Tag: Giuseppe Coria

Sicilian Duck with green olives and anchovies – Anatra a Papparedda cu l’ulivi

This recipe for cooking a whole duck with green olives and anchovies is amazing!

In this post I have also included a recipe for making a risotto using some of the left over juices and sauce that was generated by the cooking of this duck with what may sound like very unusual flavours.

Ducks are not standard fare on Sicilian dinner tables. In fact, ducks are few and far between in Sicily. While the island’s cuisine is rich and diverse, duck doesn’t feature prominently in traditional Sicilian dishes.

Living in Australia, where duck is relatively easy to find (and even more so in recent years), I cook duck quite frequently.

In Profumi Di Sicilia, Giuseppe Coria’s comprehensive recipe book that beautifully captures the flavors and scents of Sicilian cooking,  I found just one recipe for braised duck. As you can see, it is an uncommon dish in Sicilian cuisine and is rarely feautured in cookery books.

The recipe calls for a fascinating combination of ingredients: anchovies, garlic, parsley, the heart of celery, white wine, rosemary, and green olives. Although this combination may seem like an unusual mix, especially for duck, these bold and diverse flavors ate characteristic of this Mediterranean region.

The use of anchovies, olives, and rosemary speaks to the island’s history as a crossroads of various cultures—Greek, Arab, Norman, French and Spanish, to name a few.

Anchovies arefrequently found in Sicilian dishes, they dissolve into the sauce, adding a salty, almost invisible richness.

Green Olives, another product of Sicily balances the richness of the duck while adding a distinctive flavour.

Rosemary, a fragrant herb provides a contrast to the duck’s richness.

Garlic & Parsley are very common in Sicilian cooking as is the fragrant olive oil. 

White Wine that I used to deglaze the pan, adds acidity.  Wine is not as common as it is in the cuiisine of Northern Italy but it is an ingredient that use very much in my cooking.  Rather than using wine, Sicilians use vinegar and lemon juice frquently in their cuisine.

Celery is also a favouritea addition in cooking. The celery is not the crispy, long stemmed plant that we are used to in Australia and rather than adding crunch, it is used like a fragrant herb.  

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I roasted the duck (on a rack so that the fat drains off) and make an accompanying sauce using the same ingredients as Coria suggested for the braise.

Here is the duck roasting in the oven. I stuffed it with some rosemary. I  placed some potatoes in the fat that had dripped in the pan about 30 minutes before the end of cooking.

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INSTRUCTIONS

Pre heat oven to 190C.
Dry duck with paper to obtain a crispier skin.
Ensure the opening at end of the duck is open to allow even cooking.
Place duck on a rack in a roasting tray.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper and roast it.

My duck was 2k so I roasted it for 2×40 minutes= 1hr 20mins.

For the sauce:

Remove the duck, drain the fat (use it at another time to roast vegetables and it also makes good savoury pastry, as does lard).

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Reserve any juices that are in the bottom of the pan.

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Using the baking pan, add a little extra virgin olive oil and over a low flame melt 4-6 anchovies in the hot oil.
Add 2 garlic cloves, chopped finely (or minced as some say). Stir it around.
Add about 1 cup of finely chopped parsley and 2-3 stalks from the pale centre of a celery also sliced finely. Stir it around in the hot pan for about 2 minutes…add salt and pepper to taste.

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Add ½ cup of white wine and evaporate. Add the juices of the duck, or if you did not save them, add some meat stock – about ½ cup.
Add some chopped green olives last of all.  I had stuffed olives, so I used them….probably about ¾ cup full.
Heat the ingredients through, and there is your accompanying sauce.

And it looks much better in a gravy boat than it does in the pan.

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 Even though duck may not be the most common meat on the island, this dish demonstrates how local and common ingredients can turn into something extraordinary.

The beauty of Sicilian cuisine is that it’s always evolving, while still holding onto its tradition and a couple of days later I used the leftover sauce with the stock made from the duck carcase/carcass ( water, onion, carrot, celery, whole peppercorns and salt) and some mushrooms to make a risotto, a beautifully rich and flavorful dish.

