In the Sicilian hilltop town of Ragusa, among the Baroque buildings, churches, and other UNESCO World Heritage landmarks, one of the highlights of any visit is a ubiquitous street food known as scaccia Ragusana (lasagna bread). Scaccia is perhaps best described as a cross between a calzone and lasagna—a stuffed bread full of thin layers … Continue Reading
It’s mid-October and the lure of fall (and pumpkin) is strong, but I’m not quite ready to bid farewell to some of my summer faves — eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, the holy trinity of summer vegetables. They’re still abundant at my local farmers’ markets, so was eager to take advantage of them, as in a … Continue Reading
I recently saw a cartoon in which a couple at an Italian restaurant asked their server, “We don’t eat pasta, what should we order?” to which the server responded, “a taxi.” 🙂 Busiate is a corkscrew shaped pasta typical to the Province of Trapani in western Sicily. The word busiate is of Arabic origin. The pasta was traditionally formed … Continue Reading
I happily consumed a fair amount of caponata while recently exploring Sicily. You’ll find it on just about every menu. Essentially, caponata is sweet and sour eggplant (agrodolce). Agro=sour and dolce=sweet. At its core, caponata is a combination of eggplant, onions, celery, tomatoes, vinegar, capers, and olives, sweetened with a bit of sugar. Some versions … Continue Reading
In my opinion, summer is by far the best time of year. Give me sunshine. Give me flip flops, shorts and a tee, that’s when I’m most comfortable. Throw in a lazy day at the beach and I’m as happy as a clam. And of course this…summer’s bounty — tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, chiles, zucchini, summer … Continue Reading
