Category: Vegetables, Wild greens and Salads

EDIBLE WEEDS: Orecchiette e Broccoletti Selvatici (and cime di rape)

These plants are what I have always known as broccoletti selvatici. They are part of the group of edible plants called piante selvatiche (wild plants) or piante spontanee or erbe spontanee (spontaneous herbs) in Italian

For the photo, I collected two whole plants and the photos took place in my dining room (this is why they look so well groomed).

The weed, is classed as a brassica (family of vegetables which includes broccoli and cabbage) and if you can be patient enough to collect a sufficient quantity of wild broccoletti you will not be disappointed. As you see by the second photo, it is only the tender tips with young leaves that you pick – love and patience is required – take a bag, be prepared to walk and pick only the tender shoots from each plant.

They taste similar to cime di rape and tossed around in a pan with garlic, some chilli and olive oil, they make a vey tasty vegetable contorno (side dish) or a pasta sauce for orecchiette (pasta shaped like little ears and popular in Puglia). As a variation for that pasta sauce, a fresh, Italian pork sausage or some anchovies can be crumbled into the hot pan at the same time.

The pasta will need pecorino rather than parmigiano grated on top – not only because it is a southern Italian type dish, but also because a strong tasting sauce requires a strong cheese.

I discovered that what I have always known as cime di rape have local names in some regions of Italy. In Lazio they’re broccoletti. in Campania  they’re named friarielli, and in Toscana, rapini.  You may therefore not be surprised that what I call broccoletti selvatici are known by different  local names in the different regions of Italy. For example in Sicily which is a small island, some Sicilians may call them lazzane (a similar wild green in Sicily) and other Sicilians from a different part of Sicily may refer to them as cavoliceddi.

Like all vegetables, these wild broccoletti are seasonal and you will need to wait till the yellow flower appears before you pick them, but not too many yellow flowers, because this means that the plant is going to seed. If this is the case, and the plant will be spindly – its energy would have gone into seed production, and in fact, if you look at the photo, this is already beginning to happen.

Most of the world’s other cultures harvested (and some still harvest) from the wild: dandelions, wild chicories, nettles, amaranth, purslane and wild fennel may be the most recognised.

Other cultures living in Australia also collect wild greens, for example Greeks call them horta and I have written about vlita – a summer weed, in a previous post. Indigenous Australians had their favourites and some early pioneers ate wild greens, such as Warrigal greens and pigweed.

SICILIAN EDIBLE WEEDS and Greek VLITA

INGREDIENTS
orecchiette 500 g
wild greens or cime di rape, 500-700g
garlic cloves, to taste, chopped
chillies, to taste, chopped
anchovy fillets 3-4 chopped finely or 1-2 pork Italian sausages
extra virgin olive oil, ½- ¾ cup
white wine, a splash
pecorino for grating
PROCESSES
Wash the greens.
Heat some olive oil, add the garlic, chillies and the anchovies (or broken up sausage).
Add the vegetables sauté for a few minutes until they begin to wilt.
Add white wine, cover and cook till soft.(Some cooks pre-cook the greens and then sauté them – this is not necessary if you are only cooking the young shoots).
Cook the orecchiette and dress them with the greens.
Present them at the table with grated cheese, preferably pecorino -this is the stronger tasting grating cheese and more alined with southern Italian tastes.
SEE:

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THOSE OTHER BRASSICAS (Cabbages and Brussel Sprouts and how to cook them)

I love all brassicas (brassicaceae or mustard family), not just the Italian cime di rape,  the coloured (green, purple, pink) and cream cauliflowers, broccoli, cavolo nero, kale, kohlrabi,  cabbages Brussels sprouts and all of those Asian mustard greens .

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If we are talking about favourite Sicilian brassicas, there are the cime di rape, coloured cauliflowers, the green and purple coloured kohlrabi and broccoli.