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Risotto with the leftover sauce And the stock made from the duck carcase/carcass

Ingredients:

1 cup Arborio rice (or another risotto rice)

1 cup of braising juices and sauce from the duck

1 small onion, finely chopped, 2 cloves garlic, minced, 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional, but helps to balance the flavors)

3 cups of stock (or more, depending on how much liquid you need to finish the risotto)

Grated Parmesan cheese or Pecorino to place on the table for those who would like it. (I often prefer not to add cheese to pasta, soup or risotto dishes because cheese often overides the suble flavours of some dishes).

Instructions:

In a large skillet or saucepan, heat the olive oil (or butter) over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds until fragrant.


Add the Arborio rice to the pan and stir it into the oil, onions, and garlic. Toast the rice for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. The rice should begin to look slightly translucent around the edges but still opaque in the center.

Deglaze with Wine  – pour it in now and stir until the wine is mostly absorbed by the rice. This adds a nice layer of flavor and balances the richness of the duck sauce.


Slowly add about 1/2 cup of the reserved duck braising sauce to the rice, stirring constantly. Allow the rice to absorb the liquid. Continue stirring and adding the braising sauce until it’s absorbed into the rice.


Add warm stock to the rice in stages, stirring frequently. Wait until each addition of stock is absorbed before adding more. Keep the heat at medium-low, allowing the rice to slowly cook and to release its starches. Continue this process until the rice is still slightly al dente. You may not need all the stock, so taste the rice to check the texture and consistency.

Spoon the risotto onto plates or into bowls and servewith grated cheese if you wish.

For other risotto recipes see:
RISOTTO AL RADICCHIO ROSSO

RISOTTO AL TALEGGIO; risotto made with Taleggio cheese

RISI E BISI (Risotto with peas)

MUSSELS, three ways: in brodetto, with spaghetti and in a risotto with saffron

Melbourne; August: Winter Artichokes in risotto and stuffed

BACCALÀ MANTECATO, risotto

ITALIAN DRUNKEN CHICKEN – GADDUZZU ‘MBRIACU or GALLINA IMBRIAGA – depending on the part of Italy you come from

In Trieste my zia Renata used to make what she called Gallina Imbriaga (in dialect of Trieste- braised chicken in red wine), but as a child I thought that she called it by this name to make me laugh, and it did. I thought that the concept of a drunk chicken was hilarious.

Recently I decided to investigate the origins of this recipe and  it seems that  Friulani (from the region of Friuli Venezia Guilia, in a northeastern region of Italy) and i Triestini (who are part of this region) claim it as their own, but so do those from Padova (in the neighbouring Veneto region) and those from Central Italy particularly those in Umbria and Tuscany.

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The recipe in each of these regions, whether it is a pollo ubriaco (drunk) and pollo in Italian being the generic word for  gallina (hen) or a galletto (young cock or rooster) seem to be cooked in a very similar way with the same ingredients – chicken cut into pieces, red wine and the following vegetables – carrot, celery, onion, garlic and parsley – all common ingredients for an Italian braise. Some marinate the chicken pieces beforehand, and as expected the wine needs to be from their region, i.e. if it is a Tuscan recipe the wine must be a Sangiovese or Chianti and if from Umbria, the choice of wine must be an Orvieto or Montefalco.

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One recipe from Friuli  browns the chicken in butter and oil and also add brandy as well – drunken indeed if not paralytic.

Other variations are in the type of mushrooms: fresh or dry porcini or cultivated mushrooms. Rosemary is the  herb most favoured and parsley; some use sage and/ or thyme. The recipe is beginning to sound more and more like Coq Au Vin. So which came first… is it the French or the Italians ?

But I also found a recipe called Gadduzzu ‘Mbriacu (rooster) in Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi di Sicilia, and what I like about this recipe is listed as a variation – it is the addition of a couple of amaretti (almond biscuits) at the very end to flavour and thicken the sauce. Now that is a great addition!!

