The Cooking and Cuisine of Sicily

[FoodMan]

Last night I finally got around to making my first caponata, relying primarily on Mario Batali's recipe, though adding extra Valrhona cocoa, some celery and a few plump Green olives that came from Bari where we are supposed to be headed next Tuesday. I'll wait until it's room temperature again, but I don't think it's my favorite thing to do with eggplant. I did enjoy tasting it while it was cooking; even a little currant I picked off of the stovetop before cleaning was filled with spicy, complex flavor. (HELP! There's too much! Creative uses (already have ruined clothing) or "sides"?)

Use it to fill Calzones or as pasta sauce or crumble some Feta in there and use it as a side to grilled lamb...

Thanks fro the "Odyssey" quote Andrew. It is intriguing that the men first and foremost thought was to steal some cheese, not lamb or sheep or beef. Tells you a lot about the appreciation for that glorious food.

[NYC Mike]

Holy crap, Elie!

My thoughts exactly!

GA (?) Mike : I never realized that Mario Batali was concerned about cutting calories until I saw your eggplant roasted vs. fried. If I am correct in guessing the fifth ingredient in your cake was orange (olive oil, flour, sugar & eggs), it seems to be in the spirit of Sicily especially given the Middle Eastern associations of such a cake.

HA! Thankfully, the eggplant is fried to a crispy goodness before building the finished dish.

Yes, we used lemon zest this time but we have done orange too, I love it with my morning coffee.

mike

[Chufi]

Elie, that pie is just gorgeous.

I haven't been cooking much lately, mostly because of the heat which is really affecting me (guess I should be glad I don't live in Sicily ) but last night I took the last chance to make arancini.

They were filled with a simple ragu. They were good, but just a little bit on the dry side. I should have made the meat sauce juicier I think. Still, I always enjoy deepfrying anything, and they made a delicious dinner.

My friend who came to dinner brought a bottle of Inycon by coincidence, so we had that covered as well

[Kevin72]

Last night I finally got around to making my first caponata, relying primarily on Mario Batali's recipe, though adding extra Valrhona cocoa, some celery and a few plump Green olives that came from Bari where we are supposed to be headed next Tuesday.  I'll wait until it's room temperature again, but I don't think it's my favorite thing to do with eggplant.  I did enjoy tasting it while it was cooking; even a little currant I picked off of the stovetop before cleaning was filled with spicy, complex flavor. (HELP!  There's too much!  Creative uses (already have ruined clothing) or "sides"?)

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My ongoing problem with caponata is that it makes a ton, no matter how much I try to scale it back, and it's not necessarily something I got back to again and again. I'm probably going to wind up throwing out what's left of ours after precariously snacking on it at work over the past couple weeks.

But maybe you can use it to top some grilled fish? Isn't that what de Blasi used it for in one of her recipes (though cocoa and fish, hmmm).

[Franci]

But maybe you can use it to top some grilled fish?  Isn't that what de Blasi used it for in one of her recipes (though cocoa and fish, hmmm).

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I will go the otherway around caponata topped with fried sardines.

Caponata is one of my favourites.

This is a "fake" caponata, suggested by Gic and Albenghi on Gennarino forum

[markemorse]

Uses for leftover caponata:

Mix with chickpeas, raw sweet onions, mint, and balsamic for a cold or room-temperature salad.

Add a fresh clove of crushed garlic (or two) and fresh basil and use as bruschetta/crostini topping.

Mix with rice and parsley and use to stuff baked zucchini, peppers or tomatoes.

There's also a Timballi di Tonno recipe in the Bugiali book that uses eggplant, olives, basil, capers, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, vinegar, and Parmesan (and tuna...he uses fresh, but i'm sure a nice canned Spanish tuna would work too)...so it seems like you could do something in this direction even if you didn't have it in you to do the whole timbale thing.

Add a little goat cheese and use as a stuffing for baked chicken breasts?

I probably shouldn't be doing this while I'm hungry: I just imagined some kind of fried caponata/mozzarella/rice ball abomination....I'll stop here.

Edited July 30, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[Chufi]

I have been eating caponata (I also had tons leftover ) on aged Gouda cheese sandwiches.

[Kevin72]

Whoah. Those are all great suggestions, thanks! I particularly like the sound of the chickpea salad.

Uses for leftover caponata:

Mix with chickpeas, raw sweet onions, mint, and balsamic for a cold or room-temperature salad.

Add a fresh clove of crushed garlic (or two) and fresh basil and use as bruschetta/crostini topping.

Mix with rice and parsley and use to stuff baked zucchini, peppers or tomatoes.

There's also a Timballi di Tonno recipe in the Giuliano book I was talking about earlier that uses eggplant, olives, basil, capers, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, vinegar, and Parmesan...so it seems like you could do something in this direction even if you didn't have it in you to do the whole timbale thing.

Add a little goat cheese and use as a stuffing for baked chicken breasts?

I probably shouldn't be doing this while I'm hungry: I just imagined some kind of fried caponata/mozzarella/rice ball abomination....I'll stop here.