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Italians seem to buy local produce and you are unlikely not find brussel sprouts, savoy cabbages, cavolo nero or red cabbage  in Sicily – these are grown in north of Italy. In the north of Italy you are less likely to find cime di rape or kohlrabi or the purple cauliflowers.

In Sicily the white cabbage (cavolo cappuccio), available in winter, is often used uncooked as a salad green and simply dressed with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, wine vinegar, salt and pepper. The salad tastes quite sweet.

Brussels sprouts in Italy are called cavolini or cavoletti di Bruxelles (or Brussels).

The Brussels sprouts in my mother’s kitchen were always brasati (braised in a little broth – stock or stock cube with a little water). My mother’s brussel sprouts were always overcooked and unfortunately for me this seems to be the preferred way that  Italians prefer to eat vegetables.

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INGREDIENTS
Brussels sprouts, 1k
onions, 2 sliced finely
butter and extra virgin olive oil, ½-¾ cup
stock/broth, veal or chicken, ½- 1 cup
pepper and salt to taste

PROCESSES
Remove the external leaves to the cavolini, and cut a little cross at the base
(to help them cook evenly).
Precook them for about 5 mins by boiling them in salted, boiling water (I do not pre cook them) and drain well.
Sauté the onions in a mixture of oil and butter, add the cavolini and toss them around till coated.
Add the broth, salt and pepper, partly cover them with a lid and braise slowly.

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Red cabbage (cavolo cappuccio rosso) is not a Sicilian vegetable, but is appreciated in Trieste and goes very well with pork. The following recipe has Austrian origins, which is not surprising when one looks at Trieste’s location.




INGREDIENTS

bacon or speck cut into very small cubes, ½ – 1 cup

red cabbage, ½ sliced very thinly
extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
red wine vinegar, ½ cup
cumin seeds,
salt and pepper to taste

PROCESSES
Lightly brown the bacon or speck in a little oil.
Boil the vinegar, add the cumin seeds and a little salt and pour the hot mixture over the cabbage.
Add the bacon, toss and let it marinade for at least 2 hours.
Add a drizzle of oil when ready to serve.

Cooked cabbage is not very common in Sicily, but it is in Trieste and I have always loved the way my mother cooks Savoy cabbage (cappuccio verza).

When we first arrived in Australia, there was plenty of cabbage and not much else in the way of green vegetables, so cabbage was frequently eaten. As silly as this may seem to you, I used to love this cabbage dish as a filling in a sandwich or panino (bread roll). Although it was my favourite filling I used to cringe on those occasions that my mother had packed this for my school lunch. It used to smell so strongly and on those particular days, I used to pretend I had forgotten my lunch and ate it on the way home. My school bag always needed to be aired overnight.

INGREDIENTS
Savoy cabbage, ½ sliced thinly
garlic, 3 cloves, chopped
white wine, ½ glass or water
bay leaves, 2, fresh
salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil, ½-¾ cup

PROCESSES
Add the garlic and the cabbage to the hot oil.
Stir the cabbage in the oil until it begins to soften, add the wine, bay leaves and the salt and pepper.
Cover the pan and cook on very gentle heat for at least 20 minutes (my mother cooked it twice as long). Stir from time to time to ensure that it is not sticking and add more wine or water if necessary.

See Recipes:

CIME DI RAPE

CAVOLO NERO

CAVOLOFIORE  AFFOGATO (cauliflower)

KOHIRABI with pasta

 

CARDOONS (Cardoni or CARDI Sicilian recipe)

This photo of cardi (cardoons); it was taken in France in LaPlace St-Michel, Bordeaux in the square in front of the Eglise St-Michel”.

We were there on a Saturday morning. There are grower market stalls, live chickens and rabbits, bread and pastry stalls as well as textile, clothes and secondhand stalls (bric a brac) – the usual produce and goods one finds in markets. There were the cardi; they looked very much like overgrown celery.

Carduna Chini (Cardi ripieni)

I found this recipe in Giuseppe Coria’s  Profumi di Sicilia. Apparently this is one way of cooking cardi in Enna (centre of Sicily). They are stuffed and then braised.