Coria suggests 1 onion, 1 carrot, heart of celery, 100g of porcini …. I added greater amounts of vegetables and used chicken legs (called coscie di pollo in Italian). Corai does not suggest using Nero D’Avola but this would be the preferred Sicilian wine to use.

1 chicken, cut into 6 or 8 pieces
200 g. mushrooms.
2 onions, sliced finely
2 carrots, diced
3-4 sticks from the centre of the celery, sliced thinly
½ litre of red wine
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2-3 amaretti
Dry the chicken pieces with kitchen paper and brown them in the oil evenly. Remove them and set aside.
Sauté the onion, carrot and celery until golden in the same pan and oil .
Add the chicken, herbs, seasoning and the red wine, cover and simmer for about 20 mins.
Add mushrooms and cook everything some more till all is cooked (30-40 mins altogether).
Break up the amaretti into crumbs and add it to the sauce before serving.

 

 

 

ST JOSEPH’S DAY IN SICILY: SFINCI AND CRISPEDDI DI RISU

Saint Joseph’s Day in Sicily (Festa di San Giuseppe) is celebrated on 19 March with religious traditions, elaborate displays of food and an abundance of sweets, particularly sfinci and crispeddi di risu (Sicilian rice fritters).

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A statue of Saint Joseph, a common sight in Churches

Throughout Italy, the feast also coincides with Father’s Day (La Festa del Papà), honouring Saint Joseph as the father figure of the Holy Family.

In southern Italy, saints’ name days have traditionally held particular significance. My father, who was born in Ragusa but lived in Trieste, always received telephone calls from his relatives in Sicily wishing him auguri on 19 March.

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Saint Joseph, Spring and Sicilian Food Traditions

Saint Joseph, traditionally regarded as a humble carpenter who cared for Mary and Jesus, is the patron saint of fathers, workers, carpenters and the poor. Interestingly, he is also associated with pastry cooks.

The connection becomes clearer when we consider the food traditions surrounding his feast day in Sicily.

Although Saint Joseph’s Day falls during Lent, traditionally a period of fasting and abstinence, it also coincides with the approach of spring and the renewal of agricultural life.

Long before Christianity, Mediterranean communities celebrated the changing seasons with rituals associated with fertility, regeneration and abundance.

Grains, seeds and legumes symbolised new life, and these ancient associations remain evident in Sicilian celebrations.

La Tavola di San Giuseppe: Saint Joseph’s Table

In many Sicilian communities, elaborate food displays known as La Tavola di San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph’s Table) are prepared to celebrate the feast.

Festive breads in a La Tavola di San Giuseppe in southern Sicily

Wheat (grains, seeds and legumes) were considered the metaphorical seeds of life and through germination and regeneration they invoke the powers of fertility. Decorative breads, often shaped into symbolic forms are sprinkled with seeds and occupy a prominent position alongside vegetables, legumes and traditional sweets.

Historically, these tables expressed gratitude for the harvest and provided food for the poor. Today, they continue to represent generosity, hospitality and community.

Sfinci and Crispeddi di Risu: Traditional Sicilian Sweets

Fried sweets are an essential part of Saint Joseph’s Day celebrations in Sicily.

Two particularly popular varieties are sfinci, made primarily with flour, and crispeddi di risu, prepared with cooked rice.

As with so many Sicilian dishes, recipes vary considerably between regions, towns and families.

Sfinci di San Giuseppe are especially associated with western Sicily, particularly Palermo, where they are often filled or topped with sweetened ricotta cream.

Simpler versions of sfinci are also prepared elsewhere on the island, sometimes with custard or without any filling.

Crispeddi di risu, also known as zeppole di riso, are particularly popular in eastern Sicily, including Messina, Catania and Syracuse.

These golden rice fritters are traditionally flavoured with citrus zest and finished with honey or sugar and cinnamon.

Two Traditional Sicilian Rice Fritter Recipes

I have selected two recipes from respected Sicilian cookbooks.

The first comes from Maria Consoli Sardo’s Cucina Nostra (1978), a book I particularly appreciate for its uncomplicated, traditional recipes.

