Archive | Sicily

say hello to our Christmas dinner!

December 23, 2013 at 3:36 pm

There it is… half a lamb! When I walked into the local butcher this afternoon, I had only intended to pick up our favorite sausage for an egg and sausage casserole. The lamb looked too unforgettable to pass up, though… so why not?! There’s enough for two meals, so I’ll choose half of the pieces and roast them with root vegetables. Should be tasty, and I know my back-to-the-land husband will love it. Here’s a picture of the butcher hacking the lamb up for me:

He chopped the head and ear off first and laid them on the butcher paper, but I shook my head. I had no plans for those pieces, and I’d rather not look at them in my kitchen. Don’t tell Elliott; he probably would have wanted to make a lamb’s head soup or fry the brains! The butcher did give me the whole liver, so maybe Elliott will be content with that….

What are your plans for Christmas this year? Are they interwoven with family tradition, or are you far from family this year? We’re still establishing our traditions, by which I mean that we have plans for how Christmas will be one day (real tree, Christmas stockings, spending the holidays with family) and our make-do plans in the meantime. Here’s our make-do tree and its tin foil star:

My children are posing outside the butcher shop with the omnipresent Sicilian Christmas decoration: a stuffed Santa climbing walls or railings to deliver presents. A version of this Santa seems to be hanging off every balcony in town.

We’re hosting a small Christmas Eve brunch tomorrow morning for other friends who are far from family, just like we did last year. We also have high hopes of attending the Christmas cantata at church if our little ones can make it through the 6:30-7:30pm service without meltdowns!

Our Christmas morning will be more special this year because I feel like Lena anticipates it and is excited about it for the first time. We’ve been telling and retelling the Christmas story a lot in this house, and Elliott’s been reading the story from The Jesus Storybook Bible to her about every other night for weeks. I have thought about making a birthday cake for Jesus to really emphasize the celebration of the day, but we’ve had enough sweets in this house… so maybe I’ll just stick a candle in one of our Christmas morning cinnamon rolls instead! She would love that.

I’d love to hear about your plans for Christmas, especially if you have any special ways to commemorate the day with little ones. What are your favorite memories from your childhood?

11 :: in holidays, home sweet home, Sicily

Christmas in Caltigirone {Sicilian ceramics and nativities}

December 16, 2013 at 2:58 pm

A couple of weeks ago, as Thanksgiving had just given way to the Christmas season, my friend Anna organized a girls’ trip to Caltigirone, home of Sicilian ceramics. The last time I visited was almost two years ago, and I was excited for another chance to browse through endless tiny shops filled with blue and yellow pottery, wander up and down the tiled stairs at the heart of the mountain town, and spend a morning with my friends without all of our little kids!

(On that note: a big thank you to Elliott and Greg for taking on all the children after Anna and I had spent the rest of the weekend selling at craft fairs!)

Anna had more plans than just ceramics shopping, though. She invited us all to experience the Sicilian tradition of presepe, or nativities. Every year many Sicilian towns set up nativities of all shapes, sizes, and designs in empty garages, cavernous back rooms, and tiny doorways off little side streets. We bought a pass to see 5 different presepi, which we presented before stepping behind heavy velvet curtains to see each scene.

This presepe was totally life-sized and set up in a cave-like room. The figures all moved, the cow lowed, the donkey brayed, and a soft God-like voice overhead recited the Christmas story in Italian.

A scene from a massive and incredibly detailed presepe that stretched on and on for at least 100 feet!

On the left a 5-inch-high shepherd reads Scripture surrounded by tiny sheep; on the right Cinderella, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs make their way towards a Disney-free stable off to the side.

This one was wild. Smurfs, Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, and the Simpson family gathered around a miniscule little nativity scene inside one of Super Mario’s mushrooms!

My favorite presepe was made entirely of pasta. Even the “hay” on the ground is crushed green pasta!

… and the “inn” to the side of the nativity scene is built out of crostini, tiny crisp toasts that Italians often eat for breakfast. So clever!

There was even a miniature Caltigirone scene inside one presepe, complete with the famous tiled steps of the town and a tiny Padre Pio (well-loved Italian priest) blessing tourists and townspeople alike.

Our presepi touring finished, we wandered through rainy Caltigirone, dipping into ceramics shops as they caught our fancy. Even in the bleak winter weather, Caltigirone is a beautiful town.