For cleaning and pre-cooking cardi:

CARDOONS, What are they? (Cardoni or Cardi in Italian)

Cut into 6-10cm pieces (sticks – they are shaped like celery). The stuffing will be in between 2 sticks and will resemble a baguette.  Select a wide, shallow saucepan that will hold the stuffed cardi in one layer.

Once the cardi have been pre cooked and drained, stuff half of the number of sticks with in an anchovy and small cubes of cheese (does not say what kind but I would use provola in the traditional pear shape).

Soften some onion until golden. Place each of the stuffed cardi on top of the bed of onions. Sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper and heat gently till warmed through.

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CARDOONS, What are they? (Cardoni or Cardi in Italian)

The featured photo was taken in a market in Paris but cardi are sold in every market in all regions of Italy..

The photo below is not a photo taken in one of the markets in Italy – it was purchased from Gus and Carmel’s stall in the Queen Victoria Market (Carmel is holding the plant, she was reluctant to pose).

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It is a cardoon (called cardone or cardo in Italian) a close relative of the artichoke with light green to white stalks ribbed like celery. Cardoons (cardoni or cardi) are fibrous; the stringy fibres run lengthwise and need to be removed. Only the stalks are eaten and they the plant is young can be eaten raw when young.

I am very excited by this because it is the first cardoon I have ever seen for sale and cooked in Australia.

I was in Chanti two years ago and travelled through Tuscany when cardi were in season and I must admit that I have never seen cardoons as gigantic as the one anywhere in Italy. The other photo (see bottom of this post) showing a darker variety of cardi was taken in the market in Catania, Sicily and this is the size (not necessarily the colour) that I remember my mother buying when we lived in Trieste.

Cardoons are a winter vegetable and appreciated in all parts of Italy. I know that there are a number of varieties of cardi but they can be grouped into two sorts. One grows straight and long (60 to 150 cm), and I guess that this is what I have (it is 110cm tall, and the top leaves have already been trimmed); the other cardi are curved and in Italy are known as the gobbi (hunchbacks).

The best cardi are grown blanched. This is like the blanching of some celery – the plant is tied together and paper or boards are used to block out the light and shade the stalks. When the light source of celery is blocked out the plants lack green colour, the stalks are generally more tender and are sweeter in taste. Apparently the best cardi are grown in total darkness; to blanch the gobbi, the plants are bent on one side and covered with earth; this contributes to the typical arched shape.

When my family settled in Australia we missed our cardi and my mother cooked the ivory stalks of silver beet the same way, i.e. gratinati – au gratin (part boiled and then baked with béchamel and parmesan cheese). She also part boiled them, crumbed and fried them (called impanati). My mum has never worked and was particularly bored when we settled in Australia, where in fact she developed her best cooking, even if she did not have the range of ingredients. We knew that the silver beet stalks would never taste like they should (similar to artichokes), but they looked good when we were having guests.

Gus is Calabrese and the fruit stall next door is also run by Calabresi. They tell me that one of their favourite ways to eat cardi  are when they are preserved in extra virgin olive oil. They are boiled first in acidulated water, drained well and like when preserving carciofini (small artichokes) are then covered with oil, salt and perhaps some dried oregano.

CARCIOFINI SOTT’ OLIO (Preserved artichokes in oil)

In Tuscany the cardi are often recooked in chicken or veal stock and in Piedmont they are precooked and then presented with bagna caoda (a warm dip of anchovies, garlic, and olive oil, usually served with fresh vegetables as an appetizer).

To clean cardi, take off the outside leaves and any that are discoloured or soft until you reach the inside of the plant. As you can see in the photo the plant was significantly reduced in size and looks very much like the centre of a celery. With a sharp knife strip off the coarse, outer, stringy layer of fibres – some people use a potato peeler to do this. I do the same with artichoke stalks and like artichokes they need to be placed in lightly acidulated water as you are cleaning them. The cardoons are then cut into 5-6 cm pieces and are partly boiled to remove more of their bitter taste, and then recooked. A good squeeze of lemon juice added to the cooking water will also help to prevent them from darkening. Do not think about reusing the cooking water as stock – it is bitter.