Her preparations often reflect cucina povera, the resourceful cooking associated with rural Sicilian households, where inexpensive ingredients were transformed into satisfying dishes.

The second recipe is adapted from Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi di Sicilia: Il Libro della Cucina Siciliana.

Both recipes use rice, milk and flour, but their methods differ. The first contains no yeast, while the second relies on yeast to produce a lighter fritter.

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The Crispeddi di risu, traditional Sicilian rice fritters I made

Recipe 1: Sfinci di Risu – Traditional Sicilian Rice Fritters

Adapted from Maria Consoli Sardo, Cucina Nostra (1978)

This is a particularly simple preparation, requiring only a few ingredients. The cooked rice rests overnight before being combined with flour, shaped into batons and fried.

Ingredients

  • 200 g Arborio rice
  • 500 ml water
  • 500 ml milk
  • 200 g plain flour
  • A pinch of salt
  • Lard or extra virgin olive oil for frying
  • Sugar and ground cinnamon for serving

My variation: Chestnut honey and cinnamon instead of sugar.

Method

  1. Bring the water to the boil, add a pinch of salt and the rice.
  2. Cook until the rice is approximately halfway done, then add the milk.
  3. Continue cooking gently, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid. The consistency should resemble a thick risotto.
  4. Transfer the cooked rice to a bowl, allow it to cool and refrigerate for approximately 24 hours.
  5. Add the flour and mix thoroughly to form a firm mixture.
  6. Spread the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and leave it to rest for approximately two hours.
  7. Cut into short batons.
  8. Heat the frying fat in a deep pan and fry the batons in batches until golden and crisp.
  9. Drain on absorbent paper.
  10. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon while still warm.

My Variation: Honey and Cinnamon

I fried my sfinci di risu in extra virgin olive oil rather than lard.

Instead of the traditional sugar coating, I drizzled them with chestnut honey and sprinkled them with cinnamon.

I usually have Sicilian orange blossom honey in my pantry, but I had run out. The chestnut honey, with its distinctive, slightly bitter flavour, proved an excellent alternative.

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My jar of Chestnut Honey

Recipe 2: Crispeddi di Risu – Sicilian Rice Fritters with Yeast

Adapted from Giuseppe Coria, Profumi di Sicilia: Il Libro della Cucina Siciliana

Giuseppe Coria’s recipe includes yeast and grated citrus zest, producing fragrant rice fritters with a different texture from the previous version.

Judging by the quantities, Signor Coria must have been accustomed to cooking for large numbers!

The original recipe makes a substantial batch, so reduce the quantities if necessary.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg rice
  • 1 litre milk
  • 1 litre boiling water
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 500 g plain flour
  • 150 g fresh yeast, dissolved in ½ cup lukewarm water (see note)
  • Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
  • Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
  • Oil for deep-frying
  • Honey and ground cinnamon for serving

Note: The quantity of fresh yeast is unusually high by modern standards. It is reproduced from the original recipe and is worth checking before preparation. If using dried yeast, adjust the quantity appropriately rather than substituting it directly.

Method

  1. Combine the milk and water in a large saucepan. Add the salt, sugar and rice.
  2. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally.
  3. Continue cooking until the rice is tender and has absorbed the liquid, resembling a thick risotto.
  4. Allow the mixture to cool until lukewarm.
  5. Stir in the flour, dissolved yeast and grated citrus zest.
  6. Mix thoroughly, cover and leave to rise for approximately 2–4 hours.
  7. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan.
  8. Using a spoon, shape portions of the rice mixture and carefully slide them into the hot oil.
  9. Fry in batches until golden.
  10. Drain briefly on absorbent paper.
  11. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Serve warm.

A Sicilian Tradition Worth Preserving

Saint Joseph’s Day is another example of how Sicilian food traditions connect religious celebrations with much older agricultural customs.

The decorative breads, communal tables and simple fried sweets express generosity, renewal and the importance of sharing food.

