Special emphasis on Sicilian recipes within Italian regional cuisine in an Australian context
I collected 30 fresh artichokes from a grower in Werribee ….freshly picked.
To my kitchen bench….
Into a container…
To Waratah Hills Vineyard Tasting Room for a culinary event on Saturday 20th September 2014
I am so looking forward to it.
For recipes, use the search button on the blog and key in “artichokes”
Marisa
On Saturday, 20 September 2014 I will be at Waratah Hills Vineyard conducting a lunch time masterclass of Sicilian cooking .
Waratah Hills Vineyard is located on the road to the iconic Wilsons Promontory National Park. It is one of the southern most vineyards on the Australian mainland. The cool, maritime climate wine region is acknowledged as one of the best Pinot Noir producing areas in Australia.
The owners are Judy and Neil Travers. They have a simple philosophy is to do everything possible to produce grapes of the highest quality. The artisan approach to detail involves hand picking by clones in small batches at just the right intensity of ripeness.
Waratah Hills Vineyard was planted 17 years ago in the burgundy style of low trellising and close planting.
It is a beautifully sited vineyard with two acres of Chardonnay planted on a north south slope and seven acres of Pinot Noir separated by a band of trees into two distinctly different areas of the property.
In 2012 Judy and Neil Travers we were delighted to receive the Victorian Tourism Minister’s Encouragement Award for New and Emerging Tourism Businesses.
This is the information on the flyer:
Culinary jewels of Sicily
On Saturday, 20 September Waratah Hills Vineyard is hosting a lunch time masterclass of Sicilian cooking conducted by Marisa Raniolo Wilkins.
Marisa has written two books on Sicilian cooking; Sicilian Seafood Cooking and Small Fishy Bites.
She is a vivacious fusion of cultures and experience. Her food is very much driven by a curiosity of exploring her cultural origins. The recipes and ingredients of Sicily reflect the influences of the Mediterranean from ancient times to the modern day.
Born in Sicily and raised in Trieste before migrating to Australia with her parents, she regularly visits her extended family in Italy and Sicily; each visit adding to her knowledge of first-hand wonderful food experience.
Places are limited for this hands on three-course cooking, eating and drinking experience at $120 per head. Course notes and recipes are provided for you to take home.
The 20th September is in Spring and the menu will feature Spring produce and recipes.
I hope to see you there.
What could be better than a very pleasant experience in this beautiful part of the world!
Check out their wines – you will not be disappointed:
Waratah Hills Winery
http://waratahhills.com.au/
Marisa
When in Sicily eating Spaghetti With Sea Urchins (Spaghetti chi Ricci) is a must.
They are relatively unknown culturally in Australia and have been next to non-existent commercially.
Sea urchins have a unique taste – they are considered a delicacy by Italians and are popular particularly with the Japanese, French, and Greeks. The gonads of both sexes of sea urchins are referred to as roe (which sounds nicer than testes and ovaries).
They are called ricci in Italy (means curly, the spines of sea urchins are curly at the ends) and when I was a child visiting Sicily, I remember finding sea urchins under rocks on the beach — family and friends wrapped their hands in newspaper and went looking for them at low tide. Most of the time it was very easy to find 4 to 6 sea urchins for each of us to eat raw — the urchins were simply cut in half using a very sharp knife, revealing the yellow-orange roe that was easily removed with a teaspoon and eaten from the spoon with a squeeze of lemon juice.
The next favourite method of eating them was as a dressing for pasta.
In my book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking there is a recipe for this. I had great trouble finding sea urchins to cook (and to be photographed) for my book that was published November 2011.
At the time I found it surprising that there are about 42 species of sea urchins found in Australian waters and although they can be found in many locations, only a few are good tasting. Most are exported to Japan. The market price for fresh, chilled sea urchin roe varies considerably depending on colour and texture.
The Tasmanian sea urchin fishery is now the largest in Australia and I purchased Tasmanian roe from a specialist sea-food vendor (Ocean Made) who deals mainly with restaurateurs. I found some whole sea urchins at the Preston Market but when I opened them I found them very inferior in quality.
In the photographs (from my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking) you see the work of the photographer Graham Gilles and food stylist Fiona Rigg. I was the cook. The photo of the boats at Mondello (Sicily, close to Palermo) is by Bob Evans.
Spaghetti are traditionally used for this recipe, but I also like ricci with egg pasta, either fresh or dry — narrow linguine — a delicate taste, which in my opinion complement the sweet, fresh taste of the roe.
I ate my best ever pasta with sea urchins in a restaurant in Mondello (close to Palermo) and I am sure that this included lemon – grated peel and juice so I have included these in the recipe.