INGREDIENTS

cardoons, cleaned and cut into pieces (I ended up with only 20 pieces)
lemons, the juice of 1- 2
béchamel, (white sauce made with butter, flour, milk salt, white pepper and some nutmeg and I used 2 cups)
parmesan cheese, grated.  I used 120g
butter, extra

 

PROCESSES

Clean and cut the cardi to size, place them into boiling, salted water and lemon juice and cook till softened. The cooking liquid should completely cover the vegetables. My cardi remained slightly crunchy and I cooked them for 35-40 mins. Some cardi can take a long time to soften and some of the recipes I read suggested a couple of hours cooking time.
Drain well. If you intend cooking them later keep them in the cooking water till you are ready for the next cooking stage.
Preheat the oven 200°C.
Grease a wide, shallow ovenproof dish with butter and place a layer of the cardi in it (there will be two layers). Cover with some of the béchamel (besciamella) and half of the parmesan.
Continue with the second layer of cardi, followed by the béchamel and cheese. At this stage you can decide if you would like to sprinkle some coarse breadcrumbs made with good quality bread (sourdough or pasta dura) on the top of the cheese and dot the crumbs with some bits of butter.
Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the surface has turned a golden brown. Serve at once.

See other Cardi Recipe:

 

 

PATATE as a contorno (Two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes, Patate in tecia).

Last week’s post mentioned patate in teccia, a perfect accompaniment for vitello arrosto (veal roast). In fact in Trieste where this recipe is common, it can be the perfect contorno to accompany many other hot main courses which have a little gravy or juice.

In teccia is triestino (dialect used in Trieste) for cooked in a pan.

Patate schiacciate,  means ‘squashed potatoes’. I was away with friends over the weekend and one of my friends cooked these potatoes (see photo). He was surprised that I too knew them as ‘squashed’ and that they are cooked in various parts of Italy.

Here are two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes.

PATATE IN TECCIA (Trieste)

INGREDIENTS

potatoes 600g
onion, 1 large
extra virgin olive oil, 6 tablespoon
salt and pepper to taste

PROCESSES

Place whole, un-peeled potatoes in cold water and boil until cooked. Drain them.
In Trieste the potatoes are peeled and squashed into smaller, uneven sections. I sauté the potatoes un-peeled (and not forgiven).
Sauté and soften the onion till they are a light golden colour.
Add the potatoes and cook on medium heat until they begin to colour (form a crust) on the bottom. Stir them continually so that they can continue to colour (this process will take about 10 minutes).

PATATE SCHIACCIATE

INGREDIENTS

potatoes 600g
extra virgin olive oil, 6 tablespoon
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oven to 200 C
Place whole, un-peeled potatoes in cold water and boil until cooked. Drain them.
Position potatoes in a well-oiled baking pan (not-overlapping) and squash them with the palm of the hand (or a cup).
Dribble with the remaining oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake the potatoes for about 20 minutes till golden (have formed a crust) and serve.
See  recipe for Vitello Arrosto

PASTA CON FINOCCHIO (Pasta and fennel – preferably wild)

 

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No it is not wild fennel, it just looks like it.

I found this bunch of fennel at one of my favourite stalls in the Queen Victoria market this week.  Apart from many other vegetables, I always buy my cime di rape, radicchio, chicory, kale, broadbeans, coloured cauli, violet eggplants – name any of the out of the norm vegetables and this is where I go: to Gus and Carmel’s. I even bought some milkweed this morning. This is where I also buy my vlita – another weed.

At the end of the fennel season (and it is well and truly this in Victoria, Australia) the fennel plant (called Florentine fennel) produces some flat bulbs, which never mature.

