BAKED ONIONS WITH APRICOT RAGU

Baked, stuffed onions are a favourite in Sicily during the Giarratana onion season and I used the largest ones I could find for this recipe.  The ragù with dried apricots and almonds is my own invention because I wanted to do something different, so all you Sicilians who are shocked by the mix of "sweet and savoury" had better look away now!

First, clean, trim and peel 6 large, flattish onions and then put them in simmering, salted water for 20 minutes or until tender but not falling apart.  Lift them out of the pan with a slotted spoon and let them dry on kitchen paper on a plate.

Heat the oven to 170 C while you make the ragù.  These quantities are enough to fill the 6 large onions and to have some ragù left to put around them:

4 tablesp olive oil + extra for drizzling
200 gr mixed, minced meat [typically pork and beef in Sicily]
200 gr pasta di salame [sausage mince]
125 gr mushrooms, chopped
6 fresh mint leaves, chopped
125 ml white wine
100 gr chopped almonds
100 gr dried apricots, chopped
coarse seasalt and black pepper
mint leaves to garnish

Brown all the meat in the 4 tablesp olive oil and add the mushrooms. Stir well, then add the wine, chopped almonds, chopped mint and apricots. Season the mixture, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 25 mins.

Meanwhile, scoop out the centre of the onions as best you can. [I used a small knife and a teaspoon.] Oil a glass or ceramic oven dish and place the onions in it. Now fill them with the ragù and spoon the remaining ragù around them. Drizzle more olive oil over the contents of the dish and bake for about 30 mins. Garnish with more mint leaves.

Buon appetito!

SCECCU PORTA E SCECCU MANCIA

Sceccu porta e sceccu mancia.

He brings donkey [meat] and eats donkey [meat].

- Sicilian saying  [usually said of someone who brings food  - probably a dessert - to a meal with friends or family and then is the first to eat it!]

Having followed the relevant twitter feeds here, I can't help feeling that Italians have rather enjoyed the UK horse-meat scandal, simply because it proves yet again that we know nothing about food.  How, after all, could we not have detected it over all these years? Only the citizens of a nation where sausages and bacon are eaten in the morning could have such undiscerning tastebuds, the reasoning goes. The French view it all rather differently, as they just can't see what the problem is:  "It's horse-meat - et alors?"

The laughter died down somewhat a couple of weeks ago when the management of a popular international furniture store banned meatballs from its restaurants in Italy and 13 other countries after horse-meat traces had been found in the product in the Czech Republic. Then traces were found in a pack of ready-made lasagne in Verona Province. Though not as nonchalant as their French neighbours, consumers here are scandalised less because the products may contain horse-meat and more because they do not contain the ingredients stated on their packaging or publicity.  But now - oh, no! - traces of horse-meat have been found in the ragù produced by a well-known Italian manufacturer of stock cubes and sauces.  Of course, any Italian woman with any pride makes her own brodo and ragù - or so we are led to believe - but if that were always true the products wouldn't sell, would they?  I do make my own ragù and freeze it in small portions, as you need it as an ingredient in timballi or pasta al forno but will admit I've been tempted, at times, to buy the new small portions of ragù made by this company. I'm glad I didn't!  

Image: WP Clipart

IL RAGÙ DI ROSA PRIORE

I love this clip from Sabato, domenica e lunedi [1990] in which Sofia Loren, as Rosa Priore, argues with other women about the best recipe for a ragù. It is not so far removed from what could happen in an Italian butcher's today....