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[markemorse]

the chickpea salad's a good one. you could toss a squirt of pomegranate syrup in there too depending on the sweet/sour profile of your caponata.

i also just remembered that it makes a nice frittata too (and sounds good too: frittata caponata)...I'd probably add some crushed red pepper and parmesan or pecorino in that case.

Hope that helps...hate to see good caponata hit the trash!

mark

Edited July 30, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[Pontormo]

Wow, you all!!! Must be good karma?

After being out in the hot sun (a wonderful breeze, though, every now and then) volunteering at the farmer's market, I come home and find all these really good suggestions. Thank you! I actually have some of the ingredients and will soak some extra chickpeas (since Torakris's blog made me crave homemade falalfel and Klary knows I am trying to use up a cupboard full of beans) & prepare a couscous-pine-nut and herb salad on the side. I hope it lasts since it's not appropriate for tonight's salmon. I was also thinking about some ricotta-stuffed polpette based on a recipe in Molto Mario that includes pistachios, skipping the milky broth which would be with the eggplant. I had some last night with a pseudo-Italian hamburger and liked it. For someone not accustomed to agrodolce, the flavor is something I may need to try more frequently.

Franci, that pseudo-caponata looks delicious. Is it simply without a tomato sauce?

Klary, good to see you back here with beautiful, perfect arancini. I am sorry the weather is still so oppressive. I hope early September in Northwestern America makes up for what plagues so many of us this year...and that relief comes much, much sooner than that.

[Andrew Fenton]

Finally broke the couscous barrier last night with a couscous dish, served at room temperature, topped with a sauce of chopped heirloom tomatoes, Sicilian olive oil, mint and a little ricotta salata. I had something similar in Rome (at Cavour 313); something between a salad and a pasta, nice and light for hot weather.

Leftover caponata: yeah, that has been a problem for me too. I've added it to room-temperature pasta for a salad; rice would work well, too. Yum.

[archestratus]

I am a little confused about this business of what to do with leftover caponata. In Sicily, one makes caponata to be leftover. That is, it's a preserved and marinated (pickled) food that is meant to be eaten over and over again. You can Google caponata history to read all about it or go directly to Caponata. Asking what to do with leftover caponata is like asking what to do with leftover pickles. Anyway, if one means what other uses are there for caponata besides as an appetizer or a side dish, one of my favorite ways was as a pizza caponata I had once in San Gregorio.

[Kevin72]

I understand that it's supposed to last, but after three weeks of snacking on it, preserved or no, I'm kinda done. There's just the two of us, and my wife only ate it when I served it, so she doesn't reach for it out of hand.

But, for future reference, is it something that needs to be jarred? Or can it last in tupperware?

[markemorse]

I was just going to say that I've never seen a caponata, in Sicily or anywhere else, that I'd eat after more than three weeks...there's just not been enough oil or vinegar to provide a pickling or preservative buffer. Maybe it's a storage thing, adding oil on top when you put it away, but in Sicily the caponate that I had were not especially oil- or vinegar-soaked....

and what does one do with leftover pickles, anyway....

joking,

mark

Edited July 31, 2006 by markemorse (log)

[archestratus]

I understand that it's supposed to last, but after three weeks of snacking on it, preserved or no, I'm kinda done.  There's just the two of us, and my wife only ate it when I served it, so she doesn't reach for it out of hand.

But, for future reference, is it something that needs to be jarred?  Or can it last in tupperware?

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Well, yeah, 3 weeks is a long time. Mine is long gone by that point.

[Ling]

I wanted to sneak in one more quick Sicilian meal before the month was over.

antipasto

Swordfish involtini with green beans and purple cauliflower in a garlic anchovy sauce

[Pontormo]

Ling, is that the cauliflower in tiny bits around the gorgeous, plump olives in the foreground & on the green beans in the background? Around here, it's too hot to grow again until fall.

This is by no means a farewell to Sicily, especially since the rest of dinner was rather American: poached salmon prepared late last night, a Greek yogurt sauce & a blueberry-corn relish with lemon basil, colors set off by a turquiose glass plate.

Now that tomatoes are finally in season, Patate allo sfincione were in order. Cf. Elie's true sfincione upthread. This is also known as Sticchiu 'l Parrinu or The Priest's Mistress's Potatoes. N.B. Clifford Wright pluralizes his translation of the clerical name of the dish, but I am going to give the monotheistic guy credit for another kind of singular faithfulness.

Small cubes of potatoes are put at the bottom of a well-oiled casserole, followed by a layer of diced red onion, and seeded (should be peeled, but given the state of fruit this year, I figured all the potential source of flavor was needed), chopped tomatoes. In Sicily, the woman's got to tend a garden while the padre takes confession--she an Eva of sorts while he doles out "Aves" to sinners--so fresh oregano was substituted for the more potent dried herb. This layer is seasoned, then drizzled with oil. Process is repeated and baked for quite some time given raw state of potatoes. When done, the red of the upper layer of shriveled tomatoes deepens under the oil and the herbal scent builds.

Possibilities for leftovers here are endless. The dish is sometimes made with meat and called either sciarabbaddazzu or sciarbuzzia. I might turn it into a gratin to render the rich, stewed potatoes into something more crusty. There's always frittata or focaccia.