My friend Libby who grows fennel in her wonderful garden in the Adelaide Hills first alerted me to these flat bulbs last year – at the time we thought that this would be very suitable to use with pasta con le sarde which includes wild fennel as one of the ingredients. After speaking to her I saw some bunches of these small flat bulbs for sale at the Queen Victoria Melbourne Market. And here they were again for sale today. I spoke to the vendor (Gus) who said that rather than wasting them he thought that he could try to sell bunches of them. This fennel may become very marketable – good on you Gus.

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Gus is Calabrese. He knows that I like to use this type of fennel for my Sicilian pasta con le sarde, but he told me how he uses the fennel to make a pasta sauce and he uses anchovies.

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He slices the whole plant finely (the green fronds and non-developed bulbs) and cooks it all in some boiling water with a little salt. Then he drains it well.

Anchovies are the secret ingredient.

In a large frypan dissolve a few chopped anchovies in some hot extra virgin olive oil (the anchovies are crushed using a wooden or metal spoon until they melt in the oil).

Add the garlic (chilli is optional). Add the cooked fennel and toss it in extra virgin olive oil and flavours. This is your pasta sauce.

Sicilians would select bucatini. Calabresi would like to be Sicilians so they would as well.

Present the pasta dressed with the fennel, topped with toasted breadcrumbs (the alternative to grated cheese not only in Sicily, but obviously also in Calabria).

For bread crubs: use 1-3 day old white bread (crusty bread, sourdough or pasta dura).

Remove crust, break into pieces, place into a food processor and make into coarse crumbs. They can be crumbled with fingertips or grated. The term for breadcrumbs, in Italian is pane grattugiato/ grattato – it means grated bread.

Heat about ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan and add 1 cup of coarse breadcrumbs (see above). Stir continuously on low temperature until an even, golden brown.

Obviously if you do not have access to someone who has fennel growing in their garden, or to wild fennel, or to Gus and Carmel’s stall you may need to use bulb fennel with as much green frond as you can get. Nearly as good, but not quite!!

I also bought this garlic at the same time- not bad.

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CAPONATA SICILIANA (CATANESE – Caponata as made in Catania)

The principal and most common flavourings that characterise a Sicilian caponata are: the celery, capers, green olives and the sweet and sour, caramelised sauce made with vinegar and sugar (the agro dolce).

Caponata is commonly made with eggplants (popular in Palermo) but my mother’s family’s version of caponata contains peppers (capsicums) as one of the principal ingredients. Her family come from Catania and this is a local variation in many other parts of Sicily as well. In fact, I have eaten this variation in restaurants in the following Sicilian locations : Syracuse, Catania, Sciacca, Mazara del Vallo, Agrigento, Ragusa Ibla and Caltagirone.  

Sicilians will keep on arguing about which  is the true caponata. Some traditional recipes use tomato paste rather than chopped tomatoes. Some add garlic, others chocolate (or cocoa). Many recipes contain nuts – almonds or pine nuts or pistachio, in others herbs are added – sometimes basil, at other times oregano or mint. Certain recipes also include raisins or currants and some, fresh pears. One of my neighbours whose family also comes from Catania adds potatoes to his.

It is now the perfect season for making caponata – the peppers are sweet and the eggplants have not yet developed too many seeds (this is something that happens at the end of their growing season).

I always fry my vegetables separately because vegetables cook at different rates and it is far better to fry or sauté food in batches than crowd the pan.

Traditionally in caponata, the celery is pre-cooked in salted, boiling water before being added to the other ingredients. However, because I like the taste of the crunchy celery I have never pre-cooked it.

The legacy of my grandmother’s caponata lives on. My friends who have tasted my caponata now cook it for themselves.

I cooked the caponata for one of my cousins (the son of my mother’s sister) who visited me In Melbourne from the US. He and his wife loved it and he felt very nostalgic about his mother’s cooking ( my aunt/ his mother died several years ago). He asked me to email him the recipe. I did and he wrote back:

As I read you recipe on “caponata” I could smell the flavours ( like when my mother was making it).

He is now cooking caponata for his friends and family in the US….

