Sicilian cuisine has been influenced by the cultures of all those who have dominated it over the centuries, starting with the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Normans, Spaniards, just to name a few, but in practice, since the island is at the centre of the Mediterranean and its land is very rich, it has been influenced by many cultures.
From the Greeks they imported olives, from the Byzantines cinnamon and cloves, but from all of them they derived some innovation that we still find today in the island's typical recipes.
Being an island, fish has its importance in the diet of the Sicilians, but there is no lack of land dishes, vegetables and many desserts. Let's start with the appetisers. The most famous is the Sicilian caponata, which should be eaten cold and can also be considered a good side dish. But there are many other recipes such as stuffed olives or seafood salad.
Sicilian caponata
Ingredients for Sicilian caponata
4 small oval aubergines
150 grams of green olives
80 grams capers
3 celery stalks
2 onions
150 grams of tomato paste
80 grams of sugar
200 grams of white wine vinegar
enough olive oil
Preparation of the Sicilian caponata
First you put the sliced aubergines to marinate in coarse salt. That is, they are placed in a colander in layers with lots of coarse salt. This way they lose their water and thus their bitter taste.
Once removed from the salt, wash the aubergines very well under cold running water and dry. Now fry the aubergine slices in plenty of olive oil. You can also use seed oil if you want to make them lighter. Once fried, pass the aubergines through blotting paper to remove excess oil and set aside.
Wash and chop the celery ribs and cook them in boiling water for about fifteen minutes. Remove from the water and set aside.
Fry the finely chopped onions in olive oil in a large frying pan. When they are golden brown, add the celery chunks, chopped green olives and capers, which you have previously washed to remove excess salt. Add the tomato paste, sugar, white wine vinegar and a glass of water.
Leave everything to cook for about 30 minutes. At this point add the aubergines, stir very well to allow them to take on flavour and turn off the heat. The caponata is usually left to cool and stored for the next day, but simply leave it to cool completely (so about an hour to an hour and a half) and you can serve it as an appetiser or side dish.
Stuffed olives Messina style
Ingredients for the Messina-style stuffed olives
400 grams of pitted green olives
120 grams of breadcrumbs
1 clove of garlic
grams 60 of grated seasoned pecorino cheese
1 bunch of parsley or mint
1 pinch of chilli pepper
white wine vinegar, salt and black pepper to taste
olive oil to taste
Preparation of the stuffed olives Messina style
Place the breadcrumbs in a bowl with the finely chopped parsley and garlic clove. Add the grated seasoned pecorino cheese, a pinch of chilli pepper and moisten everything with two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar and a couple of tablespoons of water if needed.
Mix everything well and stuff the olives, which are stone-free, opening them only on one side, with the mixture until all the olives are finished. They should then be refrigerated for at least two hours in a closed container.
Sicilian seafood salad
A delicious Sicilian antipasto with shellfish, seafood, octopus and vegetables.
Needed for the Sicilian seafood salad
grams 500 of already cleaned octopus
grams 500 of already cleaned squid
grams 599 of mussels
grams 250 shelled prawns
1 bunch of parsley
1 carrot
1 celery rib
1 clove of garlic
juice of half a lemon
pepper, salt and olive oil to taste.
Preparation of the Sicilian seafood salad
Clean the octopus and squid and cut them into slices and pieces. Boil them for about ten minutes and remove them from the water. Clean the prawns and remove the head and shell. Cook them for a couple of minutes in boiling water.
Place the mussels in a pot with a lid and place on the heat until the shells are all open. Remove the shells and leave only the mussels. In a rather large bowl now put the octopus pieces, squid rings, mussels and shrimps, add finely chopped parsley and garlic together with the chopped carrot and celery and season with the juice of half a lemon, oil, salt and pepper.
Let the seafood salad cool for at least an hour, stirring occasionally to mix all the flavours well. Serve cold.
Traditional Sicilian first courses
There are many, both land and seafood, and mixed. Let's start with pasta with sardines. This is a first course traditionally prepared in Sicily on St Joseph's Day, 19 March. It used to be prepared in March and September, periods when wild fennel could be found. Today they are found all year round, even if cultivated, and do not have the intense fragrance of the wild ones. Let's then talk about pasta alla Norma or Sicilian style.
Pasta with sardines
Ingredients for pasta with sardines
grams 600 of already cleaned sardines
grams 400 already cleaned wild fennel
grams 400 of bucatini
1 small onion
1 tablespoon sultanas
1 tablespoon pine nuts
5 anchovy fillets
1 sachet of saffron
half a tablespoon of tomato paste
salt, black pepper and olive oil to taste
Preparation of pasta with sardines
First, take the wild fennels already cleaned and roughly chopped and boil them in plenty of salted water for about 30 minutes.