The famous tiled steps of Caltigirone. The buildings on either side are filled with ceramics shops, a delicious restaurant, and people’s homes.

Ceramics! I especially liked this pattern. It looks very much like Polish pottery, which is my first love.

A Christmas tree-shaped candle-holder and a beautiful artist at work.

Scenes in Caltigirone.

The canisters above demonstrate some of the larger brushstrokes used in a lot of Sicilian ceramics. Not as much my style, but very typical of the region and beautifully bright in their hand-painted colors and designs.

And finally, a pocket-sized Fiat cinquecento or scooter to take home with you!

8 :: in holidays, Sicily, travel

a Sicilian tradition :: Timballo di Pasta alla Norma

November 25, 2013 at 12:00 pm

Full recipe at end of post.

I’m excited to share another truly Italian recipe with you today! Anna, my friend and fellow crafter, organized a cooking class at her house last week. Anna invited her friend and neighbor, Maria, and her daughter to teach the class, and together they taught us how to make a sponge cake with ricotta filling, cannoli (!), and the recipe I’m sharing with you today: Timballo di Pasta alla Norma.

Pasta alla Norma is… umm… amazing. It is a delicious combination of fried eggplant, homemade marinara sauce, and fresh pasta, and it is always topped with shavings of ricotta salata cheese. (Earlier this year, I shared the recipe here.) It’s also a classically Sicilian dish, something that will bring a smile to any Italian’s face. This particular version is a play on the classic dish; timballo, as best I understand, means drum, and this dish is basically Pasta alla Norma baked in a bundt pan, with the end result being that your main dish does look a little bit like a colorful, extremely tasty drum!

So, without further ado, let’s get ~~drumming~~ cooking. I will make a brief apology for the quality of some of these photos. I was trying to photograph three dishes as they were being cooked simultaneously, and I was also keeping these two munchkins out of trouble. I know. They don’t look like they even know the meaning of the word, but… trust me. They do.

Begin by preparing your eggplant. Italians like to peel off only the ends and a strip of skin on each side so that the eggplant will hold its shape as it fries.

Thickly slice the eggplant and put it in a cold bath of heavily salted water for about 5 minutes. This draws out the bitterness in the eggplant. After 5 minutes, stab the slices with a fork. Soak for 5 minutes more.

Drain the water (which will be brown) and rinse the eggplant. Pat the slices dry. Heat up your vegetable oil and start frying the eggplant in batches.

Cook until golden brown and tender. Drain on paper towels until completely cool. (And try not to eat it all right now. Fried eggplant is unbelievably delicious… and this is coming from someone who didn’t like eggplant until she moved to Sicily.)

At this point you can begin preparing your pasta sauce. The recipe is basic: tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil, salt, fresh basil. The two secrets that make this sauce distinctive are (1) teaspoon of sugar and (2) a pinch of baking soda, if you can believe it! The small amount (pictured below) alters the acidity of the tomato sauce and gives it a unique sweetness.

Cook your rigatoni pasta. When it is al dente, mix in your sauce and 1 cup of pesto.

Add about 1.25 cups of ricotta salata and mix together.

Line 2 bundt pans with the browned eggplant slices.

Pour the pasta on top of the eggplant and sprinkle with another 1/4 cup of ricotta salata.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes at 250 degrees F (120 C). Remove from the oven and allow to cool. (If you turn it out too early, your timballo will lose its shape, especially when you serve it.)

Decorate with fresh sprigs of basil and a sprinkle of ricotta salata. And there it is! A rich blend of salty and sweet, chewy and textured, too wonderful for just one helping. A taste of Sicily in your kitchen!

Timballo di Pasta alla Norma

Eggplant

2 Eggplants
Salt
Vegetable (sunflower) oil (for frying)

Cut off ends and the skin down one side of each eggplant. Slice lengthwise in ½ inch slices.
Place slices in a bowl of water and salt heavily. Let soak for 5 minutes. Pierce eggplant slices with a fork. Let soak 5 minutes longe. Drain water and dry each slice with a paper towel, piercing again with a fork.
Heat vegetable oil and fry dried eggplant slices until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels to remove excess oil. Let cool completely.