And one last thing — the sea urchins are not cooked and are mixed with the hot pasta at the time of serving. The aroma is indescribable. Bottarga is sometimes grated on top of the pasta and anchovies are commonly added to the sauce to accentuate the taste, but this is optional.
For 6 people
finely grated lemon peel of 1 lemon, and the juice
Diver and seafood exporter Dave Allen has helped pioneer the sea urchin export industry in Australia and, in the process, has set about saving the reefs from being stripped bare by these pests.
Laura Banks. From Sunday Age, March 2, 2014.
I was pleased to see that sea urchins will be featured in a dinner called The Delicious Pest at The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival on March 9, 2014.
Sea Urchin Roe is seasonal and as mentioned above, it is available from (Ocean Made), fresh and frozen when it is not in season.
Roe is also available from David Stringer at Kina, Sea Urchins Australia:
We deliver all over Melbourne and Australia wide. We use air freight and provide the freshest sea urchin roe available across the country. All our processing is done with the highest degree of care in order to make our product the best and we pride ourselves on excellent customer service and quality of product. Last year we won a Victorian seafood of the year award for best customer service and quality of product.
Wendy is a friend who lives in Ardrossan, a small town on the east coast of the Yorke Peninsula (about 150 km from Adelaide). She and her husband have a boat and they often go fishing. I too have gone fishing on their boat and watched them catch fish, mainly King George Whiting, Squid and Garfish.
To make me jealous and as a subtle way to suggest I should go to visit them, she sent me a photograph of a large Australian Salmon she caught recently; she then sent me more photos of how she cooked it.
Australian Salmon belongs to the perch family (surprisingly it is not a salmon). As you can see from the photo Wendy has filleted the fish. Some people find this fish very fishy, but it lends itself to recipes with strong accompanying flavours.
Wendy chose a recipe from my book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking. The recipe is Fish alla ghiotta from Messina and is cooked with tomatoes, green olives, capers, pine nuts and currants (AGGHIOTTA DI PISCI A MISSINISA – PESCE ALLA GHIOTTA ALLA MESSINESE).
There are many variations of this dish and this one contains Sicilian flavours in excess – it is sure to satisfy the gluttons.
Sicilians use piscispata (Sicilian for swordfish; pescespada is the Italian), but any cutlets of firm, large fish cut into thick slices or thick fillets are suitable. I like to buy sustainable seafood and have used: Flathead, Trevally, Kingfish, Snapper, Mackerel and Barramundi. Obviously Australian Salmon can now be added to this list but in Victoria I have not seen much of this fish.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 x 200g (7oz.) fish steaks or
cutlets
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 onion, finely sliced
¾ cup salted capers, soaked and washed
1 cup green olives, pitted and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup currants, soaked in a little warm water for about 15 minutes
½ cup pine nuts
2 – 3 bay leaves
500g (17oz.) tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (tinned are OK)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
PROCESSES
Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a wide pan, large enough to accommodate the fish in one layer. Shallow-fry the fish for a couple of minutes on both sides over medium-high heat to seal. Remove from the pan and set aside.
For la ghiotta, add the celery and onion to the same oil, and cook until softened, about five minutes. Stir frequently. Reduce heat to medium, then add the capers, olives, garlic, currants, pine nuts and bay leaves and stir well. Add tomatoes, season, stir, and cook for about ten minutes until some of the juice from the tomatoes has reduced.
Arrange the fish in the sauce in one layer and spoon some of the sauce over it. Cover, and cook on moderate heat until the fish is done.
Thank you Wendy for all of these wonderful photos and I am so glad that you enjoyed it.
MA2SBAE8REVW
Mercato is market in Italian.
If you are in Adelaide, you must visit this store. It provides all lovers of things Italian with a wide selection of small goods and cheeses, grocery items and produce, packaged sweets and biscuits, wine, cooking implements, crockery, cookery books and cookery classes and more. It is the perfect store for cooks and lovers of food and wine .
I will be conducting a cookery class at Mercato in November.
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MA2SBAE8REVW
A Sicilian-born Australian cook creates a deliciously hearty winter soup, writes Christine Salins…
I’ve only just discovered Marisa Raniolo Wilkins’ blog, All Things Sicilian and More, but I’ve had great fun reading about her passion for food, especially the cuisine of Sicily, the island of her birth.
Marisa spent her early childhood in Trieste before moving to Australia with her Sicilian parents, but clearly the childhood memories have never left her.
She is, by all accounts, a generous home cook who is passionate not only about using fresh produce but also about sharing her knowledge of food and its traditions.
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| Food photography Graeme Gillies, stylist Fiona Rigg |
Sicilian Seafood Cooking by Marisa Raniolo Wilkins.