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This version of caponata was published in the summer issue of the magazine, Italianicious (Essence of Italy, Dec 2009). The summer issue was a special edition on Sicily and I was asked to contribute. Each issue of Italianicious contains information and stories about all things Italian in Italy and in Australia.

Do not feel intimidated by the long list of steps to cook it. It really is very simple.

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INGREDIENTS
extra virgin olive oil, 1½ cups (more or less – depending how much the vegetables will absorb) 
eggplants, 1-2  large, dark skinned variety,
peppers, 3, preferably 1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow (variation of colour is mainly for appearance, but the red and yellow ones taste sweeter)
onion, 1, large, sliced thinly
red tomatoes, 2 medium size, peeled and chopped, or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and a little water
capers, ½ cup, salted or in brine
green olives, ¾ cup, stoned, chopped
celery, 2-3 tender stalks and the pale green leaves (both from the centre of the celery)
white, wine vinegar, ½ cup 
sugar, 2 tablespoons 
salt and freshly ground pepper 
 
PROCESSES
Cut the eggplant into cubes (approx 30mm) – do not peel. Place the cubes into abundant water with about 1 tablespoon of salt. Leave for about 30 minutes – this will keep the flesh white and the eggplant is said to absorb less oil if soaked previously. 
Prepare the capers – if they are the salted variety, ensure they have been rinsed thoroughly and then soaked for about 30 minutes before use, and then rinsed again.
Cut the peppers into slices (approx 20mm) or into rectangular shapes.
Slice the onion.
Slice the celery sticks and the green leaves finely.
Peel, and coarsely chop the tomatoes (or use tomato paste).
Drain the eggplants and squeeze them to remove as much water as possible – I use a clean tea towel.
Heat a large frypan over medium heat with ¾ cup of the extra virgin olive oil. 
Add eggplant cubes and sauté until soft and golden (about 10-12 minutes). Place the drained eggplants into a large bowl and set aside (all of the vegetables will be added to this same bowl). If you want to, drain the oil from the eggplants back into the same frypan and re-use this oil to fry the next ingredients – the peppers.
Add new oil (to the left-over eggplant oil) plus a little salt and sauté the peppers, until wilted and beginning to turn brown (about 10-12 minutes). Remove the peppers from the pan and drain the oil from the peppers back into the same frypan. Place the peppers in the bowl with the eggplants.
Add a little more oil to the pan and sauté the celery gently for 5-7 minutes, so that it retains some of its crispness (in more traditional recipes, the celery is always boiled until soft before being sautéed). Sprinkle the celery with a little salt while it is cooking. 
Remove the celery from the pan and add it to the eggplants and peppers. 
Sauté the onion having added a little more oil to the frypan. Add a little salt and cook until translucent.
Add the tomatoes or the tomato paste (with a little water) to the onions, and allow their juice to evaporate. Add the capers and olives. Allow these ingredients to cook gently for 1- 2 minutes.
Empty the contents of the frypan into the bowl with the other cooked vegetables.
 

For the agro- dolce sauce (sweet and sour sauce):

Add the sugar to the frypan (already coated with the caramelised flavours from the vegetables). Heat it very gently until it begins to melt and bubble. Add the vinegar and evaporate.
Incorporate the cooked vegetables into the frypan with the agro-dolce sauce.
Add ground pepper, check for salt and add more if necessary. Gently toss all of the ingredients over low heat for 2-3 minutes to blend the flavours.
Remove the caponata from the pan and cool before placing it into one or more containers. 
Store in the fridge until ready to use – it will keep well for up to one week and it improves with age.
*** I first published this post In Feb 2010.
In my Book Sicilian Seafood Cooking, there is a whole chapter devoted to Caponata – made with various vegetables.
 Sicilian Seafood Cooking was first published in Nov 2011 and republished in Dec 2014.
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ULIVI CUNZATE, INSALATA DI OLIVE – Sicilian Green olives/ Olive salad

 

I do not usually buy dressed olives – some combinations can be very salty, others taste what I refer to as “synthetic” i.e. the quality and taste of the oil could be better, the blend of spices and herbs fresher or the combination of flavours are not to my taste. I would much rather buy some good quality, plain kalamata olives and dress my own, using good quality extra virgin olive oil and spices I like.

