnival time in Italy, I decided a little colour around the edge of the dish was necessary and served it with chiacchiere.  I couldn't resist using  chocolate letters to wish everyone a good February and, if you are thinking that the second b in febbraio looks a bit odd, you'd be right - I'd run out of b letters and had to use two p ones with their tails nicked off!

Rosa and her daughter were the testers on Saturday and they pronounced the dish magnifico!

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM - 2

I was delighted, a few days ago, when my new British-Modican friend Emma called and invited me to "the Royal Wedding - with bacon sarnies", for what Brit - even a diehard Republican like me - could resist the lure of all that pageantry, a big television screen, wonderful company and bacon sarnies?  So it was that a group of about fifteen of us gathered at Emma's house in the Sicilian countryside this morning.

It was easy to pick out the house, although I'd never been there before:

And once inside the gate, there was no mistaking the nature of the occasion.

Emma is an artist and furniture restorer, so indoors there were details like this vintage bunting:

No sooner were we all seated than the bacon sarnies arrived - with "proper" bacon!

And then, during the interval between the arrival of the bridal party at Buckingham Palace and their balcony appearance, lunch was served:

The main course was Emma's delicious Coronation Chicken.

Our friend, artist Marjorie, had made the superb wedding cake, there was also a Victoria sandwich and you can just see my strawberry tiramisù again behind the champagne on the right.  I'll let you have another look at the wedding cake

and the glorious Victoria sandwich:

If these two were the stars of the day for some

for me the top of the bill was Emma's lovely dog, Malaki

who was obviously feeling patriotic too:

Thanks for a lovely day, Emma!

If you are visiting Modica, do stop by Emma's shop.  There you will find the lady herself, plus many objets d'art and other beautiful items.

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM, JOIN 'EM

With the above proverb in mind, this is my strawberry tiramisù, in British colours [well, almost] for a Royal Wedding party here in Modica tomorrow morning.  I toyed with the idea of forming the silver balls into an ER but then remembered what Rita Levi-Montalcini said about knowing your limitations!

PICCOLO MONDO MODERNO

There I was standing at the counter in the Altro Posto at lunchtime  when a pleasant young man came up to me and asked, "Are you Patti?" He  introduced himself as Enzo and  after a second it dawned that this must be the Modican gentleman I talk to every day on twitter.  He'd told me he was coming home for a long weekend but we hadn't arranged to meet.  It turned out that he had known my student Giuseppe, who was with me, since the latter was ten years old so we all had a jolly chat.  Isn't technology amazing?

I'd gone to the Altro Posto to get this tiramisù to celebrate Cathy's birthday at the school:

And here's Cathy [ second from left] with students Graziana and Giuseppe:

This is the present I bought for Cathy.  And now it's over to you, dear reader.  Can you guess what it is?  I'll tell you tomorrow.

The Muppets and Spike Milligan - Small World

Update - 8.5.10:  The mystery object is a thingie to hang your bag from when you're out and about and don't want to put it on the floor:

"LOVE SICILY" COOKERY CLASS - 1

Me with Amanda from Australia [left] and cookery teacher Katia [centre] at loveSicily.


Lois from the USA [right] with Katia and Amanda.

Bright and early yesterday morning [for 8.30 am is very bright and early for me] your intrepid blogger trotted off to Modica Bassa to join Katia of loveSicily and two other adventurous participants for the first cookery class of the week.

The School is situated in the Cartellone district of Modica Bassa and you have to climb up some very steep steps to reach it. Once there, however, you are greeted by Katia and offered refreshment, though it is refreshment enough just to look at the stunning views from the School's balconies:

Once we had all introduced ourselves and were chatting easily about the meaning of "life, the universe and everything", Katia revealed the lunch menu which we were to cook: cavatelli [cavatieddi in dialect] pasta with a broccoli sauce alla siracusana, chicken with Modican chocolate and tiramisù made with ricotta rather than mascarpone.

So, first, the pasta: Katia used durum wheat rimacinata flour and mixed it with salt and water to make a dough:






Then we were each given a portion of dough to roll into a thin sausage shape and cut:



Next Katia presented each of us with one of these implements. [I've been unable to find out what they are called. If there are any Sicilians reading this, please can you tell me?] You are supposed to sort of roll the pieces of pasta down the thingamy to get the cavatieddi shape. It takes a bit of practice!






Once the shapes are made, they can be put aside until you are ready to cook them. Cover them with kitchen paper if you are going to leave them for a long time.

Now for the sauce: First, soak some sultanas in water until they plump up.

Wash and separate the florets of purple-sprouting or white broccoli. This purple-sprouting broccoli was freshly delivered to Katia's door:



Simmer the broccoli in water with a little salt.

Grate some semi-matured and matured ragusano cheese:



Brown a garlic clove in olive oil and add the broccoli. When the broccoli is done add the drained sultana and season with black pepper.



Cook the pasta for a minute or two in the broccoli water and drain.

Add the broccoli and cheese to the pasta and stir.

Should you, dear reader, decide to participate in one of Katia's enjoyable and interesting courses, you will partake of this and the other dishes for lunch on the balcony. However, another school and my eager students awaited your galloping gourmet blogger, so Katia popped my portions in a bag and I had a very special evening meal. I did not, however, take home a portion of pasta as I feared its fate on a bus travelling through narrow, twisting streets in the lunchtime chaos. Therefore I cannot show you a picture of the finished dish.

For the chicken dish, Katia had marinated some chicken thighs in prosecco:



She chopped half an enormous Giarratana white onion and let it sweat in olive oil. When it was soft, she added the drained chicken portions and let them brown:



Meanwhile, she ground two squares of 100% cocoa Modican chocolate



with 2 cloves and some fennel seeds:



She added this mixture to the pan with 3 dessertspoons of white wine vinegar and 1 dessertspoon of sugar. She then let it all cook on the hob for 30 minutes. It was delicious!



And finally, our tiramisù, made the Modican way with ricotta: For 5 ramekins of tiramisù, Katia mixed 2 x 12 oz tubs of ricotta with caster sugar, giving it a final blast with the hand blender:







Then we dipped savoiardi biscuits in cold Italian coffee and fitted them into the bases of ramekins:




We spread ricotta on top of this and sprinkled over a mixture of cocoa powder and cinnamon. The tiramisù was left to chill.






Cincin, readers. Thank you for your company, Amanda and Lois. E grazie a Katia per la lezione divertente.