Cous cous alla Trapanese

My sister, recently holed up in Trapani with ferries to the Egadi islands suspended due to adverse weather conditions, discovered a delight of the western (more arab influenced) part of Sicily. Cous cous alla Trapanese, is surely one of the best dishes around, unfortunately not present in this 'Greek' side of the island.
Here is a receipe I have translated:

For 6 people
1 kg. Mixed fish, shell fish and seafish, i.e seabass, clams mussels etc (according to availability)
500 gr. Mature Tomatos
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1onion
1 handful of parsley & 1 bay leaf
1 pkt of saffron1 pinch of paprika
salt and pepper to taste
chilli pepper to taste
500 gr. cous cous

Clean the fish, crusteans and seafood. Put into a pot the fish heads and tails and any unused parts of the seafood, cover with water and add the bayleaf, some of the parsley, carrot and celery with half the onion, salt and pepper. Cook for 40mins and strain, keeping the broth separate. In a separate pan, the rest of the veg and condiments and herbs- its better to keep the garlic whole. Then add the fish, after shellfish Put HALF broth in with the ingredients. Add the tomatos, and leave to cook for 15 mins. Add any seafood, and any more salt needed, and continue to cook for 10mins.

At this point, you can get out your ‘couscoussiere’ if you’ve recently been on holiday to Morroco. If you haven’t, cook the cous cous in the normal way, adding olive oil and the rest of the broth (they expect you have the said couscoussiere,I can't guarantee what cous cous is like with fish broth added instead of water with normal cooking).
Its now ready.

Street scenes sunday morning

Is it a 'sicilian message'? It was just me and this fish on the beach this morning.




Then walking along, I saw this man selling artichokes from the back of his punto.
He also had one lone round of homemade cheese (just visible behind him) I asked if I could take his photo. He liked to be pictured with his produce patting his (ample) midrift. I suppose this is a rustic salespitch?

Lasagne al forno

Granny's 'sunday best' is legendary, and not just the pasta- check out those pearls!

1.She made the 'bolonaise' ragù before mass, and pre-cooked the pasta sheets at 8am this morning.

2.On my arrival, at 11, she makes the bechemel- but uses olive oil, not butter.

3.She then starts the layers of ham, provola and parmesan cheese, peas and bechemel

And before you can say 'Jackson Pollock' the signature style of pasta al forno is ready!

Pizza alla rustica

To make authentic sicilian pizza, you will need: Cold water, 1 kilo of 00 grain flour, 50g yeast for the dough, a tin of tomatos and some dried basil and garlic for the topping, and lavish amounts of provola cheese or mozzarella.


1.Firstly, Granny makes the dough, and leaves it to rise for about 30mins.

2.Meanwhile, she makes the sugo with toms, basil and garlic.




3.She then pummels the dough once it has risen and pours it into the pan.

4.Its then squeezed into shape and has chunks of provola liberally 'sprinkled';



5.The tomato sugo is smeared on top, the final touches of olive oil added and hey presto! its ready for the oven.

20 mins later it appears in its glorious- and rustic- entirety.

Pizza disappointment

I have just been round to Granny's to arrange an appointment for tomorrow's pizza showdown (this will be posted later). We discussed why and how Sicilian Pizza base is so different from other regions'.

'Pah!' She said, 'they've started introducing that paper thin base for all those diet fanatics'. 'Eat that stuff and you'll go hungry....' Then I discovered a new hand gesture. Wave your hand under chin and bring it up repeatedly (signal= vomit?) 'That's what we think of northern pizza'.

Pippineddu vieni Ka

I do have a lot of work at the moment. Yesterday I had two jobs, 3 hours teaching in Rosolini, a small agricultural town where if you get lost in the one way system NOBODY can give you directions in italian. My sicilian stretches to 'Pippineddu vieni ka' (little Giuseppe, come here).

After my first day there I had already made firm friends with the barlady Pippinedda -little Giusippina- (Guisseppe and Guiseppina are Joseph and Josephina respectively).

Teaching in Sicily envolves spending a lot of time in the bar nearest the school or college one is working. Last time I went there with one of the many Salvotores in my class, who immediately embraced the barlady. 'Oh so you know each other?' I said. ' Ofcourse, we're first cousins' he said. Later, I went there with another teacher. She embraced the man at the bar. 'This is Emanuele, the previous bar owner. He is my husband's cousin.' I love my classes in Rosolini. We do try and work, but usually end up in the bar with cousins, or singing karaoke on the IT suite.