My cousin Lidia lives in Augusta (east coast of Sicily) and she makes very good olive salads using black or green olives.I like to use her method of dressing olives using green, Sicilian olives.

What we are calling ‘Sicilan green olives’ in Australia are those very distinctive vivid, bright green coloured olives (almost unnatural in colour – this is due to the pickling process). They have a softer, creamier texture than conventional olives and are milder tasting – no bitterness or saltiness. These olives seem to have become a bit of a fad recently In Melbourne.

In Sicily, these green pickled olives are said to come from Castelvetrano in the province of Trapani.

INGREDIENTS and PROCESSES

Lidia adds giardiniera (pickled Italian vegetables in vinegar) to the olives. Ratio: 1 part giardiniera to 3 part olives.

Add finely chopped parsley, spring onion, red chilli and garlic to taste.

She also uses the inner heart of the celery – those tender light green stalks and their leaves chopped finely.

Nothing savoury is ever eaten without good quality olive oil. Dress the salad generously.

But, it is the finely cut, fresh mint that is the refreshing addition – add this last of all and present to the table.

When I make the olive salad I present it as an antipasto. It does not keep well – the mint turns dark, the salad component goes soft. (And this is why for the most part the ready bought, dressed olives taste ‘synthetic’ – picked fresh ingredients perish too quickly and are not generally used for the take-away market).

For other recipes on how to pickle and dress olives, see earlier posts labelled ‘Olives’.

 

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Eggplant salad, INSALATA DI MELANZANE (with Saint Anthony and other saints)

I ate at Bar Idda again last night and this time I was directly in the gaze of Sant’ Antonio. On the table, sitting in a glass was a small holy picture with the image of Sant’ Agata, (the size to fit into one’s prayer book). She is the patron saint of Catania. On the back of the card there is the information about a six-course feast on Sunday 7th February at Bar Idda.

Saint Padre Pio was still there, but out of sight around the corner.

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Once again I had a wonderful meal. Sicilian ‘peasant’ food does not have to be tasteless and Bar Idda’s food may be simple (choice of inexpensive ingredients, method of cooking and presentation), but it is always full of Sicilian authentic flavours. I am talking about the agro dolce, mint, fennel seeds, cinnamon and cloves. The food is fresh and seasonal, and I always enjoy eating there.

I know all about Sant’ Agata (Agatha). She was the beautiful and rich young woman who lived the life of a saint while she was still alive. A man of power (Quinctianus) wanted her, but she refused. She was beaten, imprisoned and tortured. Her breasts were cut off and finally she was roasted over hot coals.

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Naturally there were miracles – she is recognised for averting eruptions of Mount Etna (over Catania) and she also saved the Catanesi from the plague. And they still love her in Catania and celebrate her feast day. There are cakes and sweets (shaped as breasts), not to make fun of her, but to commemorate her sanctity.
But Sant’ Antonio is said to be from Padua in the north of Italy. It is a short distance west of Venice. So why is he in a Sicilian Restaurant?

It so happens that the picture belonged to Lisa’s nonna. Sant’ Antonio is usually depicted holding baby Jesus in his arms.  He also holds a lily – in Christian art the lily is a symbol of integrity and purity of life.  In Europe, lilies are in bloom in the middle of June when the feast of St. Anthony is celebrated. Sometimes he is also holding a book because he was a scholar. He is the saint who finds lost things (old Sicilian recipes?). He was primarily a saint of the people – especially the poor. He was also close to St. Francis of Assisi. He, too, performed many miracles during his lifetime.

But Sant’ Antonio is not from Padua at all. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195 and entered the Augustinian Order at the age of 15. Two years later, he relocated to the convent of Santa Cruz in Coimbra and spent eight years in study and prayer.