Whether called sfinci di risu, crispeddi or zeppole di riso, these traditional fritters demonstrate the ingenuity of Sicilian cooking: a handful of everyday ingredients transformed into something special.

Italy double dips and combines this ancient and religious tradition of Saint Joseph (19 March) with Father’s Day – La Festa del Papà – the feast (celebration) for father, the event imported from America in the early 20th century. In the USA it is held on the third Sunday of June.

FESTA DI SAN GIUSEPPE (SAINT JOSEPH) and sweets called Sfinci di San Giuseppe

SAINT JOSEPH’S FEAST DAY (La Festa di San Giuseppe) 19 March

THE MANY USES OF HONEY (MIELE), BISCOTTI DI MIELE (Honey Biscuits)

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A bee is called  an ‘ape’ in Italian.

 

I use honey when braising apples or pears for a tarte tatin – it adds a deep colour to the fruit and intensifies the flavour.  For the same reason, I also like it when I slowly bake quinces and I like it drizzled over fresh figs which I bake and serve with ricotta whipped with honey and cinnamon. I prefer this to using plain fresh cream (the usual accompaniment to many desserts in Australia).

I like to make honey and cinnamon ice cream and sometimes I use honey instead of sugar when making panna cotta. I flavour rice puddings with it and soak candied citrus peel in water and honey with a dash of orange blossom flavoured water – the taste the honey imparts to the peel reminds me of Grand Manier. I frequently do the same with dessert recipes that require raisins or sultanas.

I always add honey when I make lemon drinks, either to drink cold (with a mint leaf) or to enjoy hot. When I have a sore throat I let the hot drink slide slowly over my throat.

I visited Tuscany and Umbria a couple of years ago and I was introduced to eating fresh pecorino cheese spread with honey – very enjoyable especially with miele i fiori d’arancio (orange honey) or miele di castagno (chestnut honey), and it is amazing how different these honeys taste from one another. It is just as easy to see the variation in colours and taste in Australian honey, for example honey from Iron bark is usually dark and highly flavoured, Acacia honey is clear and has a mild delicate floral taste and Leatherwood honey has a unique scent and strong floral flavour.

I am very lucky to have my very own honey supplier. Libby lives in Eden Hills in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia and has hives in her garden. The honey that she has given me over the years also varies in colour and taste; she expect her bees to be good pollinators for her garden as well as to travel far and wide so as to provide her with different tasting honeys. Her garden is full of nooks and the varieties of plants and trees are enormous. Libby’s honey is so good that she has won prizes at the Adelaide Royal Show and she very generously shares it with me.

Bee on echium

She is very passionate about her bees and bees in general and I remembered signing a petition that Libby had sent me some time ago to eradicate Asian Bees from Australia. Recently I read Richard Cornish’s article Sting in the tail in Epicure, The Age and sent it her.

Libby loves bees so much that she has stencil and painted bees, swarming down one of the walls in her house.

Honey from the Iblei Mountains in Sicily is highly prized – when it is collected in July and August it has the taste and aroma of thyme and in September of calamintha (mint family). as for other Sicilian honey, Sortino (Syracuse) has a honey festival each October, the Agadi and Madonie Islands are also recognized for honey production as is Agrigento.

Also see:

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GRILLED CHICKEN: POLLO ARROSTO (Sicilian) and POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA or POLLO AL MATTONE

Recently I had a conversation with friends who had just been to Italy for the first time and they were telling me how difficult they found ordering food in restaurants because of their lack familiarity with the language. They eventually found a restaurant where they felt comfortable and returned each night to eat various versions of bistecca (steak) – they knew this word.

Pollo can be a young rooster (or cock) or a chicken (or chook) and pollo arrosto is the generic term for a roast chicken. My son Alex, as a teenager would order pollo arrosto each time we ate in a restaurant and all over Italy. He ordered this not necessarily because it was his favourite food, but because he was confused by the choices, and irrespective of what was written on the menu or we discussed beforehand, he blurted out ‘pollo arrosto’.

