Category: Cheese, Eggs and Savoury Pastries

ASPARAGI DI BOSCO and FRITTATINA (Wild Asparagus continued, and Frittata)

Wild asparagus is strongly associated with spring and as an Italian I am continuing  with my appreciation and fascination of wild asparagus and seasonal produce.

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I bought these wild asparagus in Varese, close to Milan and once again they are totally different in appearance, taste and texture. These are from the woods, i.e. “bosco”. Their stems are slightly furry and they do not taste as bitter as the other two varieties I ate in Sicily or the wild asparagus I ate in Tunis.

In this region of Italy butter features strongly in cooking so I sautéed them in butter and added salt and pepper and a little lemon juice. We ate them as a contorno (side dish).

 

I sautéed the second bunch in butter and oil and then added eggs, some grated Parmigiano, salt and pepper and made a frittatatina (small frittata) – this is a very common way to eat wild asparagus in Italy; in Sicily it is one of the favoured foods on Easter Monday (called La Pasquetta).

FRITTATINA DI ASPARAGI ( Small Frittata….substitute with thin variety of asparagus)
Wash the asparagus well, break off any hard ends and break the asparagus into smaller pieces.
Sauté the asparagus in some extra virgin olive oil, add a little salt and pepper. ( Most Italians pre-soften them by boiling them first).
Mix 6 eggs that have been beaten with a fork, add a little salt and about 1 tablespoon of grated cheese.Pour the egg mixture on top of the asparagus, cook the frittata on one side, slide the frittata onto a plate, flip the uncooked side on to the pan and cook.

 

After Italy I went to Spain (Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona). I saw wild asparagus plants growing Toledo and in the Gaudi Gardens In Barcelona (including wild fennel and even bushes of thyme in Montserrat). I did not see them on menus or for sale in the markets in Spain but I suspect that the wild asparagus season is well and truly over – Spain was much warmer than Italy.

 

The quality of the vegetables in the markets in Spain is very good, but I was surprised not to see anything out of the ordinary. There were artichokes and broad beans (both in season) but nowhere near the range of salad or cooking greens I saw in Italy.

What I appreciated in Spain and especially in Barcelona were the artichokes. They are almost totally stripped of all their leaves, sliced very thinly, dipped in a little flour and deep fried.

Like the Italians, the Spaniards also eat them as a frittatina ( Spanish tortilla). The cleaned artichokes are sliced thinly and cooked in the same way as the wild asparagus.

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STUFFED FRESH FIGS, with cheese and mint

Made in 10 minutes – dead easy. Not a bad antipasto…or after dinner as it is a mixture of fresh fruit and cheese.

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Looks good, tastes good.

Compliments…. Plenty.

INGREDIENTS:
Fresh, good quality figs

Stuffing: feta cheese, or drained ricotta,  bocconcini or pecorino fresco.
Optional- walnut pieces.

Decoration and for fresh taste: Fresh mint leaves

PROCESSES
See the photo above.

 

A MEMORABLE MEAL (at Libby’s)

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My dear friend Libby who lives in Adelaide has always been my greatest supporter and tester of recipes; I often think that without encouragement from my friends that my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking would never have happened.

I was in Adelaide recently and was invited to dinner at Libby’s. I wish you could see all of the food that Libby prepared, but unfortunately I did not have my camera and the two photos I have were taken with a phone.
I asked her to send me what she prepared. The food was amazing and she must have been preparing for days (as it always the case when I go to her house).

I love this type of meal…the place and a range of small serves (although hers were not small and the range was immense) shared with good friends.

