Fried pumpkin flowers

Under the warm sun of Sicily, from March to August, blossom the pumpkin flowers, beautiful to see and equally good to eat. Below I propose you a typical dish of the Sicilian cuisine, very simple to make, which exalts their delicious flavor. To prepare it for the best I recommend using fresh pumpkin flowers and strictly extra virgin olive oil. Of this fast plate there is also a more delicious variation, made by the housewives of the island, which includes a filling of chopped mozzarella or mozzarella and anchovy fillets. I will show you both, your palate will suggest to you what to cook. In any case, you will not regret your choice.

After buying the pumpkin flowers, preferably choose the ones still closed, deprive of the stems and pins and wash them gently under cold water. Take care to open them and clean them with water even inside. With the same delicacy, wipe them with a cloth. Now start preparing the mixture for the batter. In a large bowl pour durum wheat flour and 00 flour, beer and salt. Mix everything well, until the texture of the batter is sufficiently liquid.

Now place a large frying pan on the fire, pour oil and heat it. One at a time, put the flowers in the batter and bake them well on both sides. Drain the excess of batter and put them in the pan with  the hot oil. When the flowers are golden, gently wrap them over the other side and when they will be ready remove them from the frying pan and put on a platter lined with absorbent paper to catch the excess oil.

If you want to prepare the version with the filling inside, after washing and drying the flowers, open them carefully and introduce a cube of mozzarella and, if you like, also an anchovy fillet. I suggest you to serve the flowers  still hot and accompany them with a good glass of fruity white wine, firm or slightly sparkling. Ideal for a lunch with your own vegetarian friends and if you prepare them in the non-filling version for vegan ones too.



Doses for four people:

- 16 fresh pumpkin flowers
- 50 grams/2 oz of durum wheat flour
- 50 grams/2 oz of 00 flour
- 150 ml/ 1/2 cup of blonde beer
- 1 mozzarella chopped into cube (if you prefer a more intense taste you can use tuma or provola cheese)
- 16 anchovies in oil:
- 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 4 teaspoons of salt


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Schiacciata or "scacciata" with broccoli and sausage

In Sicily, as in the rest of the world, it's around the dinner table that friends and family gather together to spend Christmas among laughter, stories, games and lavish dinners. The island housewives, even the younger ones with less and less time available, divided between work and family, spend whole days to prepare delicious dishes, which are the real stars of this holiday season and whose recipes are handed down from mother to daughter by generations. Among an incredible variety of delicacies, this year I decided to proposer you a typical Christmas recipe from Catania but now widespread throughout the island. It is, in practice, a stuffed savory pie: the "schiacciata" or, as they say in dialect, "scacciata". There are several variants of this recipe: some stuffed with tomato, anchovies and tuma (a typical cheese of the island's north-east), others with cauliflower and sausage. I have decided to follow the traditional recipe, the one at Christmas and New Year's triumphs on the tables of the whole island.

The recipe is a bit 'long and complex, especially the preparation of the dough requires a bit' of practice, but I will guide you step by step and also, to shorten the time, I suggest you start preparing the day before some ingredients that will serve for the filling: potatoes, sausage and broccoli.

Start to prepare broccoli. After washing, cut the tops: sliced ​​the bigger ones but leave the smaller ones whole. Boil a pan with water plenty of salt (2 tablespoons), when the water bubbles soak the broccoli for a few minutes (max 5 minutes). Then remove them and drain in the colander, where you will leave them to cool. Now started to peel the potatoes, wash and cut into slices. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C and let preheat. In the meantime, take a baking dish and arrange the slices of potatoes, sprinkle with the tomato puree (4-5 tablespoons), add water (100 ml), 1½ tablespoon of oil, 3 teaspoons of salt. After mixing everything, bake the pan and simmer for about 20 minutes. Halfway through cooking, take care to turn the potatoes but gently, to prevent them grinted. Once cooked, remove from oven and let cool in a colander. Repeat the same operation for the sausage: after having peeled and crumbled, put it in a baking pan by adding 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce and 1 glass of water. Bake, always cook at 200 °
 Cfor about 20 minutes, stirring a few times. Then, remove from oven and let cool. Finally, now that broccoli are very cold, put on a frying pan with 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and one clove of garlic. When the garlic is golden, remove it and add the broccoli. Brown them for a few minutes, turning them with extreme delicacy. Remove them from the pan and let cool in a colander.