Interestingly pollo arrosto is not necessarily what many of us recognize as roast chicken; for a start, there are always odori, (smells=herbs as Italians call them), secondly it is likely to be pot roasted or grilled over a fire, or if cooked in the oven it may have a slurp of chicken broth and wine added to keep it moist and be cooked covered for part of the time.

Alex had trouble ordering roast chicken in restaurants in Sicily, in fact I have eaten very little chicken with my Sicilian relatives. If you are sick there is always gallina in brodo (the chicken in broth) or as a pasta sauce made with a young rooster (galletto) cooked in tomato, and if you know someone from Ragusa you may have eaten gallina ripiena in brodo (stuffed chicken in broth) at Christmas.

Here is an unusual recipe for roast chicken reputed to be from Messina, (right, northern corner of Sicily); I found this same recipe in two sources: Anna Pomar’s La Cucina Tradizionale Siciliana and Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi Di Sicilia. Both are sketchy and I have filled in the details.

1.Pre-cook the chicken. Use only enough water to cover the chicken. Add odori (common for broth are celery leaves and a few sprigs of parsley, one carrot and an onion). Add a little salt, bring to the boil  and cook the chicken for 20-30 minutes.
2.Drain the chicken. Cool it so that you can handle it. Save the broth and use elsewhere.
3.Butterfly the chicken: either cut away the chicken’s back bone or cut it along its back, spread the chicken flat (skin side up) and using your hands, press firmly to flatten it.
4.Brush the inside and the outside of the chicken with a mixture of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and chopped parsley. Make about 1 cup altogether, 1 lemon is sufficient.
5.Place on a hot grill and cook on both sides for 15-20 minutes (a moderate flame). An outside BBQ is perfect as there will be smoke. Keep on brushing the marinade over the chicken while it cooks.
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POLLO ALLA DIAVOLA

The recipe above  reminds me of pollo alla diavola, my favourite way to eat chicken when I was a child growing up in Trieste and eating in country restaurants. I have also seen it called pollo al mattone (chicken cooked under a brick).

Use a small chicken (younger and small in size – approx 1 k). It does not need pre-cooking. Once butterflied, marinade it for at least an hour. Alla diavola means ‘as the devil cooks it’, therefore add about 1 teaspoon of ground pepper. Once it is on the grill, to keep the chicken flat by placing a weight on top – a brick or wide frypan with a heavy bottom. The chicken will cook more quickly and evenly.
 

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MEAT BALLS or POLPETTE (PURPETTI CU’ SUCU, Sicilian)

I love the Italian language – polpettine, polpette, polpettone, much better than small meatballs, meatballs and meatloaf. (Polpette from polpa, meaning flesh). The Sicilian word for meatballs is purpetti, and even better.

I had bought some beef mince (my butcher selects the meat, shows it to me and then puts it through his mincing machine in front of me – no additives, no preservatives) and I was going to use it to make a fausu magro – a large braciola stuffed with hard boiled egg, mortadella and cheese and braised in tomato passata).

Usually this dish is made with a large slice of beef topside, (a lean cut of beef I buy in Australia) but some Sicilians use mince and I wanted to see what amount of stuffing the mince would tolerate without falling apart in the cooking.  My mother used to cook a large unstuffed meatloaf which was partly based on the cuisine from Trieste where we lived. She called it a polpettone (Italian name for meatloaf) and rightly so because sometimes she braised or baked it using a little white wine and some stock for moisture rather than using tomatoes.

Then a friend arrived unexpectedly from interstate and I had no time to prepare the fausu magru so I made large meatballs instead. It only took about 15 minutes to make the meatballs – they were great.

If you look at recipes for making meatballs, they are always sealed (sautéed in hot extra virgin olive oil) before the braising liquid is added (passata or tomato paste and water) but not this time. A Sicilian friend of my mother’s once told her that where she came from (Agrigento) meatballs were dropped unsealed in the hot tomato based sauce – this results in a much lighter dish. The other thing I did was to add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to the braising liquid.