Apart from the food she made the Liqueurs: Vin d’orange (as strong as a liqueur, Prune d’agen liqueur and Limoncello.
She also made the gravlax, the pickles, semi dried tomatoes (baked in a slow oven) and baked the bread (she always makes bread). The salad leaves and herbs were from her amazing garden, the eggs from Muffy, her 7 year old hen and companion (who follows Libby around while she works in the garden). She also made the glace fruit (orange) in the dessert.
I tell you, Libby is an amazing woman!
This is what I had and this was the order of the numerous courses:
Drinks
– Vin d’orange
– Lemon, lime juice and bitters punch
Starters
–  Gorgeres with pickled plums
–  Roquefort, caramelised onion and walnut dip served with celery heart sticks
–  Gravlax served with creamy cucumber and fennel salad, Finnish mustard and sourdough bread
–  Chicory leaves topped with oven dried tomatoes, white anchovies and chopped chives
Second round of starters:
–  Haloumi, pan fried and flamed with ouzo served with olives marinated with lemon and crushed coriander seeds and oven dried tomatoes sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Sorbet and palate cleanser:
–       Blood orange and ruby grapefruit sorbet served with wedges of blood orange.
Main:
–  Prawns lightly fried in garlic served with roasted baby leeks drizzled with mayonnaise, roasted baby tomatoes with thyme and fennel salad
–  Mushroom ragout (fresh shitake, swiss brown, oyster, buttons, wood ear fungus and enoki cooked with butter, olive oil, cracked white pepper and parsley).
–  Mixed leaves from the garden, salad
 Cheese and Dessert:
–  Orange ‘tiramisu’  shaped into a cake(with fresh mascarpone, cointreau and fresh orange juice, Seville marmalade and glace oranges) served with sticky orange and kumquat sauce and earl grey tea ice cream
   –  Manchego cheese served with glace kumquats and quince paste
–  Prune d’agen liqueur  / Limoncello
Libby's Seville orange cake adj
And she tells me I am amazing. Libby, thank you…I feel so humble!!!
These are photos taken at Libby’s  at some other times:
A shot of her amazing garden
Missy and Muffy…..Missy died!

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POTTED CHEESE, like in the olden days

Just recently I made a chicken liver pâté and it tasted great. I made it with the leftover chicken livers that I cooked on the previous night for our dinner (saute’ livers in extra virgin olive oil and some butter, add herbs such as sage, thyme or rosemary, salt and pepper. Remove the livers, add white wine or dry Marsala or brandy to deglaze the pan and evaporate. Blend everything till a fine paste. Place it in a ramekin. Cover with melted butter).
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I had not made pâté  for many years and it reminded me of other nibbly things I used to make years ago, like potted cheese – a cheese pâté.
This is definitely not Sicilian or Italian – left over cheese is used in cooking, but not converted into a spread.
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Potted cheese was traditionally made with left over bits of cheese (coarsely grated); Cheshire or strong cheddar are usually given as examples in recipes and it usually made with two or more cheeses. Softened butter makes it spreadable, and for extra flavouring recipes suggest a dash of Port, maybe some paprika, Tabasco or Worcestershire sauce or mustard. All this is mixed together and covered with clarified butter, like potted meat or potted fish.
In my potted cheese I used semi firm cheeses: Gruyère, Montagio and Asiago; Raclette or Fontina or Gouda are other semi firm, medium-tasting cheeses). I added dry Marsala rather than port which is too strongly flavoured for these cheeses. I have some new season’s walnuts so I thought that these would be a good addition, a little nutmeg goes well with nuts and black pepper.
Chop up the cheeses in a food processor until it looks as if it has been coarsely grated. Combine with marsala and the softened butter. Add some chopped walnuts,  grated nutmeg and some coarsely ground, black pepper corns and mix thoroughly. Add more butter if necessary – it is a spread. Transfer spread into small bowls, press down to eliminate air bubbles and smooth out the top. Melt a little butter to pour on top to seal the potted cheese. Cover and refrigerate.
 
Potted cheese can be prepared days ahead and left in the fridge. Bring spread to room temperature before serving.
I topped mine with more walnuts before serving (I made individual ones for my guests).
Spread on bread, toast or crackers.
I particularly like my green walnut cracker (see photo above) – a special gift from a friend.

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LAYERED SARDINES (CROSTATA DI SARDINE)

Sicilian cuisine includes many recipes for sardines layered and baked, often referred to as a crostata.

In one of Ruth Rogers and Rose Grey’s Cookbooks – River Café Two – they call their layered sardine recipe: Strati di sardine (from strata, a layer). Their recipe is with breadcrumbs, zest of 2 lemons, pine nuts, extra virgin olive oil, chillies and parsley. In their recipe the sardines are not fried beforehand.

A CROSTATA DI SARDE

My recipe also has raisins and includes juice of a lemon and an orange and I call my layered sardines a Crostata di sarde. The stuffing is very similar to that of sarde a beccafico, but in this recipe there is no rolling of the sardines – much less arduous to prepare. A crostata is a tart and the sardines are topped with breadcrumbs; this forms a crust when baked (the word for crust in Italian is crosta).

The term “crostata” originally referred to anything with a “crusted” appearance, and the modern tart is known for being more rustic and less fussy than a traditional pie. 

