Subtitle: You Mean Cooking Pasta Doesn’t Have To Include Throwing It At The Wall?? Too many cooks sometimes spoils the broth, but in this case it made for a rather hilarious revelation. Pepo (Italian agritourism owner, self made chef, Sicilian food conesuir), Sego (French traveller, fellow foodie) and I were discussing our methods to check […]
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Archive | May, 2010
Sicilian Pasta Dishes
May 25, 2010 
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The use of breadcrumbs in recipes instead of cheese dates back to times of poverty in Southern Italy – dairy was not affordable for most Italians so a huge amount of resourceful recipes using breadcrumbs (usually dry-roasted to create a lovely crunchy flavour) resulted. Also, Italians traditionally don’t eat chesse in seafood recipes, so breadcrumbs […]
Read moreCaponata – Italian Sweet and Sour Vegetable Salad
May 25, 2010 0 Comments
Caponata is the Sicilian version of the French dish Ratatouille, or the other way round, who knows. It’s a lovely dish in which the vegetables are purposely overcooked to create a lovely goulash-like texture whilst the flavours hinge poignantly between the sweet (sugar) and sour (vinegar). There are many versions of caponata, each recipe adding […]
Read more Home Made Tomato Sauce
May 22, 2010 1 Comment
It seems almost obligatory in Italy to make home made tomato sauce (the kind for pasta, not the kind you dollop on chips and pies) because during summer there are an utter abundance of cheap, ripe tomatoes around so anyone who’s anyone with a kitchen gets to buying a couple of boxes full and bottling […]
Read moreCooking with Sardines
May 22, 2010 0 Comments
Until this cooking lesson, I had never eaten fresh sardines (only canned), and I’ve definitely been underestimating their flavour. They are simply delicious, albeit a little fiddly to prepare, and have a lovely firm flesh that would be perfect for grilling (I’ve made a mental note to try a grilled sardine recipe in the future). […]
Read more Pasta Round Two – Lets Add Some Colour
May 22, 2010 1 Comment
Having found my feet during the first pasta making lesson, I’ve revisited (and upgraded the complexity of) the recipe, this time without Tiziana’s watchful eye. I experimented with coloured pasta, namely red (tomato) and green (spinach) and the result was rewarding, and incidentally rather delicious. Recipe: Spinach and Ricotta Coloured Ravioli Serves 6 (printable recipe) […]
Read more Simple Sicilian Salads #2
May 22, 2010 3 Comments
I’ve found another two genius recipes, this time using oranges to make beautiful savoury salads. They are simple, can be made in under 5 minutes, and are so delicious. The sweet orange combines beautifully with the savoury flavours, a delicious yin and yang for the taste buds. Recipe: Orange and Garlic Salad (Insalata Di Arance) […]
Read more Pasta Alla Norma
May 20, 2010 0 Comments
This next dish is one of the first Sicilian dishes that I read about; Pasta Alla Norma, literally meaning normal pasta. So I guess it’s not surprising that when I asked to be taught this dish preferentially over lasagna I was met with quizzical looks. Crazy Australians! This recipe is a go-to for any family […]
Read more Stuffed Artichokes
May 20, 2010 1 Comment
This next recipe was another first time – I’d never cooked the whole artichoke before, most times the ‘leaves’ are discarded and only the artichoke heart is eaten. But interestingly, when cooked this way the leaves are more delicious than the heart. The whole leaf isn’t eaten, rather the stuffing is licked off each leaf […]
Read more Riso Alla Fabio
May 20, 2010 2 Comments
When cooking riso with Fabio, the contrast of his ‘splish of this and splash of that’ approach to seasoning and the precision of the cooking method was fantastic. His theory was that as long as the yin and yang of the dish is satisfied then it will taste sensational. In this rice dish the yin […]
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