Now let us dedicate ourselves to the final part of the recipe: the preparation of the dough, which I suggest you make the day after cooking the potatoes, sausage and broccoli. First you dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water (80 ml) and sugar (2 teaspoons). Now in a bowl or on a pastry board the flour and give them the shape of a fountain, topped with a recess in which you will add the lard and the water in which you have dissolved the yeast. Mix with your hands and gradually add the water required. Only at the end add salt (2 tablespoons). I recommend you add salt only at the end, so that it does not come into contact with the yeast, which would block the leavening. Knead the dough until its appearance is smooth, elastic, but mainly dry: should not remain stuck on your hands and give it the shape of a ball. Now oil a bowl and arrange inside the dough, cover with a tea towel. Let rise for around 1½ hours, until the ball has doubled in volume. In the meantime, prepare the onions: wash, remove the skin and cut into thin strips, and the olives: cut them in half, remove the core and cut into small pieces.

At this point, take the dough and divide it in two parts. Roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured work surface giving it the shape of the pan you wish to use: round or rectangular and high about 1 cm. I suggest you leave a puff pastry slightly larger than the other, it will need to close the side of the schiacciata. Now grease the baking dish with oil and arrange on top of one of the puff pastry, raising the side edges, they'll need to close. Now add the filling you will place in layers: first the Tuma cheese (I suggest you use the Tuma at room temperature), then the potatoes, the broccoli, the sausage, finally again Tuma cheese.

Sprinkle all with onions, olives and freshly ground black pepper. When you place the ingredients, let the free edges, about 2 cm. Now cover with the other puff pastry and try to seal the edges well, rolling them. Perforated with a toothpick the surface of the puff pastry, so as to let out the water vapor during cooking. Cover your pan with a cloth and let stand for 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile make preheat the oven to 200 ° degrees static. Spent half an hour, bake the pan and cook for about 40 minutes. After you come out the cake from the oven, brush with oil, further cover with a cloth and let stand for 20 minutes.

For those with limited time, you can buy at the bakery a loaf of already leavened dough. I advise you to taste the pasta lukewarm, but cold is absolutely exquisite too. You can serve it as an appetizer or a main dish and it is ideal for the palates of everyone: young, children and vegetarians. Hence a Christmas in the spirit of  the riot of taste and also with an eye to saving, which never hurts. To enhance the flavor of crushed I recommend a delicate white, well chilled, or totally counter to that a good red full-bodied but not too fruity


Doses for 8 people:

 For dough:
1 kilograms/2½ lb  of flour of durum-wheat semolina (if you want a dough less "rustic" I recommend you use 500 grams of durum-wheat semolina flour and 500 grams of flour '00)
25 grams/1 oz of yeast
sugar (2 teaspoons)
lard (1 tablespoon)
salt
lukewarm water to taste


For the stuffing:
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4 potatoes
1 kilograms/2½ lb of fresh pork sausage
800 grams/1lb 12 oz of broccoli tops (small ones whole, the larger ones sliced)
600 grams/1 lb 5 oz of Tuma cheese (to be used at room temperature, in case take off it from fridge 2/3 hours before use)
2 white onions tender, cut into thin strips
tomato sauce (8 tablespoons)
50 grams/2 oz of black olives
1 clove of garlic
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

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Sicilian style cutlet

Melting pot of Italian cuisine, Sicilian style cutlet is, indeed, an exquisite reinterpretation of traditional Milanese recipe that meets typical ingredients, flavors and fragrances of the island, such as caciocavallo cheese, breadcrumbs, egg and vinegar.