Sauce

3 jars Passata (tomato sauce)
2 Garlic cloves
Salt to taste
1/8 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Sugar
¼ c. Olive oil
Handful fresh basil

Simmer tomato sauce, garlic, and salt for 20-30 minutes until thickened. After it is thickened, stir in baking soda and sugar.
Remove from heat and add olive oil and basil.

Pasta and Finishing

1 kilo (2 lbs) pasta (we used rigatoni but spaghetti can also be used)
1 c. basil pesto
1 ½ c. ricotta salata cheese, shredded with ¼ c. reserved

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Cook pasta according to package instructions in salted water. Drain.
Stir pesto and 1 ¼ c. sliced cheese into pasta. Add tomato sauce to pasta mixture.
Line 2 bundt pans with the browned eggplant slices. Pour pasta into pan on top of eggplant then top with any remaining sauce. Sprinkle reserved ricotta salata on top.
Bake for about 10 minutes.
Wait until cool, then flip onto large flat plate. Put basil stems in center and top with shredded ricotta salata.

6 :: in eat this, in my kitchen, Sicily

my family & the butterflies

November 21, 2013 at 4:08 pm

Ever since the kids and I visited the Casa delle Farfalle (House of the Butterflies) in the spring, Elliott been wanting to go too. We finally got our act together and went for a picnic lunch one weekend after church. I’m so glad we went on the weekend because the park was packed with Italian families grilling out, picnicking, and kicking soccer balls around, and we felt like we were truly experiencing an Italian Sunday afternoon. The butterfly house wasn’t that bad either!

In addition to butterflies, the tropical garden included several crazy insects. That stick insect and that millipede are the biggest I’ve ever seen!

Look at Gil’s face!

The butterfly house also includes a few rooms dedicated to the history of the Silk Road. It was fascinating to see live silk moths and realize what a tedious process it is to extract the silk from their cocoons… even in the 21st century.

Gil amused himself by taking apart the displays…

And my favorite moment of the day is in photographs below when a butterfly landed right on Elliott’s face… and then Gil noticed it… and then…

Not pictured: the flight of the butterfly. Lucky guy!

6 :: in family, Sicily, weekend

Olive Picking in Sicily

November 14, 2013 at 12:00 pm

In late October, the officer’s club organized a trip to pick olives on a local farm. The season was at its peak, and trees were heavy with darkening olives. We decided to go along, mostly because I’ve wanted to go olive picking since we moved here, and this was really our last chance. We planned to only stay for a few hours, because we couldn’t fathom that we’d be much help in the grove with our two little ones.

The farm was just outside Mineo and owned by Agrippina and her husband Franco, who runs a butcher shop in the beautiful hilltop town of Mineo. There were about 20 of us there, including some little children, and the whole atmosphere was very carefree. I wondered how long it would take before we were sweating and miserable, as I’d heard that olive picking is no walk in the park. Agrippina, however, informed us that olive trees only produce olives every two years. Last year 100 of their 125 trees produced olives. This year… only six. Only six! That sounded manageable. How long could six trees take for 20 people to pick?

We headed down into the groves and got a quick tutorial. We could either pick the olives by hand — as Elliott is doing on the left — or we could rattle them out of the trees with long- or short-handled rakes — like the ones our pediatrician is using and has stuck in his back pocket!

Lena enjoyed helping out after some guidance… and she probably picked more than I did!

I did have a sleeping baby attached to me, though. And camera duty.

It was easy to slow down in the warm, dappled sunlight… only to be roused again by the furious pace of our Italian hosts.

As we picked olives, we tossed them down onto green nets laid out under the trees.

When one tree was finished, everyone helped shake the olives onto one net…

… and then picked out all the stems, leaves, and debris from around the olives.

We then funneled them into crates to be transported to the olive press. It’s dirty work, especially if you like sticking your fingers in your mouth!

The group moved quickly from tree to tree, but it still took a couple of hours to pick all six trees.

The group is dwindling…

Elliott and Lena found a peaceful spot under a tree.

And then Gil woke up and wanted to join in the fun!

When all six trees were picked, we walked back up the hill to Franco and Agrippina’s house, which is over 100 years old and looks out over the valley. On long tables under old pine trees, they served wine and grilled meat from Franco’s butcher shop, and we contributed side dishes. The meal was delicious and–for some of us more than others–well earned! Afterwards we ate Italian pastries and sipped limoncello and espresso before the drive home.