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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"Sciusceddu"

As during all holidays, Sicilian tables are a riot of flavors and beauty for the palate and the sight of everyone, young and old, even on Happy Easter. Among the principal dishes of the period, there is the "sciusceddu" a recipe prepared throughout the island but whose origins are strictly of Messina.

About this rich soufflé, based on meatballs, ricotta and broth, there are several variants that affect the method of preparation and ingredients, but I propose the city of the Strait housewives's recipe, where it is prepared, in particular, the Easter Sunday. Typical of the Messina area is, for example, the cheese used for the dish: the Maiorchino, a ewe's cheese of the area of ​​Peloritani mountains. Even of the name "sciusceddu" exist variants: "ciusceddu" or "trusceddu", which however must be traced to, according to various interpretations, the Latin word "juscellum", which means soup, or the Sicilian verb "ciusciare" or the French "souffler", both meaning blow.

Start by preparing a beef broth. Pour into a saucepan 1 litre of water and add the pieces of meat, tomato, onion, celery and carrots. Simmer until all the broth will not be well thickened. Now prepare the dough for the meatballs. In a generous bowl pour the minced meat, finely chopped parsley, minced garlic thin, breadcrumbs, grated cheese (150 grams) and 3 eggs. Knead the dough with your hands to form the balls slightly larger than an olive. When you are done, strain the broth and add, instead, the meatballs, leaving them to cook for about 5 minutes.

While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the cream that will cover them. Open the eggs (6) and separate albumen and yolks. In a bowl pour the ricotta with the remaining cheese (150 grams), yolks, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix together the ingredients. Now whip the egg whites, then pour over gently othe ricotta and mix well together with movements from the bottom up.

Arrange on the bottom of a baking tray with high sides the meatballs with the broth, then spread on the cream prepared with ricotta. Bake the whole at 200 degrees and let it cook until the surface will form a golden crust. Shortly before leaving the baking tray from the oven, I suggest you sprinkle with other cheese and finish cooking. Serve hot.




I suggest you serve the "sciusceddu" accompanied by a good white wine with a dry taste. If you prefer more delicate flavors, you can prepare the broth without the meat and use the Parmesan cheese instead of ewe's cheese.


Doses for 6 people:

1 kilogram of veal cut into pieces to prepare the broth
600 grams of minced beef or veal
800 grams of fresh ewe's ricotta
9 eggs (3 for the mixture for the meatballs and 6 for the cream with the ricotta)
300 grams of Maiorchino cheese or, alternatively, another ewe's cheese
100 grams of bread crumbs
2 carrots
1 celery
1 onion
1 ripe tomato
a thinly sliced bunch of ​​fresh parsley
1 very thin chopped garlic clove (the garlic is optional)
1 and a half tablespoon of salt
2 teaspoon of pepper
the tip of a teaspoon nutmeg

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


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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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Pasta with picchio pacchio sauce (pasta a "picchi pacchiu")

Many of the Sicilian friends will smile when reading the curious name of this recipe. In my research to understand its origin, in fact, I found very little information, but according to the most widespread, it seems that this is a wordplay born from the term "Pacchio" that, in the island dialect, indicates the female sexual organ  and, by analogy, this good and exciting sauce has the same nickname. In the proposed recipe that I use this sauce, originally from Palermo, to season the pasta, but the Sicilian housewives add it in various preparations: the pasta with tenerumi, with borage, with zucchini, but also in soups, soups fish, stewed salt cod and, above all, in a famous dish, also from Palermo, the "babbaluci" (snails that are prepared for the feast of the patron saint, Santa Rosalia, on 14 and 15 July). This versatile sauce, ideal for the palates of our vegetarian and vegan friends and some call also abbreviating pic pac, has the great advantage of being easy and quick to prepare. In short, perfect when you do not have much time and want to accomplish something genuine and cheap.

To realize the "picchi pacchiu" sauce, you must first clean up the tomatoes. After washing, place a saucepan with cold water and dip them in. When the husks tomatoes break, remove them from the pot and place them in a colander. Once they have cooled, peel them, open them in half to remove seeds, then cut them into strips and set aside. Now prepare onions and garlic: remove the peel and chop finely, especially the garlic (if you do not like garlic, cut it into two parts so that it can recognize and delete at the end of the cooking sauce). At this point you place on a frying pan with oil, add onions and garlic and let cook everything for a few minutes (3-4), low heat. After you add the tomatoes, the chopped basil leaves, salt and pepper. Let cook for about fifteen minutes.


Meanwhile boil some water for pasta. When pasta is ready, drain it, pour the sauce, some basil leaves and dish out. Add on every dish abundant grated caciocavallo cheese (or toasted breadcrumbs for our vegan friends). For gourmets who enjoy the spicy flavors I suggest you add the dried red chilies cut thinly.