Remove them as soon as they are cooked, but do not throw away the cooking water, which will be used to prepare the recipe.
Finely chop the onion and fry in plenty of olive oil until golden brown. Add the chopped anchovy fillets, sultanas and pine nuts. Dissolve the saffron sachet in two or three tablespoons of water and add it to the sauté. Stir in the tomato paste and add the wild fennel. Season for a couple of minutes and add the chopped sardines. Leave to cook for about 30 minutes adding a couple of glasses of fennel cooking water, or as much as is needed to not make the mixture too dry.
Again in the usual cooking water of the wild fennel as soon as it boils, put in the bucatini and let them cook until al dente.
Season the pasta with the mixture and serve hot.
Pasta alla Norma or Sicilian style
This pasta sauce is said to have been made in honour of Norma, an opera by Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. I think it is the best known Sicilian pasta dish in the world because it combines all the flavours and smells of classic Mediterranean cuisine.
Ingredients for pasta alla Norma or Sicilian-style pasta
3 aubergines
700 grams of peeled chopped tomatoes
1 small red onion
1 clove of garlic
grams 150 of salted ricotta
400 grams of short pasta such as pipe or rigatoni
a few basil leaves
enough seed oil
olive oil to taste
salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation of pasta alla Norma or Sicilian style
First prepare the aubergines, which should be cut into slices of about one centimetre and placed in a colander in layers with coarse salt and left to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauté. Finely chop the onion and put it in a pan with olive oil until golden brown together with the crushed garlic clove (which must be removed before seasoning the pasta).
Add the chopped peeled tomatoes and cook the sauce for about 20 minutes. Mash the sauce with a vegetable mill and put it back on the heat to thicken it well. Add a few basil leaves to make the sauce more fragrant.
In a frying pan with plenty of seed oil, fry the aubergines, which must be removed from the salt, washed well and dried, cut into small pieces, until golden brown.
In the meantime, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water and once cooked, toss it with the tomato sauce and the chopped aubergines. Finish with a generous sprinkling of grated salted ricotta cheese. Serve hot.
Sicilian Arancini
Let us now move on to the best known Sicilian recipe in the world, the arancini. They are neither a first course nor a main course. Many consider it a main course because of its components, which are very substantial. They are generally prepared in two ways, with meat sauce or with cooked ham and cheese.
Ingredients for Sicilian arancini with meat sauce
400 grams of Carnaroli rice
60 grams of butter at room temperature
2 sachets of saffron
salt to taste (this is for cooking the rice)
grams 300 of mixed minced pork and veal meat
half an onion
one carrot
one celery rib
a bay leaf
3 cloves
300 grams of tomato puree
150 grams of peas
half a glass of white wine
50 grams of grated caciocavallo cheese
salt, pepper and olive oil to taste (for the meat sauce)
breadcrumbs, flour and seed oil to taste (this for the breadcrumbs)
Preparation of Sicilian arancini with meat sauce
It is advisable to prepare both the rice and the meat sauce several hours before serving the arancini, as both the meat sauce and the rice must be completely cold before preparing and frying them.
Then start by cooking the rice in plenty of salted water. Once cooked and drained, add the butter and saffron, which should be dissolved in a little water. Mix everything well and set aside to cool completely.
Now prepare the meat sauce.
In a frying pan fry the finely chopped carrot, onion and celery in olive oil. When the vegetables are golden brown, add the minced meat and let it cook for about ten minutes. Add the white wine and let it evaporate completely.
Now add the cloves, bay leaf, tomato puree and peas and with a lid leave to cook for about an hour stirring occasionally adding a little water if necessary. Adjust the salt and pepper and leave the meat sauce to cool completely. Before using the meat sauce, remove the cloves and bay leaf and add the grated caciocavallo cheese.
Now take the rice and form a sort of hollow in the palm of your hand. Put a generous spoonful of meat sauce into this hollow and close it with more rice to form a ball. Form many balls until you have run out of ingredients.
Now let's move on to frying the arancini.
Prepare a kind of batter with the flour and a few tablespoons of water. Dip the whole surface of the arancino in the batter. Finally dip it in breadcrumbs. Once they have all been prepared, fry in plenty of very hot peanut oil until golden brown on all sides. Pass the arancini on blotting paper and serve. They are delicious both hot and cold.