In 1220 a number or Franciscans were martyred in Morocco. Saint Anthony was inspired by their martyrdom and was determined to preach the Gospel in the Moslem lands of North Africa. He joined the Franciscans and tried to sail to Morocco, but his ship ran into storms and was blown east across the Mediterranean on the east coast of Sicily. The friars in Messina nursed him back to health.

And there you have it – a connection to Sicily. Whether Lisa and Alfredo of Bar Idda know this or not, they do know that Sant’ Antonio is the patron of finding lost things and they have him facing the kitchen, keeping an eye on the ingredients.
Sant’ Antonio later went to France and Italy and ended up in Padua and died there on June 13 in 1231 at the age of 36.

One of the simple things I ate last night was an eggplant salad. I know about this recipe because a Sicilian friend of my mother used to make it.

INSALATA DI MELANZANE

INGREDIENTS AND PROCESSES
Wash, prick and cook 2 whole eggplants in salted boiling water.
Once cooked (and soft), place them in a colander and cut them into strips- allow them to drain.
Dress with extra virgin olive oil, a dash of vinegar, salt and fresh mint (cut finely).

When I make this salad I also add some finely chopped garlic.

I also know that as a variation in some parts of Sicily (this salad is also common in some parts of Calabria) a few chopped anchovies can be added, but I prefer the fresh taste of the eggplant. Simple, in season and fragrant!!!

Well done Bar Idda once again.

This photo of two different types of eggplants (the light purple ones are called violette) was taken in the Ballaro` market in Palermo.

See my earlier post ‘EGGPLANT or ZUCCHINI PARMIGIANA‘

Bar Idda

132 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, Melbourne
Phone 9380 5339
Food Sicilian
 Owner Alfredo and Lisa La Spina

See my earlier post ‘BAR IDDA and PADRE PIO’

 

OLIVE SCHIACCIATE (Fresh Cracked Olives)

Olive+King+packet+26+2316CEFA

I love olives, especially those that still taste slightly bitter.

Many Sicilian recipes also include olives as an ingredient. Whenever a recipe calls for olives I try to include good quality ones, and usually these are not the type of olives sold pickled in jars. And sold at a cheap price. In Australia we seem to have many good quality, black olives, but I often have difficulties purchasing good tasting green olives. Some olives often taste too synthetic and can spoil the taste of the dish.

I am always excited when I find good quality produce and recently I purchased some excellent crushed green olives.

As you can see in the picture, the label does not include much information. The web site listed is Sunraysia Olive Oil Company. Unfortunately this web site is not there and any attempt to find information through google will be about Mildura and environs.

Schiacciate means crushed in Italian. Crushing the olives allows greater penetration of the brine and the olives will be ready to eat in a shorter time. These green kalamata olives that I purchased called Olive King Olives have been processed like schiacciate (not that this information is included on the label), are 100% Australian grown and owned.  The olives are indeed grown and processed in Mildura: they have an excellent texture, are totally free of chemicals and taste amazing. Certainly as good, if not better than the few olives my father used to pickle in this way.

When my father was alive and when my children were very young, my dad used to get them both to help him hit the green olives gently with a brick (or meat mallet or a hammer) without crushing them completely – this was tricky.

Once the olives have been crushed, the olive stones can also be removed – this will hasten the pickling process even more so. The olives need to be placed in salted water for about 10 days (that water needs to be changed twice a day). This process will remove most of the bitterness from the olives; they will still taste slightly bitter, but this is one of their appealing qualities. The olives are then either ready to eat. They need to be drained and dressed with salt, garlic, crushed fennel seeds (or some wild fennel leaves), oregano, olive oil , fresh chilli and a dash of vinegar (optional).  If you wish to keep them for longer, place the olives in clean jars, cover with oil and keep them refrigerated. My father never made sufficient quantities to do this.

I rang the phone numbers included on the label to congratulate them. At this stage it is just a small family business. I wish them well.