There are plenty of sardines in Australia, they are wild-caught and mainly fished in WA near Fremantle, Hervey Bay in Queensland, and increasingly in South Australia – this makes them available for most of the year.

This crostata can also be eaten cold. You can see how when it is accompanied with a simple salad, it could be a fabulous light meal.

The recipe for Sarde a Beccafico is included below and  the addition of nuts in this recipe is also encouraged.

This recipe is for 4 people.

INGREDIENTS
sardines, fillets, double,12 – estimate 3 per person
extra virgin olive oil, ¾ cup
flat leaf parsley, 1 cup, cut finely
garlic, 3 cloves, chopped finely
salt and freshly ground, black pepper
fresh, bread crumbs, 150g , made from 1-3 day old good quality bread
lemon and orange, juice and zest from both
raisins, 50g
pine nuts, 150g
bay leaves, fresh, 10
PROCESSES
Mix the breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, zest, pine nuts, seasoning and raisins together. Add a splash of olive oil.
Fry the sardines in some of the very hot oil, just enough time to crisp the skin. Do not overcrowd the fish in fry pan or they will poach rather than fry.
Drain on paper and set aside.
Oil a large baking dish that will accommodate all of the ingredients in three layers. Line it with 5 bay leaves.
Begin with a layer of the breadcrumb mixture; add a splash of oil next a layer of sardines (not overlapping and skin side up) then a splash of juice.
Cover the sardines with a sprinkling of the breadcrumbs mixture, and follow with a splash of olive oil.
Repeat with another layer of sardines and juices, finishing with the breadcrumbs and another splash of oil. Insert more bay leaves between some of the sardines.
Bake in a preheated oven (200°C) for about 20 minutes until a crust forms on top.
Bread shop in Palermo

This recipe  is inspired by my visit to Palermo

I recently saw an impressive exhibition at The Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane called 21st Century: Art in the First Decade (includes film, photography installations, sculpture, painting and drawing).

In a darkened room, I was mesmerised by a five-screen video installation about a perilous sea voyage. The passengers, worn and exhausted, were on a small, old boat, carrying only themselves. I hadn’t read the information tag, so I only recalled Australia’s asylum seekers and the tragic boat tragedies. I wondered about other lands. The small fishing boats and coastline resembled Sicily, and the refugees could be North African. The content was relevant to Sicily’s current situation on Lampedusa, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. I recognised the stairway of a Palermo hotel I had once stayed in.

This moving and relevant installation, called WESTERN UNION: Small Boats, was created by Isaac Julien, an English artist and filmmaker. Filmed in 35mm and transferred to video, it’s an allegorical account of the hazardous sea journeys of North African illegal immigrants who often wash up dead on Sicily’s shores.

I found this photo of me in the hotel where I stayed in Palermo. It has that  amazing staircase that is also featured in the film. And although Julien’s installation left me feeling sad, I also contemplated the beauty and excitement of Palermo: the eclectic architecture, which reflects several ruling cultures (Norman, Arab. Baroque); the street markets held in long, maze-like, narrow alleys, the piercing shrills of the sellers and the extraordinary array of produce.

 

PASQUA in Sicilia – EASTER IN SICILY (post 2)

Monreale Cathedral

Here are some recipes from posts I have written in the past of foods you may enjoy preparing and eating over Easter.

EASTER IN SICILY (mainly from some of my relatives who live in Ragusa)

CASSATA (Post 1)

CASSATA (Post 2)

PASTA DI MANDORLA (Marzipan, traditional recipe)

PASTA DI MANDORLA (Marzipan, also called Pasta Reale) 

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ARABS IN SICILY, some sweets (Petrafennula)

Meat is not eaten on Good Friday. There are no special dishes that I know of. You could try:

SEAFOOD cooked simply, Sicilian style, Sciacca (Misto di pesce in tegame con pomodoro)

PESCE CUCINATO AL CRUDO FISH COOKED SIMPLY WITH TOMATOES AND MINT

KING GEORGE WHITING and A SAUCE MADE WITH CAPERS AND ANCHOVIES

There are many other recipes for fish – cooked in  a multitude of ways on All Things Sicilian and More

Use the search button to find  many other FISH RECIPES

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Easter foods for other times:

CAPONATA CATANESE (Caponata as made in Catania)

GNUCCHITEDDI (Home made pasta)

KID/GOAT WITH ALMONDS (SPRING IN SICILY, CAPRETTO CON LE MANDORLE)

BAKED RICOTTA (RICOTTA FRISCA‘NFURNATA – RICOTTA FRESCA INFORNATA)

GELATINA DI MAIALE (Brawn)

SCACCE (Focaccia-like stuffed bread)

SFINCIONE DI PALERMO (Pizza/focaccia-like pie)

 ‘MPANATA (Lamb pie

Those of us who live in Australia and have olive trees will be picking olives over Easter. My olive tree is in a pot on the balcony.

