Marie-Laure and David left Sicily yesterday so on Wednesday evening I cooked them a Sicilian feast.
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For the antipasti below I bought spiced mushrooms and grilled carciofi [artichokes] and made the filling for the cherry tomatoes. This is what you do: sit yourself down and halve some cherry tomatoes. Then scoop out pulp and seeds with a tiny spoon. Sprinkle them with seasalt and leave upside-down on kitchen paper to drain. Then rinse and dry them and fill with a mixture of bel paese cheese, basil, seasoning, lemon juice and white wine which you have whizzed up with a hand blender or in a processor.
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To make these
antipasti halve a melon and scoop out the seeds. Then drain some tinned grilled peppers and courgettes and arrange them on cocktail sticks as artistically as you can. "Hmmm - that looks fine but what shall I put in the middle?" I asked myself. "Olives!" I told me and that's what I did:
Antipasto of melon and Parma ham:
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I bought Sicilian
classico bread and
pane arabo.
For a pasta course, I made
herbed risotto cake. You can serve it cold or at room temperature and so spend more time with your guests.
Main courses:
Involtini di maiale [these are pork rolls stuffed with
pancetta and gherkins] one of my favourite recipes from
Marcella Hazan's Marcella Cucina. You can prepare the
involtini a few hours ahead and refrigerate them. Then all you have to do is roll them in flour, slosh in the wine and tomatoes and cook. [Marcella says simmer for 30 mins but I find it does no harm if you leave it on a low flame for an hour.]
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Grilled chicken
scaloppine with Parma ham and sage leaves. So quick and simple!
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Then I served fresh fruit
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followed by
strawberry tiramisù. There have been no strawberries about since the beginning of July and when I went shopping on Wednesday morning I thought I'd have to turn it into a peach
tiramisù. However, the Cooking Fates were on my side for lo and behold, in the supermarket there were strawberries!
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We're not finished yet, though, for my guests had espied this delicious semifreddo in one of Modica's many dolcerie:
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Finally I served a selection of my home-made liqueurs and, instead of hot coffee, offered
these [chilled] which Marie-Laure and David agreed are a brilliant invention:
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Give my love to Wales, Marie-Laure and David!