This dish provides, precisely, that the slices of meat are marinated in vinegar, a procedure often followed by the Sicilian housewives because the meat, even those of the fish, don't pulp  soften, leaving, instead, firm and compact.

Perfect to prepare when you have little time and you want to bring to the table a delicious main course, these cutlets with their tasty breading and the particular flavor given to it by pickling in vinegar, manage to give delicate palates and lovers of intense flavors.

First, put the slices of meat to marinate in a dish with plenty of vinegar that has to cover them completely. Let the slices submerged for at least 15 minutes. In the meantime, open your eggs in a dish and beat them until the yolk and the egg white are well blended. Now take charge of preparing the breadcrumbs. After pouring the breadcrumbs in a large bowl, add the grated cheese, finely chopped garlic, salt, fresh ground black pepper and chopped fresh parsley.

Now place on fire a large skillet pan with 5 tablespoons of extra vergin olive oil and let it heat for good. Meanwhile take the slices of meat one at a time, by dripping the excess vinegar, intigetele by both parties before the egg and then in the seasoned breadcrumbs taking care that the breadcrumbs adhere to well.
When the oil is hot, fry your cutlets until they are golden brown on both sides. Place the slices on a tray lined with paper towel, to wipe any excess oil.

I suggest you to accompanied yours cutlets, to which the special breading and vinegar will give a unique flavor, by a full bodied red wine.

Doses for 4 people:

- 600 grams of veal rump slices, sliced ​​thin
- 200/250 grams of breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 glass of red wine vinegar (if you prefer a milder flavor, you can use white wine vinegar)
- 4 tablespoons of grated caciocavallo cheese (alternatively you can use the peppery ewe's cheese)
- A chopped bunch of parsley
-1 thinly sliced clove of garlic
- Salt (6 teaspoons)
- Freshly ground black pepper (3 teaspoons)

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Meat rolls or "braciole" Messina style

In Italian kitchen "braciola" means a slice of lean meat destined to be cooked mostly on the grill .

In Southern Italy the "braciola" , instead , shows a thin slice, usually of meat, but there are also those of fish or vegetables, containing a filling wrapped on itself. Here we propose the braciola according to the use of chop Messina, where this recipe was brought by the Spanish, but reworked by the inhabitants of the Strait that personalized it, giving us today this delicious dish. There are several variants of this preparation which concern the use of butter or oil instead of lard, the kind of cheese to put in the seasoning, the outer breading of rolls. I propose a very simple version, the traditional one of my house  and to enjoy it at its best, if you can, I recommend to cook the chops on the grill .

First you buy from your local butcher tne meat needed for rolls. You'll have to make you give the small slices of silverside cut very thin, or you can use thick flank, but you'll have to beat with a meat mallet to make it thinner. For the size of slice must have a rectangular shape and be approximately hig 4 fingers and 6 long. Many use slices of bigger size, but consider that you can eat the ideal roll in just two forkfuls. Indeed to realize chops very small, to eat in one bite, is considered a true mastery in Messina.

Therefore, start to prepare the "mollica condita" which will serve for the filling. Pour into a bowl grated crumb of dry bread, (if you grate the bread by yourself, try to remove the bread crust and used only the soft part) and add the fresh parsley cut very thin, freshly ground black pepper, grated Pecorino cheese, garlic chipped thin, almost crushed, and salt.

Now arrange the slices of meat on a level and started to fill them. On each slice put in the middle a thin piece of lard, almost a veil, then pour a small amount of our "seasoned crumbs." Some prefer to use in place of lard butter or oil, strictly extra virgin olive oil. In this case you will have to add oil directly into grated crumbs (4/5 tbsp). Finally, add cheese cut into little cubes. I will suggest you use the sweet provolone, if, instead, you prefer a more intense flavor use caciocavallo ocheese or for a softer taste use a  steamed stretched cheese.

After this step, you must close the rolls wrapping them on themselves .