After Rosolini I did my 2hr adult evening class. After a hair raising journey driving alone across the craggy steppes and high planes of the sicilian countryside, I arrived half an hour late, covered in dust, with yesterday's ice cream dribbles down the front of my jeans to find all my students in suits and made up coiffures (that was just the men- women were practically in evening gowns). The tutor had advised them that we were going to have a mid-course test, 5 minutes 'interrogation' in English each. 'Interrogation' in the South of Italy has to be done looking your best.

Viva San Conrado!

Today was the feast day of San Conrado. He is the patron of Noto, the baroque town nearby. Daniele and I went there last Sunday, where in Noto the feast was in full swing. Except that, to our disappointment, our favourite rustic trattoria (4 courses of homemade everything 10 euro) was closed. There was no feasting to be done. Then Daniele remembered the fine establishment he last went to with a priest of 80 years old, called 'la barocca'. He remembered that the food was particularly good, but thought it was probably due to his company, the priest being a chaplin of the local prison, and the waiter being a former inmate-penitent. On this occasion, however, he needn't have worried- the grub was great with or without the ecclastical influence.

Granny Broadbean stew

1. Granny firstly boils for 5 mins the dried broadbeans that have been soaking overnight.She then strains them


2.Meanwhile, she makes the Italian flag with a litre of water, an onion, a carrot, a peeled tomato and some celery

3.She then adds the broadbeans to theabove mix

4. Add a pinch of salt and after half an hour in a pressure cooker you'll have a fine stew. Once cooked she added some fresh spinach and cooked that normally with the rest of the stew for 10 mins.

Rustic, simple and fine!!

Coffee addict

Having given up coffee in favour of yoga and water, I stumbled into a bar today, realised they had the best coffee mix in the south of Italy (Rosalia- Cuba mix) and gave way to the most incredible cup. Also, I always appreciate it when bartenders say 'subito Signora' (partly because nothing is 'subito' except for the little cup of expresso on a quiet day). Afterwards, I realised that despite my valiant efforts with the cobra, the prancing cat, the one legged crab etc., nothing makes me feel more human than a cup of coffee.

One piatto, two, piatto, three piatto, four.

I hope you can make out the scene above. Its from yesterday's carnival- I know it didn't come out well but I think it looks a bit like a Goya.

I have just read in The Corriera della Sera that Italians (at least those north of Rome) are lunching with only ONE COURSE! This has got to be a national diasaster. Over 70% of the working population don't have time for more than 1 course, so they have institutionalised the 'piatto unico'. Recently, in Venice, I saw this trend with my own eyes and immediately did a deal with one of the best rustic trattorias, in return for lunching there every day I had 3 courses and 1/2 bottle of vino for 20 euro.
Today, the start of the quarantessima (lent) we still have 3 courses simmering in our Sicilian catholic kitchen, only difference no meat- lunch today will consist of fresh mountain cheeses, pumpkin risotto, braised artichoke, and fruit. Long live multiple courses!

First and second lent courses

The grand finale

Vanilla Oranges

Today I tasted the strangest variety of orange that exists- it had a pink pith, and was not acidic but sweet in a mellow way- I unknowing bit into it and immediately thought it a freak of nature.

Sicily ofcourse, is the orange growing apothosis and has a variety of varieties never exported, including that of the 'arance vaniglia'.

IN fact there is little that a sicilian can't do with a citrus fruit. And one of the stranger types are include unbloody blood orange i.e an orange which looks like a sanguinello, but which isn't; red because of the lava erupting from Mt. Etna has infiltrated the soil it grew in. It was made into this very tasty fennel, onion and orange salad.

Yesterday I went for a walk with Uncle Ubaldo and family, we entered into a nearby gorge and picked and saw some cool things: wild asparagus, wild palm trees (with sweet yellow dates!) fennel, borage, sage and thyme as well as the usual fruits, nuts and carubo . It was a nice walk and a beautiful sunny day (around 20°- sorry london pals) but unfortunately, sicilians (with the exception of my company) do not have much appreciation of environment or ecology. Many beauty spots have been asphalted over, and the place where we walked although a lovely, craggy spot where the mountains and a natural spring flows into the sea -was full of electricity pylons.

Not only was it ecologically interesting, but a fine place to find million yr old fossils, as the sea had receded from this spot leaving exposed animal and shell remains in the rock.

What a pity that the same ignorance that produces the fine ricotta (see below) in combination with corruption results in such appalling visual and atmospheric pollution (Not seen)