Hollywood in Sicily

Currently I have 3 cookbooks on Sicily because nowadays library books are automatically renewed and evidently nobody else has a trip planned to Italy.  They are:

• La Cucina Siciliana de Gangivecchio by Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene (they have two other cookbooks)
• Cucina Siciliana by Clarissa Hyman
• Sicily from the Silver Spoon Kitchen, published by Phaidon (which means it is heavy)

But even better than cookbooks are videos and yesterday I lucked out and ran across a series on YouTube by Paul Hollywood (of The Great British Baking Show) from Tonic called "City Bakes".  In one episode he visits Palermo and tries many of the classic Sicilian dishes, like arrancine (rice balls), sfincione (Sicilian pizza), cannoli, cassata (an elaborately decorated cake), and gelato in a brioche (he wasn't impressed).  He visits the Mercato Vucciria and his Sicilian friend tries to get him to eat the famous innards but he declines (I wonder if he eats eels, pie and mash).  He does omit a few dishes like the spleen sandwich (pane con le milza), the chickpea fritter sandwich (panino con le panelle), and pasta with sardines (pasta con le sarde) and he never goes to a sit-down restaurant but he still covers a lot in 45 minutes.  He really enjoys himself and so should you!