First inwardly bent the side ends, to prevent the filling comes out during cooking, then you begin to wrap the roll in on itself. Now strung one by one in the rolls skewer trying to stop the side ends. Arrange 5/6 rolls at most to skewer. This is a far from simple task , as we well know. This operation is not very simple to realize, we know well. The advice is not to surrender even if your first rolls will not be perfect. Acquire technical and mastery time by time.

Do aflame well the grill or your electric grill and when it is hot put over the rolls. Turn the rolls on the other side halfway through cooking, roughly when you detach from the grid without difficulty. In general, the meat must remain tender and not dry too much to taste better its flavor .

Meat rolls or "braciole" Messina style is a dish to be served at the table during the family celebrations, because they manage to conquer all: young and old , and for delicious dinners among friends. Even the most refined palates can not resist the unique flavor of tender "braciole" that blend well with a full-bodied and intense red wine, but are united in a very pleasant combination even with a good well chilled white wine, both dray that semidry.

Doses for 4 people:

- 600 grams/ 1lb 5 oz of silverside or of thick flank, cut thin- 600 grammi di fettin

- 200 grams/7 oz of grated crumb of dry bread

- 150 grams/5 oz of sweet provoone cuts into cubes (alternatively you can use caciocavallo cheese or steamed stretched cheese)

- 70 grams/3 oz of grated percorino cheese

- 70 grams/3oz of lard (or butter or extra virgin olive oil)

- fresh parsley cut very thin

- freshly ground black pepper (6 teaspoons)

- 1 garlic chipped thin

- salt (5 teaspoons)

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Panelle

Famous all over over the world, "panelle" are an absolutely typical dish of Palermo where, usually, are consumed in paper cone or in a sandwich and for this can be considered a classic example of Sicilian street food.

Simple and economic to prepare, needs, in fact, only chickpea flour for the dough and oil to frying. The only known variant concerns the form to be given to these pancakes: the classical rectangular or the more modern round.

In a pot with 1,5 liters of cold water pour a little bit a time the chickpea flour, salt and fresh ground black pepper. Mix everything very carefully to avoid lumps. When the flour is dissolved completely, place the pot on low heat, add the chopped fresh parsley and continue stirring so that the flour does not stick to the pot. Let cook until the cream has a thick consistency but still soft, about 15-20 minutes. Now pour the mixture on a wooden cutting board, formed a top layer of about 2-3 mm and let cool for about 2 hours. When the mixture is cold and coagulated cut it with a washer and form rectangles (you decide the size). If you prefer the round shape, pour the mixture on the  down of small  saucers.

Now place on the flame a non-stick pan with extra virgin olive oil (3 tablespoons). When the oil is hot, fry the panelle, a few at time so that they don't overlap each other, and remove them after a few minutes, just golden. Place them on a plate lined with paper towels to wipe the excess oil. Bring on the table piping hot and with a dash of lemon. Alternatively you can consume them in a sandwich, accordin the custom of Palermo.


A nice idea and tasty for a appetizer with friends, it can be to prepare mini panelle to serve with a spritz. If, instead, you want to taste the panelle as a secound course I recommend to accompany them with a good fresh white wine, slightly sparkling. If you prefer you can enjoy them while drinking a light beer ora a red, with a more bitter flavor. In additionm the panelle are ideal dish that you can prepare for our celiac friends.

Doses:

- 500 grams/1 lb of chickpea flour
- 1,5 liters of cold water
- chopped fresh parsley
- extra virgin olive oil (3 tablespoons)
- salt (5 tablespoons)
- fresh ground black pepper (2 tablespoons)
- 1 lemon

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Fried sardines ("Sarde allinguate")

Fried sardines , in Sicilian dialect " allinguate " probably because once open and clean take the form of a tongue , are an original dish of the Palermo area that, however, today it is prepared from housewives of the whole island .
Th fundamental ingredient of this recipe are the sardines, strictly fresh, which are very tasty and extremely rich in valuable nutritional  values as the rest of the family of blue fish which they belong. easy to prepare and economic (that never hurts !!!), this dish will catch you for its particular taste, a sort of bittersweet due to the pickling, enclosed in a crisp and very light frying.