As a teenager I had a friend who was from Calabria and her mother would always add sultanas to her polpette. For a short time I also lived next door to a family from Naples. The signora added sultanas and cinnamon to her mixture – my mother was even more horrified about this – obviously this was not part of the Sicilian cuisine that my grandmother knew (my grandmother was born in Catania, on the east coast of Sicily). Both the Calabrese and Napoletana women seemed to add a large proportion of bread to their mixture, much more than I was used to in my mother’s kitchen.

I have checked my many resources and there are Sicilian recipes that list ground cinnamon, dried grapes (currants or raisins or sultanas) and pine nuts in the meatball mixture, as well as the usual ingredients used to make meatballs all over Italy: breadcrumbs (usually soaked in water or milk beforehand and squeezed dry), grated cheese (parmesan or pecorino, depending which part of Italy you come from), salt, pepper, nutmeg, raw egg and a little chopped parsley.

I even found a version in Giuseppe Coria’s Profumi Di Sicilia which lists amaretti biscuits, whole pine nuts and ground pistachio nuts, cinnamon and sultanas as part of the meatball mixture (I can see more meatballs coming!)

Meatballs, of course, were eaten throughout Italy way back in time, and in many other parts of the world, too (maybe not always shaped like a ball) – think of the Greek (sometimes with powdered cloves) and the Middle Eastern lamb variations with coriander and cumin; Swedish meatballs with a cream gravy (tomato-less and much like my mother’s version of polpettone); Vietnemese meatballs with pork mince, water chestnuts and fish sauce; or the Chinese lion head and the oversized pork meatballs from Shanghai cooked in a clay pot. (I could go on, but it is not appropriate for a blog.)

INGREDIENTS

minced beef, 600g
eggs, 2
fresh bread crumbs (from 2 slices good quality sourdough white bread, crusts removed)
cinnamon sticks, 2
grated pecorino cheese, a small handful
salt and pepper
nutmeg, grated, a pinch
parsley, 1-2 tablespoons, sliced finely
bay leaves, 2-3
sun dried sultanas, a small handful
pine nuts, a small handful
extra virgin olive oil, a good splash
passata, 1-2 bottles( or tomato paste and water or tinned tomato)
garlic, 1-2 large cloves, whole
oregano, dried, a pinch

 

PROCESSES

Mix minced meat, cheese, eggs, bread, parsley, salt and pepper and nutmeg together, add pine nuts and sultanas and shape into balls (mine were large- tennis ball size – I was in a hurry).
Place passata, oil and garlic, a little salt and pepper, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and oregano (or fresh basil which I try to do without in winter) in a pan and bring to the boil.
Drop the balls in gently, turn down the heat and do not stir or turn them over for at least 10 minutes (prevent breakage). I like to have the meatballs completely covered with liquid.
Poach them on low heat until cooked (approx. 30mins).

They smell good too and unsurprisingly, the sauce can be used to dress the pasta, the meatballs are presented as second course.

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LEMON MARMALADE TO USE IN SICILIAN PASTRIES. Conserva/ Marmellata di Limone (o di Cedro).

Lemon marmalade for Sicilian pastries is an essential ingredient in many traditional sweets. This lemon marmalade—known in Sicily as conserva or marmellata di limone (or made with cedro) adds the intense, aromatic citrus flavour typical of the island’s baking.

Sicily produces an impressive variety of citrus fruit, including the thick-skinned cedro (citron).

Cedri in Syracuse Market

Cedri, which resemble very large lemons, are eaten fresh in salads, but are most prized for being candied and used in cassate. Cedri are also  transformed into sweet conserve  and used in almond pastries and other desserts.

Candied/ glacé cedri

Sicilian pastries are often partly filled with lemon marmalade – Conserva or Marmellata di Limone o di Cedro (Citron).

In this blog post I have provided a recipe for making lemon Marmalade and one for Bocconotti, –  small tarts with lemon marmalade.

Recently I have fallen in love again with the pastries from Dolcetti (223 Victoria St, West Melbourne) made by Marianna Di Bartolo.

These exquisite dolcetti rekindled my desire for that strong, distinctive citrus taste found in so many Sicilian sweets.