 

HOW TO PICKLE OLIVES

Use the search button to find  many other OLIVE RECIPES.

 

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RICOTTA and FRIED PEPPERS (Peperoni fritti). The Butter Factory at Myrtleford

Her name is Naomi and she is very skilled at what she does.  But Naomi wishes to expand her expertise and she is travelling to Europe in the near future.
She is a champion butter maker at The Butter Factory at Myrtleford, a restored historic building.  She sources the cream locally and the butter is hand-made. And I admire her even more because she did it the hard way, first by helping her mother to set the place up, developing her trade and by finding the abandoned, rusty machinery in various old sheds and paddocks and having it reconditioned – she has a cooling, a heating and a separating machine and all three work a treat.
Naomi also makes pure buttermilk and has been making small quantities of ricotta with buttermilk. She sells her produce locally from The Butter Factory and at Victorian farmers markets – driving from Myrtleford to markets in Melbourne on weekends after a hard week takes some determination. She intends to pursue her ricotta making skills and wishes to try smoking some of her ricotta soon.
Her Mother Bronwyn Ingleton cooks on the same premises – I sampled some of her cooking recently in the cafe and judging from the number of customers eating her food, I am not the only one to enjoy it.
When I first discovered Naomi’s produce, I discussed in a previous post eating the slightly sour tasting ricotta with poached figs. This time I presented the ricotta as an antipasto with fried red peppers, the long, banana shaped variety which Italians fry (I bought these from a grower in Myrtleford). The red coloured peppers are sweeter, but when you buy them ask if they are hot – they often are, and in this case could overshadow the delicate taste of the ricotta.
INGREDIENTS
red, banana peppers (I used just over 1 kilo)
extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup or more
wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon
sugar, ¾ tablespoon
salt to taste
PROCESSES
Cut the peppers lengthwise in half, remove the seeds and ribs and cut into strips.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan (don’t crowd them or they will stew), add the peppers and fry on high heat. Toss them about often to prevent burning.
Add salt and once softened and when they begin to brown, add vinegar and let evaporate.
Add a pinch of sugar and stir gently for about 1 minute.
The peppers are presented at room temperature with the ricotta.
http://www.thebutterfactory.com.au/

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TOMATO SALAD WITH GORGONZOLA (INSALATA DI POMODORI E GORGONZOLA)

One of my readers sent me a recipe for a tomato salad and gorgonzola and as you can see from the photos I made the salad twice. On both occasions I presented the salad as an antipasto.

The reader who sent me the recipe has just returned from a holiday to Italy; although she visited Sicily, she indicates that she ate this in northern Italy. And even if all of the other ingredients could easily be for a tomato salad from Sicily, gorgonzola is very much a northern Italian cheese. In fact it is a DOC cheese (Denominazione di Origine Controllata – Protected Designation of Origin) and produced in the provinces of cities you may recognize: Milan, Como, Pavia, Bergamo, Cremona and Novara and all of these cities are in the Piedmont and Lombardy regions. Only items produced in a specific area, in a particular way and of a certain specified size and shape may display that DOC label.

In my version of the salad I used gorgonzola dolce (means sweet) and it is one of my favourite cheeses – soft, creamy and slightly veined and spicy. Gorgonzola piccante (spicy) is the stronger tasting version of this cheese; it is more matured, has a greater degree of blue-veins and is firmer. I imagine that although both cheeses are suitable for this recipe, the mature gorgonzola would be easier to handle and could be ‘shaved’ as the recipe suggests.

I also did not use as much balsamic vinegar, the Sicilian in me screams “no vinegar with tomato”– it is sufficiently acidic. Also, it has to be good quality balsamic and if it is, only a little should suffice.

When I prepared it in my friends’ home, I did not use anchovies because they hate them (unfortunately).