First, in a bowl prepare a mixture made of vinegar (2 tablespoons) and water (1 tablespoon), then clean the sardines. Remove the heads, open them in half lengtwise, deprive of thorns and entrails. Wash them carefully and pat dry with paper towels. Now place them in the bowl with the mixture of vinegar and water and let them marinate for about ten minutes. At this point, put on the fire a very large frying pan with oil (4 tablespoons) and let it warm up. Meanwhile, prepare a plate with flour (you can use flour 00 or 0, if you prefer a crispy fried) and floured sardines on both sides. Fry them in the pan over high heat and few at  time, so it does not from overlapping each other. When they are golden brown, remove from pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels, so as to remove excess oil. Season with salt, sqeeze of lemon and serve piping hot.

I suggest you to accompany this dish with a white and sparkling wine.

Doses for 4 people:

- 700 grams/1 lb 8 oz of sardines
- 6/7 tablespoons of flour (00 or 0, if you prefer a crispier fry. I use flour 0)
- 2 glasses of wine vinegar (white wine or red, if, like me, you prefer a intense and more sweet  taste
- 1 glass of water
- 1 lemon
- oil (4 tablespoons)
- salt (1 tablespoon)

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"Ghiotta" of Stockfish (Piscistoccu a gghjiotta)

The "ghiotta" of stockfish, in Messina dialect told  "Piscistoccu a gghjiotta", is one of the most famous dishes of the coast of the city. It is a very simple and genuine dish, it can be considered one course meal and in the past, after the Second World War, was often prepared during the week because it was considered a "poor food" (stockfish was the cheapest fish). Today the "ghiotta" of stockfish is known throught the world as typical dish of the city which overlooks the Sicilian Strait, and for this reason it is inserted in the menus of many restaurants, even the most refined.

Buy the "Pescestocco" (in Italy Stockfish is told Pesce Stocco, in Messina the two words are written united) already soaked and deprived it of thorns and bones; in Sicily people buy it from "piscistuccaru". Wash the stockfish before cooking ande dry carefully with plotting paper. Fry the stockfish, for a few minutes, with extra vergin oil in a no stick pan.

In an other pan with high base (the Sicilian housewives used earthenware pots) fry the onion, finely chopped, with plenty of olive oil (2 spoons). Add tomatoes (no peeled and already cut), salt and ground black pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes previously peeled and sliced. Cook the sauce with potatoes for about 20 minutes. 

United sauce with potatoes and the stockfish already fried. Pour half aglass of white wine and let evaporate. Add the desalined capers, pitted olives, chopped parsley and red hot pepper cut into rounds. Cook over a low fire for about 45 minutes, stirring off and on with great delicacy and adding some water, preferably hot, just enought to cook the fish better. I suggest you monitor the amount of the sauce: if it's necessary still add some water or, if the sauce becomes too liquid, let restrict it prolonging the cooking time. Finally adjust the food with salt and ground black pepper if need be. 

At this point the "Ghiotta", which can easily be prepared also for our celiac friends, is ready and you can bring on the table with a good full- bodied red wine and homemade bread.

Doses for 6 people:

- 1 kilograms of stockfish (it is dried cod)
- 1 kilograms of potatoes (about 10, peeled and cut for long in thick slices)
- 1 red onion (cut thinly)
- 200 grams /7 oz of  green olives in brine pitted
- 100 grams/ 3¾  oz of capers (already washed)
- 15 Piccadilly tomatoes (no peeled and cut in four parts)
- half glass of white wine
- chopped parsley (about 2 spoons)
- 1 red chilli pepper (cut into rounds)
- half glass of extra olive oli
- salt (about 1½ spoon, but adjust according to your taste)
- ground black pepper (about 3 teaspoons, but adjust according to your taste)

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Stuffed peppers

Do you want to prepare a quick and tasty dish? Then, stuffed pepers are what you're looking for. For this recipe, I recommend you to use small and round peppers, because they cook faster than the big peppers. If you use all the three varieties colors of peppers: red, yellow and green, you will notice how the taste changes slightly from one to another, and you can bring to the table an explosion of colors which is a good thing, because the appearance is important too.