MY RESEARCH and Sicilian Recipe Books

Researching the recipe was a process in itself. I rarely follow a single recipe strictly and usually compare multiple sources, drawing on what I know from years of reading Italian and Sicilian cookbooks. Each of the numerous times I have visited Sicily (and Italy), I have bought cookery books – not only by the greats of Sicilian cuisine and highly recognized writers and publications (Coria, Correnti, Taylor Simeti, Tasca Lanza (and more) but also by the less known ones (Maria Consoli Sardo, Di Leo, D’Alba, and many more.

The variations in recipes for this preserve, including quantities and methods, were numerous across different publications. Some directed peeling the fruit first, others boiled the peel multiple times and discarded the water, while some added sugar after boiling the pulp. The number of variations for making marmalade was comparable to those found in older Australian publications.

Among the many variations, the recipes I found most compelling were Marmellata di Limone (Maria Grammatico & Mary Taylor Simeti) and Conserva di Citru (Giuseppe Coria).

Grammatico/Taylor Simeti soak pricked lemons in water for five days, changing the water daily. Coria soaks un-pricked lemons for 24 hours and includes a cinnamon stick—something I also noticed in several older Sicilian texts.

Grammatico and Taylor Simeti recommended weighing the pulp and using 1¼ times its weight in sugar.

Coria suggested adding 2 kg of sugar for every 3 kg of pulp and 1 cup of water. I particularly liked his recipe for the addition of a cinnamon stick, which was also mentioned in many of my older Italian publications.

What I did, RECIPE

Inspired, I decided to make a homemade conserva using large, thick-pith lemons—each weighing around 700g—treating them much like cedri.

Pricked the lemons (weight 2.1kg ) and soaked them for 3 days, changing the water every day to soften the skins.

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Sliced them into medium julienne with a mandoline for texture.

Used 1 kg sugar to 2 kg pulp, added 3 cinnamon sticks, and no water.

Cooked until set (about 40 minutes), using the traditional saucer test – You know the old trick about testing jam/ marmalade by placing a little on a cold saucer, cooling it, and if adequately set it should wrinkle and feel firm.

Packed the hot conserve into sterilised jars.

Lemon and Cinnamon Marmalade

The result is an intensely flavoured, deeply lemony conserve—perfect for filling Sicilian pastries or adding bright citrus notes to desserts.

Cedro is used in Cassata and Panforte (not Sicilian).

PANFORTE again and again

PANETTONE AND PANFORTE for an ITALIAN CHRISTMAS

SICILIAN CASSATA and some background (perfect for an Australian Christmas)

SICILIAN CASSATA and MARZIPAN AT EASTER (Food and Culture in Sicily, La Trobe University)

CASSATA DECONSTRUCTED – a postmodernist take on Sicilian Cassata

 Recipe: BOCCONOTTI

Italian bocconotti are small, buttery pastries filled with jam. In Sicily they are filled with citron (cedro) marmalade.

The tarts can be left open-faced or covered with slightly smaller pastry circles to create small lids, placed in the centre, but leaving a gap and not reaching the edges.

Ingredients
  • 500 g plain flour
  • 250 g sugar
  • 150 g unsalted butter (traditional is lard for pastries)
  • 2 eggs + 1 yolk
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or seeds of ½ vanilla bean
  • 2–3 tbsp white wine (dry)
  • 400 g marmellata – use the lemon marmalade
  • Method
Make the pastry (pasta frolla)
  • In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar.
  • Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Don’t overwork the pastry.
  • Add the eggs, yolk, lemon zest, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of white wine.
  • Work the dough quickly until it comes together—add the extra tablespoon of wine only if needed.
  • Shape into a ball, flatten slightly, wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Use small tartlet tins or mini-muffin tins. Grease lightly with butter.
  • Roll the pastry to about 3–4 mm thickness. Cut circles large enough to line the moulds.
  • Press the dough gently into each mould. and fill generously with the marmalade but leave some space at the top
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 170°C). Bake for 20–25 minutes, until pale golden.
  • Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack.

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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