Her mother’s surname was Leone, or lion, and there’s a Sicilian proverb that, loosely translated, says “every dog feels like a lion in his own house”.
Marisa describes herself as a lion in control of her own kitchen and she is certainly a fierce advocate of Sicilian cuisine and culture.
So much so that she has now produced a beautiful book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking (New Holland, $45) celebrating the great diversity of Sicilian food and the role that seafood plays in both Sicilian cooking and its economy.
Not only does she draw on her own personal recollections and family traditions, she also takes readers on an historical journey, showing how the cuisine has been shaped by Greek, French, Arab and Spanish influences.
She canvases some of the issues around the sustainability of seafood, and there are some wonderfully evocative illustrations of dishes and Sicilian scenes.
But it’s the recipes, along with the huge number of immensely knowledgeable tips and suggestions, that are the real star, and if you love seafood, you’ll be delighted as I am to join in her culinary journey.
The following recipe reproduced from her book is a deliciously hearty soup for winter. Zuppa di pesce from Syracuse is reputed to be the best in Sicily. Here it is
baked, leaving the fish undisturbed so it does not break up.
You need large chunks of boneless fish – either buy a whole fish, fillet it
yourself and use the heads and bones for the stock, or make the stock from fish carcasses.
Rich Fish Soup from Syracuse Cooked in the Oven
To find out more about Christine Salins click here.
MA2SBAE8REVW
A friend suggested I share this with readers.
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/sicilian-romance-at-home-20120716-225h9.html
Why did you start a blog at the age of 60? My long-time friend Janet Clarkson (of blog The Old Foodie) suggested blogging as a way of promoting myself and my Sicilian manuscript. I was thrilled when the blog reached 20 readers in the first week. Now I have more than 1000 hits every day.
My mother always told me … That my father’s family knew nothing about cooking. There was always rivalry between the two families. My mother was from Catania (mid-eastern coast of Sicily) and my father from Ragusa (south-eastern Sicily). Although Sicily is not a big island, there is a lot of regional variation in its cooking.
On inner-city living … In South Australia, I lived very close to the Adelaide Central Market and as a child growing up in Trieste I also lived in an apartment near the market. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I like to have a strong rapport with market vendors.
Favourite stalls at the Queen Victoria Market? For Italian greens and lesser-known vegetables, Gus and Carmel’s, Stall 61-63 B shed; The Green Generation, I shed, especially for mushrooms and fresh herbs; Mick’s in H shed for fun and Australian produce; Happy Tuna Seafood; Nifra Poultry. For good-quality meat (Black Angus, Wagyu ) try the Greek butcher in the meat hall, first on the right from the Elizabeth Street entrance.
Best 10-minute meal? Salad, soup, pasta or frittata made from leftovers. My fridge is never empty and in my freezer you will always find jars of broth and pulses. Right now I’ve got cooked pine mushrooms collected from the Mornington Peninsula and some bottarga (tuna roe), ready for that moment.
Blogs are great as … A springboard – sharing ideas, sharing recipes for seasonal produce or writing about something unusual that I’m cooking and think others may enjoy. It doesn’t pay. I do it because I always have something to share.
Your greatest inspiration? Mary Taylor Simeti is an American living in Sicily. I’m inspired by how well she has written about its culture and history. I always recommend her books to travellers, especially On Persephone’s Island.
Most underrated ingredient? I’m cooking a lot of artichokes, cime di rape (similar to broccoli) and cardoons.
Favourite ingredient? Whatever is freshest. And I like the taste and colour of saffron.
Fat – love it or loathe it? I like duck fat for roasting potatoes and butter for mashed potatoes, finishing off sauces and making pastry. If lard was easier to get, I would use it for making pastry. Extra-virgin olive oil is also a fat, and I use heaps of this. I also like the taste of oily fish.
First food memory? In Trieste, I remember kraffen, which are like jam-filled doughnuts.
See Wilkins’ blog at allthingssicilianandmore.com
The article in Epicure says that I was born in Trieste. This is not the case, but it is very easy to assume this.
My parents met and lived in Trieste (North Italy). 10 days before I was born they caught the train to Ragusa (Sicily) and I was born in my grandmother’s bed and the same bed my father was born in.
10 days after I was born my parents caught the train back to Trieste, their home and my home. I spent my childhood in Trieste before going to Adelaide. About 10 years ago I moved to Melbourne.
Marisa
Epicure is the longest running weekly food and wine guide in Victoria and one of the most popular sections for both Age readers and those in the hospitality industry.
Published every Tuesday, Epicure appeals to ‘foodies’ (those who make food, wine and entertaining central to their lifestyles), casual or ‘big occasion’ diners and also those looking for information about fresh produce or new wine to try.