First, start to cut the top of the peppers, trying to stay near as close as possible to the green stem. Consider that the hole, you will open, must be sufficient baggy to permitt you to fill the peppers, but it should not be large or the filling may come out. I suggest you to set aside the top of the peppers, so you can use it as a decorative cork.

Now, start to prepare your "mollica" (grated soft part of day-old bread) seasoned. Season the "mollica" with oil, salt, ground black peppercon, 1 chopped clove of garlic and parsley and grated cheese (half Parmesan and half Roman sharp ewe's). Simultaneously wash basil leaves (it's preferable to use the small leaves quality) and dice mozzarella and tomatoes.

Now, fill half all your peppers. After add two cubes of mozzarella, two cubes of tomato and one or two basil leaves in each of them. End to fill the peppers with "mollica", press lightly filling so it becomes settled and, finally, add a little oil. After oiling the bottom of a heat-resistant dish, put inside the peppers, with their decorative cork on the top, taking care to place them very closed so they can't move and fall laterally. Bake at 180° C for about 40 minutes.

These peppers are ideal for everyone, even for friends who follow the vegan diet, and a glass of chilled good white wine will exalt the taste.

Doses for 4 people:

- 12 round peppers
- 3 plum tomatoes
- 1 mozzarella (125 grams/4,5 oz)
- 700 grams/1 lb 8 oz of grated soft part of day-old bread
- 50 grams/2 oz of grated Parmesan
- 50 grams/2 oz of grated Roman sharp ewe's
- 1 clove of garlic
- parsley
- basil (preferable small leaves quality)
- salt and ground black pepper
- extravirgin olive oil

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Stuffed aubergines

The stuffed aubergines is one of the most typical dishes of the sicilian cuisine, it isn't complicated to prepare but it will require a bit of time and patience. The result, however, is ensured. I propose a lighter version, with aubergines cooked in the pot with the sauce, but if you want you can fry aubergines in pan, shortening cooking time. I recommend the following version I am proposing because it's more simple to digest, the flavor is more delicated and you can enjoy best stuffing. For this recipe, I suggest you use small and round aubergines, not those elongated.

First of all, you have to prepare the "mollica" (grated crumb of dry bread) seasoned. 
Season "mollica" with oil, salt, ground black peppercorn, 1 chopped clove of garlic, leaves of basil and piquancy cheese. Personally I recommend "pepato" (typical Sicilian cheese seasoned with black peppercorns), but you can use also Caciocavallo (kneaaded-paste cheese from Southern Italy). 

After washing aubergines, you must cut the top of those and save it, because it will serve you as a cork to close your stuffed aubergines. Dig the inside part of the aubergines and save a part of it that you shall wash with water and salt, then you wring it and, finally, you will fry it in a pan with oil for a few minutes. Mixed, then, the "mollica" seasoned with the interior part of aubergines you have saved and start to fill your aubergines. When you have finished, use the top part of the aubergines as a cork pushing the "mollica" a bit' inside, in such a way that the mollica will not spill. If you want, to stop the cork you can use a small skewer, piercing the aubergines from side to side. 

Menawhile, brown one red onion in a pot. When onion will become blondie add the sauce, salt, ground black pepper and let it cooks. Now put the aubergines in the pot and let them cook for about 45-60 minutes, until the outside of the aubergines will seem soft. 

Oh I forgot, stuffed aubergines are perfect for a vegan diet and you can enjoy it drinking a glass of red wine but also white wine.

Doses for 4 people:

- 8 round aubergines
- 600 grams/1 lb 5oz of mollica (grated crumb of dry bread)
- 200 grams/7 oz of pepato (sicilian cheese seasoned with black peppercorns) or caciocavallo (kneaaded-paste cheese from Southern Italy)
- 1 tomato sauce bottle (500 grams/1 lb 2oz)
- 1 clove fo garlic
- 1 red onion
- basil
- salt and ground black pepper
- extravirgin olive oil

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