I have named the salad after the ingredients INSALATA DI POMODORI E GORGONZOLA (and alla Giovanna, because this is the reader’s name). Thank you.

Here is her recipe:

3 large tomatoes, sliced
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup shaved Gorgonzola cheese
1 Tablespoon capers, drained
1 Tablespoon green onions, sliced
1 clove minced garlic
2 anchovies minced to a paste
salt
black pepper, freshly ground
fresh basil

Directions:

Arrange tomatoes on a plate
Drizzle with vinegar and oil
Sprinkle lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper
Sprinkle with cheese, capers, onions, garlic, and anchovies
Garnish with basil leaves
In the first photo:
I used very large tomatoes from Geelong close to Melbourne (new crop).
In the second photo:
The tomatoes are small and from Murray Bridge in South Australia.
Heirloom tomatoes are not ready, not just yet.
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LA LATTERIA, Carlton and freshly made Italian cheeses

Sicilians are very enthusiastic about their local cow and sheep’s milk cheeses. Goat’s milk is generally drunk rather than made into cheese, and as always there are exceptions.

Each Sicilian region is proud of their local product and many of the cheeses are named after the region, for example: Madonie provola, from the Madonie Mountains (north west Sicily), Nebrodi Provola, from the Nebrodi Mountains (north eastern Sicily) and Ragusano is the caciocavallo cheese from Ragusa. Sadly, very few of the local Sicilian cheese varieties are unknown outside Sicily and never make it into Australia.

Many of the Sicilian cheeses are pecorino or provola type cheeses.

These cheeses are eaten at varying stages of maturity – dolce (sweet) when it is fresh and piccante (spicy) when mature. Some cheese is eaten very fresh and unsalted. Once the cheese is salted it is eaten progressively until the cheese crust has formed and the cheese is considered ripe (which could be as short as five months).

The most commonly recognised Sicilian cheeses made in Australia are tuma and primo sale, pecorino and provola. Ricotta, is not technically a cheese but it is eaten and used as such.

I have been fortunate to have lived in both Adelaide and Melbourne where I am able to purchase freshly made cheeses and the latest business enterprise in Melbourne is La Latteria in Carlton.

This cheese making and selling endeavour of two innovative people: Linguanti from That’s Amore Cheese (he is experienced) and Laird from a South Melbourne Restaurant (where she was head chef). The combination of skills seems a good one; I would imagine that Italians would still buy the traditional cheeses and the adventurous buyers may venture to purchase  the cheeses that have been formed into less traditional shapes and that have herbs or salame added.

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Liguanti and Laird are both passionate about their work and the fresh stretched cheeses (e.g. fior di latte, bocconcini, burrata) are made daily in small batches. And this is exactly how Italians like to eat them, made daily and if possible, warm, just like their bread (it is very common to buy warm, freshly made bread twice a day).

Latterie are found all over Italy- this is where one buys milk products and this includes fresh cheeses, so the business is appropriately named. They sell fresh yoghurt, un-homogenised milk, cow and buffalo milk cheeses. Not all the cheeses have to be made fresh on the day and there are some in the selection for example the smoked scamorza, which is slightly aged. The cheeses they make are found in various regions of Italy, for example the burrata is popular in Pugia, provola in the south of Italy from Campania to Sicilia, and crescenza is like stracchino is made in Lombardia and Piemonte.

La Latteria also make ricotta salata, very much longed-for by Sicilians not living in Sicily. It is mainly used as a grating cheese, but Sicilians find any excuse to-get-stuck-into-it and at any  time. As you can see by the photo, La Latteria’s ricotta salata is made into small shapes and sold dried ready for grating. What I used to purchase in Adelaide from La Casa del Formaggio was sold in much larger shapes and left to the buyer to dry it out; the problem with this was that it was eaten before it was dry enough to be grated. A real treat.

Other recipes/ other posts:

SICILIAN CHEESE.  A VISIT TO A MASSARO

This has a recipe Formaggio all’Argentiera (Pan fried cheese)

RICOTTA FRISCA ‘NFURNATA – RICOTTA FRESCA INFORNATA (Baked, fresh ricotta)

RICOTTA (has a recipe for Baked Ricotta)

VARIATIONS for Baked Ricotta recipe:

In a restaurant in Syracuse I ate baked ricotta presented warm and sprinkled with a coating of toasted pistachio nuts. If you would like to make this version just rub the ricotta with olive oil and a little salt. Add the nuts in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Instead of salt I have also dribble honey over ricotta, bake it and present it with poached fruit as a dessert. I have never eaten this in Sicily, but we all experiment with ingredients and it is winter after all.