Written and edited by noted food and wine writers and columnists, Epicure features everything from industry news and restaurant, bar and wine reviews to recipes, the latest kitchen gadgets and topical food related feature articles.
MA2SBAE8REVW
Hosted by the Centre for Greek Studies and the A.D. Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, this conference will focus on the movement of people and interactions of culture in the region of Southern Italy and Sicily from antiquity until the present. The conference will run from 17th to the 21st July 2012.
Cooking demonstration for this Conference was held at COASIT in Carlton, Melbourne (A non-profit organisation for Italians and Australians of Italian descent).
‘Sicilian Cooking Workshop’ – presented by Marisa Raniolo Wilkins, author of the book Sicilian Seafood Cooking. Sicilian cuisine has been shaped over centuries by Greek, French, Arab and Spanish influences. In this class, participants will cook fish in the traditional Sicilian. Marisa will share her experience in the kitchen and love of Sicilian cuisine so that participants learn about Sicilian culture while they cook a delicious meal to share after the class.
This conference has been convened by La Trobe University’s Centre for Greek Studies and the A.D Trendall Research Centre for Ancient Mediterranean Studies and will be held at the Museo Italiano in Carlton. On the last day of the conference a professional development day has been integrated into the program which will be of particular relevance to teachers of Italian, Greek, History, Ancient History, Philosophy and Classics. The conference and the professional development day both seek to explore the connections between Roman and Greek cultural and ethnic identity and the movement of people in the Mediterranean region of Southern Italy and Sicilian antiquity until the present.
During the morning participants will attend lectures delivered by academics on the cultural interactions between ancient Greece and Rome. After lunch participants have the option to either attend a material culture workshop or a Sicilian cookery workshop.
The menu for this workshop included:
Most readers of this blog are not have access to the Adelaide Review, a long-standing, free publication of local issues and culture.
A friend sent me a copy of a review of my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking published in The Adelaide Review – how gratifying to receive this while I am visiting Vietnam.
This is the article, published in the February, 2012:
The title Sicilian Seafood Cooking sounds restrictive. Sicilians eat more than fish, surely? And how could anyone write a book about Sicilian food and just stick to seafood? Marisa Raniolo Wilkins has.
A practical, well illustrated book of 383 pages is crammed with recipes, tips, anecdotes and history combined with the culinary tricks that make the difference between a dud and a triumph. The romance of Sicily is so interwoven in the text that it need not be mentioned.
Marisa’s easy style and light touch give the impression that a further 383 pages could be written without repetition.
A chapter called ‘How to make a good impression’ is devoted to sauces and dressings that put the pretty summer frock on your best cooking efforts. The undefinable, because Nonna won’t tell you, is defined.
Statements like, “I find herbs chopped in a food processor taste grassy rather than fragrant…” are wonderful to read. Your carefully portioned out mound of herbs ground into, horrors, exactly the right word – grass.
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, one of the founders of Futurism in the early 1900s gets a mention. He denounced pasta and championed rice. He may have been a titch strange, but he didn’t lack guts; wading into his country for eating the saintly pasta. Marisa tells us that rice was grown in Sicily before 1000 BC.
The first dish I made to Sicilian Seafood Cooking rules was pesce al cartoccio or fish in a bag. Everything sounds better in Italian; we have to face up to it. Fish in a bag is an easy scene-stealer. Follow Marisa and your dining room will smell like the ocean.
Another dining room star is pesce incrostato di sale or salt crusted fish. This is not easy. Have a few trial runs before inflicting this dish on guests. Buy a new hammer and wield it casually. But, above all, follow Marisa.
Tuna testicles are eaten in a recipe that, naturally, smirk, make extravagant suggestive gestures, is, of coarse, good for virility. Have you ever made a tuna/testicles/human link? I certainly hadn’t.
Fish stock is nasty for novices and professionals invariably get around it by using fish sauce. Fish heads and bones start to get bitter after 15 minutes when the vegetables have barely started cooking. The solution: use a saucepan for the vegetables, another for the fish bits.
Marisa doesn’t pretend that Sicily is without stain. The ‘Menu for the Incorruptibles’ honours the anti-Mafia magistrates and investigators who were killed by car bombs in a terror reign in the 80s and 90s.
All this fish can’t be eaten alone so there are many vegetable dishes and salads included. Nothing boring though. A lemon salad, which is mostly pith, for instance. I was taught that lemon pith is an emetic. The first time I tried this salad it was far too delicious than it had any right to be. But still I waited for the inevitable vomit. Nothing.
The lesson: trust Marisa.
For more media coverage, see:
http://allthingssicilianandmore.blogspot.com/2012/01/sicilian-seafood-cooking-media-coverage.html
MA2SBAE8REVW