Doses for 4 people:

- 600 grams/1 lb 5 oz of pasta (long or short, choose the kind you prefer)
- 1,500 kilograms/3 lb 5 oz of tomatoes for sauce (if you like sweet tastes, I recommend you use the "datterini" quality)
- 100 grams/4 oz of grated Caciocavallo cheese (for vegan friends, you can replace the cheese with the toasted breadcrumbs)
- 1 white onion (small or half of a large)
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (if you do not like garlic, cut into 4 pieces just so you can later remove)
-  salt (2 tablespoons)
-  freshly ground black pepper (2 teaspoons)
-  extra virgin olive oil (3 tablespoons)
-  dried red chilli, finely chopped (2 teaspoons; chili is optional)
- fresh basil leaves (some chopped, others left intact)

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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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Pasta with pesto sauce in the Trapani's style ("agghiata trapanisi")

Typical of western Sicily, the pesto sauce in the Trapani's style recipe, that is called "agghiata" is, in practice, a reworked version of the traditional pesto sauce. From the East, the Genoese sailors who stopped in the port of Trapani, in fact, did know the pesto to the local inhabitants, who modified it by adding some typical ingredients of their land: the almonds instead of pine nuts, and tomatoes. The ideal would be to step on the various ingredients in the mortar, but if you do not have enough time at your disposal you can use a blender or a mixer. The result will still be a quick and easy sauce to realize that will captivate everyone with its aroma and scents of Sicily. The original recipe also provides for the use of "busiate", a typical pasta format of the Trapani area.

After washing the tomatoes, place on the fire a pot of water and soak the tomatoes. Leave them for about 2-3 minutes until their skin does not begin to split. At that point, drain and let cool them. When they will be cooled, remove the peel, cut them in half and remove the seeds. Now add them in the mortar (or blender) along with basil, garlic and almonds cut into small pieces and two tablespoons of oil. As pounded add the other two tablespoons of oil. When you have finished pounding the ingredients, let stand the sauce, then after about twenty minutes, add salt, pepper, grated pecorino cheese. Mix well and add only a little oil on the surface.



At this point put on fire a saucepan of salted water to prepare busiate pasta. When the pasta is al dente drain it, arrange on plates and season with your pesto sauce. Before adding the sauce, dilute it with two tablespoons of cooking water.

I recommend you to combine pasta all'agghiata with a great dry white wine, which will enhance the aroma of this irresistible first dish.


Doses for 4 people:

- 500 grams/1 lb of pasta "busiate" (alternatively, you can use the spaghetti or bucatini)
- 300 grams/11 oz of tomatoes (preferably plum or Pachino quality)
- 1 tablespoon of grated pecorino
- 70 grams/3 oz of basil
- 50 grams/2 oz of almonds, shelled and peeled
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic (if you find the quality red, but if you do not like, you can not put it)
- salt (6 teaspoons)
- ground black pepper (2 teaspoons)

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Sun dried tomatoes in oil ("pomoduru sicchi")

Sun dried tomatoes in oil are one of those traditional canned in oil that the housewives of the South of Italy prepare at the end of each summer and during the winter they pull out of their pantries to cook or accompany some traditional dishes, so bringing to the table a bit of colors and flavors of the sweet and sunny summer season.

The recipe that I propose below is followed by the Sicilian housewives, for the drying and seasoning.

In most of the Island to make this canned oil it's used San Marzano tomatoes, but in some locations are used those of Pachino, while in others you add the capers when the tomatoes are seasoned. I prefer to use San Marzano and do not add the capers, I faithfully follow the recipe of my home that has always conquered all. Very simple to prepare, sun dried tomatoes in oil, however, require a lot of care and patience during the delicate time sun drying. But if the daily grind does not leave you much time, today you can buy already dried tomatoes.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them lengthwise into two parts, arrange on a wooden board or a baking sheet and season with salt thoroughly. Then cover with a thin net, which is used to prevent that the insects are put above, and put them under the sun from 9 am to 5 pm. In the evening I recommend you store tomatoes inside to avoid damp evening. Repeat this for about 8-10 days, turning every two days, until the tomatoes will not lose all their water.

At this point, wash the tomatoes inside a pot with lukewarm water. Repeat for 2-3 times in order to eliminate all the salt. Then place them back in the sun 3-4 days, until they are completely dry.

Now go to season your tomatoes. Arrange in layers inside the bowl, you have sterilized before, alternating these layers put in inters cloves of garlic and some cloves sliced , fresh chilli both whole and cut into slices and oregano. At the end, add the extra virgin olive oil. The oil will have to overcome the final layer of tomatoes by 2-3 fingers. Every time that you consume tomatoes take care to add a bit of oil.

Usually the dried tomatoes are eaten as an appetizer accompanied by good homemade bread but if you get a little ' fantasy you can also add them to first, second and salads , giving a particular taste that will conquer your friends. Try, for example, to add the chopped dried tomatoes to spaghetti garlic and oil , or try to make a mousse to spread.  You will see the result .

Ingredients :

- San Marzano tomatoes (or Pachino variety , if you love the sweet flavors)

- Green and red hot peppers

- Origan

- salt

- extra virgin olive oil

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