More Sicilian Body Parts

Today in an article in Saveur by the National Italian Tourist Board -- Finding the Real Dolce Vita: A Delicious Adventure Into Palermo’s Secret Dessert Scene -- I learned of another Sicilian dessert that I had not heard of before (how could that be? I asked).  It is Fedde del Cancelliere or Chancellor's Buttocks, which have been updated with a shell shape instead of a derriere.  They are made of pistachio paste or marzipan shells filled with blancmange and apricot jam.  We'll have to be on the lookout for them!

The Fedde led me to an article on Santa Lucia's feast day where they mentioned another pastry named after a body part, le Palle del Nonno (grandfather's testicles -- and wouldn't you know it, testicles is feminine...).  These are supposed to be ricotta and chocolate beignets.  That also sounds good but I don't know if I would ask a restaurant if they had any.

More Sicilian Food

I got a just-published book from the library: The Sicily Cookbook by Cettina Vicenzino, a Sicilian author so it should be authentic.  It isn't as traditional as some of the other cookbooks on Sicilian food and does a new take on some old dishes.  For instance, she has a "pasta with ricotta, kumquats and tuna bottarga" and a "Sicilian brioche burger."  Have I cooked from it?  You know I hardly ever cook from cookbooks; I never seem to have the ingredients.  However, I am sure Fernando would love "Double Jerusalem artichoke with black lentils and crispy chicken feet" and "Tripe with black chickpeas".

But I've also been scouring YouTube for more Sicilian food videos -- food videos because I much prefer markets to museums.  There are three short videos (~18 minutes) on Palermo's street food by a New Zealand couple: Sheena and Thomas on their channel, Chasing a Plate, where they document their travels around Asia and Europe.  These videos cover the majority of unique Palermitano street food dishes and a couple of classic restaurant dishes as well.

Palermo Street Food #1 covers the Ballaro food market where they eat frittola (boiled and fried calf innards), boiled octopus, sardines rolled up around a breadcrumb filling (sarde a beccafico) and babbalucci (snails).  Everything seems to be served with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of parsley.  Oh, and of course, olive oil and sea salt.  Then they go to a trattoria for some cuttlefish pasta and swordfish pasta, followed by cassata and torta sette veli (which even shows up on the Greatest British Bake Off) at a pastry shop.

Palermo Street Food #2 again begins at the market where the first dish is that famous spleen sandwich, pani ca meusa.  If you don't like offal you can opt for chickpea and potato croquettes on a roll (pane e panella e crocche).  This is followed by something we should all like: gelato in a brioche.  Palermo also has its own version of pizza: sfincione which is supposed to be best from a food cart but they can only find it at a bakery.  Then it's off to the Vucciría market for more offal: stigghiola, grilled lamb intestines on a skewer.  It's good they are from New Zealand and like lamb.

Palermo Street Food #3 finally showcases the famous Sicilian arancini, stuffed rice balls.  Then they go to another Trattoria for the also famous pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines) spiced with raisins and pine nuts.  The other recommended dish was pasta alla grassa, which I hadn't heard of before but which is supposed to be quite Sicilian.  Like the classic Genoese pasta with green beans and potatoes,  pasta alla grassa includes potatoes as well as pieces of meat and sometimes peas.  It must be little known in the English-speaking world because all the Google search results were in Italian.  After the pasta course they have caponata and fried mackerel.  Oily fish like sardines, mackerel and anchovies are very common and popular and need to be followed by their next stop at a granita shop.

Finally, there is another BBC series: Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes, that has two hour-long episodes covering Sicily: Authentic Tastes of Sardinia and Sicily and Rustic Dishes from Sicily & Puglia.  He loves markets and handling the merchandise.  The vendors must have been appalled...

Sicily Unpacked

BBC Two produces an "UnPacked" series about Italy, including 3 videos on Sicily.  They are hosted by an art historian, Andrew Graham-Dixon, and an Italian chef (cook he calls himself), Giorgio Locatelli.  You can find them on YouTube and they are well worth watching.

• Episode 1 -- Palermo -- begins at the fishing town of Sciacca on the southern coast which Giorgio visits each time he goes to Italy for the seafood.  But most of the episode is in Palermo where they view some very elaborate stucco art, attend one of the famous Sicilian puppet shows, and visit the Vucciria market.  They also discuss the Mafia.
• Episode 2 -- The Spanish Occupations -- covers Noto and the Val di Noto in southeastern Sicily, gelato, Good Friday celebration in Enna, Easter Sunday in Modica and the oldest Sicilian chocolate factory (Bonajuto) in Modica.
• Episode 3 -- Modern Sicily -- also covers ancient Sicily with a visit to Mt. Etna and one of her vineyards, Pachino and its tomatoes, red shrimp at Mazaro del Vallo, and a take on a tuna burger at a modern gastronomic restaurant.  They also visit the Archaeological Museum of Aidone where a statue of Demeter had been returned to Sicily from the Getty Museum in LA.

One thing I was struck by in this series was the dearth of women in the interviews.  I don't know if it is because the hosts are male or whether there is still a separation of sexes in Sicily.  Few women vendors in the markets.  No women fishermen or fish buyers. Andrew and Giogio do mention that at the Easter Sunday dinner in Modica, the men made the ricotta (shepherds) while the women baked the bread (a household task).  Maybe a holdover from the Arabs.