Apologies to my overseas readers, I do not know where you can buy freshly made Italian cheeses.

 

EASTER IN SICILY – A SICILIAN FEAST IN RAGUSA – Recipes and Giuggiulena

It has been a while since I have had an Easter in Sicily and I am feeling very nostalgic about being in Ragusa. This year, a large group of my relatives in Ragusa are all going to celebrate lunch at Stefania and Aurelio’s country house, just outside Ragusa and I wish I could be with them.The country house is a stable which in the 18 Century belonged to a local Baron called La Rocca.

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Stefania and Aurelio bought the property several years ago (it also has a few surrounding buildings and land) and they are slowly converting it into a beautiful holiday home. They are using local artisans to recreate and restore many features in the original style and character. As much as possible they have kept its original outside appearance and interior features, especially the original carved wooden ceiling.

I do miss my relatives (and the feast that they will be sharing), but I also miss Spring in Sicily.

In Sicily, spring is the start of everything. It is the time when the island comes alive – flowers bloom, vines sprout and vegetables ripen. Spring is the celebration of life, which in cultural and religious terms is expressed in Easter. In Sicily Primavera (Spring) and Pasqua (Easter) are a fusion of nature and culture, family and food.

The ancient Greeks (once settlers in Sicily) also marked spring and – like the Christian Easter – their myth celebrated another resurrection from the dead through the legend of Persephone.

The Greeks considered Sicily to be Persephone’s island because, according to the myth, Pluto, the god of Hades, who imprisoned her in his underworld realm, abducted Persephone from the Sicilian town of Enna.

So Persephone’s grieving mother, the goddess Demeter, (goddess of agriculture) plunged the island into a barren winter, until Zeus, the father of the gods, struck a bargain with Pluto to let Persephone to return to land of the living for six months of the year. So it is that when Persephone is released from Hades, Demeter allowed the world to thaw and bloom before her daughter must once again return to Pluto and Hades.

The pagan traditions were slightly transformed and unofficially accepted into the rites surrounding devotion to the Christian saints. Offerings of bread, cheeses, and sweets, associated with pagan harvest rituals, are common in many of the present-day festivals.

Some of the foods the relatives will be eating are on my previous posts.

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Here are the links:
There will also be baked capretto (kid) and wild spring greens collected from their property and sauteed in virgin olive oil and garlic  (see top photos, taken at one of the other family feasts in the country house).
SCACCE – A focaccia-like stuffed bread
Franca will make scacce and sguogghiu (alternatives to scacce)

They will be buying cassata from the pasticceria (pastry shop) and making cassatedde. In Ragusa (and nearby Modica) these are little baked tarts with a pastry bottom and a ricotta, sugar, egg and cinnamon. Some add candied orange.

In the rest of Sicily, cassatedde are ravioli like pastries and fried.

Picture of cassatedde:

The pasta will be a must. Zia Niluzza will be making gnucchateddi (causunedda) all night for so many people!( She never takes off her jewellery when making pasta). She may even make large ricotta ravioli with a strong ragu made with pork and conserva (strong tomato paste).

And there will be homemade liquers: Nocello (made with green walnuts) and Mandarinetto (made with green mandarins)

And small sweets: Cotogniata (quince paste) rolled in sugar and Giuggiulena (or sesame seed torrone). It is also called Cubbaita and is said to be a legacy from the Arabs who lived in Sicily.

Giuggiulena, recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1k honey, 1 k sesame seeds, 4 cups sugar, ½ teaspoon of each: cinnamon, cloves, grated orange peel.

PROCESSES

Melt the sugar in a large saucepan on very low heat, when sugar is melted add honey. Add sesame seeds and aromatics mix well. Remove the torrone from the heat quickly (or the sesame seeds my burn). Let cool slightly.
Pour mixture onto a tray with baking paper or a marble that has been coated with oil. Spread evenly and quickly before the torrone hardens, cut into rectangular pieces before it cools and store in airtight containers.

 

Photos of Stefania and Aurelio’s country house:

Aurelio with one of his horses on the property.

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One of the many lunches at the property. On this occasion the local cheese makers were invited…..this is why there are all those men at the table. They bought cheeses for us to taste.