[Pan]

[...]i also just remembered that it makes a nice frittata too (and sounds good too: frittata caponata)...I'd probably add some crushed red pepper and parmesan or pecorino in that case.[...]

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I'll bet caponata would be a great addition to my Italian-influenced scrambled eggs dish:

Sautee a bunch of cloves of fine-sliced garlic (maybe 5-7), then two or three sliced onions in extra-virgin olive oil.

When they're a bit caramelized, add tomatoes.

When the liquid from the tomatoes is mostly boiled off, add about 1/2 pound (~250 grams) of sliced mushrooms (optional -- if so, wait to boil off most of the liquid before the next step) or skip that and proceed to add a whole bunch of fresh basil (and oregano, if you like).

After stirring around for a while, add the caponata and mix well to integrate everything.

Then add three roughly beaten eggs. Mix them fairly aggressively with all the other ingredients, so they don't stick to your pan.

Add a generous pour of the wine of your choice (start with at least 3/4 of a cup, I suppose) and a bunch of slices of a tasty cheese (parmigiano, provolone, et al. - I've used feta with excellent results). Cook at a medium flame to reduce the resulting sauce. Add black pepper (salt to taste is optional, as the cheese has plenty of salt).

When the sauce is sufficiently reduced, the mixture is sufficiently amalgamated, and all ingredients taste like they're in the right balance, spoon it onto slices of toast (sour dough is the best I've had with this).

For best results, drink some of the wine you used to make the dish.

Not Sicilian to my knowledge, and depending on what wine and cheese you use, the dish may look something like vomit (!), but in terms of taste, you could do a lot worse with leftovers if I do say so myself.

[Kevin72]

Sunday night's meal began with "cutlets" of fennel and eggplant, breaded and fried, then, hot out of the oil, doused with orange:

Interesting play off each other. This was based on Mario's eggplant cutlets recipe, and I happened to have some fennel sitting around, so I used that as well. I almost liked it more than the eggplant.

Last year, after I had finished Sicily, a recipe was brought to my attention that I regretted not getting a chance to try, and vowed this time out that I would get to it. It was a recipe posted by Paula Wolfert on Chef Zadi's blog: (click here). Actually, it was a bastardized version: I don't have any of the couscous equipment, and so made the sauce brothier than normal and then put the couscous directly into it to cook.

Very exotic, highly flavorful. The almond/garlic paste swirled in at the end of cooking reminded me of the Ligurian dishes I really liked and added a whole new element. The cinnamon was a very faint flavor that really made the dish more homey and comforting. Too, I almost wonder if some roasted peppers in there would be a good addition.

To drink with the meal:

Not too shabby; not as good as last week's trio of reds for my dinner party, but it complemented the meal well and normally I do fall into the "no red wine with fish" camp. I think the spices helped mediate the two.

Dessert was a honey sponge cake from Schiavelli's Many Beautiful Things cookbook, topped with a fig compote, the figs again coming from our tree in the backyard (wheee!).

I'm not setting a good example for next month, I fear: I had bought ingredients for a final Sicilian meal but won't get to it until tomorrow night. Apologies to Puglia for stealing a day.

[NYC Mike]

WoW Kevin! That couscous dish looks amazing! I have some I've been wondering what to do with, I think I will give that a try.

I too will be stealing a day from Puglia, I wanted to make at least one gelato!

-Mike

[hathor]

It's hard to say 'arrvederci' to Sicily, isn't it? But, as Kevin said, we can visit whenever the mood strikes us.

Beautiful meals everyone! Those cozze look particularly delicious.

It's stll hot here, so I'm going Trapanese as much as possible, meaning, lots of raw sauces. The cats are upset, they want to know, "Where's the meat???". The left over oxtail ragu went into some tortellini, and then into the freezer, which is where I would like to be....

See 'ya in Puglia! (bring some mosquito repellent, our Italian teacher just came back and she said the mosquitos were fierce, kamikazee was the word she used! )

[Pontormo]

With the distinctive seafood couscous, just about everything truly significant has been made! The only category that I feel I neglected is dolci due to the weather. If you'll notice, Sicily has inspired more posts than even Lazio or our very first region.

Since we began Sicily a few days late, why not linger?

How about changing the rules and starting the first Monday of each month?

[mrbigjas]

I'm not setting a good example for next month, I fear: I had bought ingredients for a final Sicilian meal but won't get to it until tomorrow night. Apologies to Puglia for stealing a day.

yeah i got some really nice dandelion or chicory greens at the farmer's market on saturday, which aren't going to be used until tonight at the earliest.

on the other hand, nothing says 98 degree summer day like a nice puglianese lamb stew with dandelion greens, eh?

[Kevin72]

I'm glad you're making that; it was really good and somehow doesn't seem so out of place in the hot weather months.

[mrbigjas]

oh did you make that one last year? i was just going to make the perciatelli with greens and ricotta that someone (hathor? pontormo?) made upthread, but maybe since we have officially crossed into the new month, i will... i still have a couple bottles of nero d'avola to drink though. decisions, decisions.