Gelo di mellone: our summer watermelon pudding

Do you know what the "gelo di mellone" is? It's the name of a very traditional summer pudding that is made in Palermo and its province. Mellone in Italian is a generic word to mean melon, but this dessert is actually made only with watermelon and has a delicate and delicious fresh taste. 

We like to eat it plain, just as a pudding but we also use it as filling in the pie, to have a more important dessert! You find it in all the patisseries of the Sicilian capital in summertime and you can also see the single-portions (mini-pies) as well as the big pie.

Ingredients & preparation for 8-10 people:
1 lt fresh watermelon juice
100 gr. starch
200 gr. sugar
50 gr. chocolate chips
a glass of jasmine water
*pistaches and cookies to serve (but not essential)

Before starting to prepare the "gelo" you need a couple of jasmine flowers. Wash them and leave them in water for 24 hours. 
Now you are ready to start:
1. Cut the watermelon and put the pieces in a blunder, having removed the green hard part. Blund until it becomes all liquid.
2. To strain the juice and remove the solid little parts we usually use a kitchen tool similar to the one we use to press the tomatoes for the sauce, it's also similar to a colander, but bigger, like the one in the pic below. When you have finished to strain the juice you can measure how much of that you've got. Usually a big quarter of a watermelon should be around 1 liter.

3. In a sauce pan mix the starch and the sugar, then, when you have obtained the proper amount of juice pour it little by little, stirring constantly with a spoon or a whip. When the ingredients are all melted together place the sauce pan under a low heat. 
4. Add the jasmine water and gently keep stirring until the liquid starts to boil and become as consistent as a pudding. As soon as it is quite solid (few minutes) turn off the heat and place it in little bowls for single portions or in a large mold or tin instead.

5. Let it cool down and after at least 40-45 minutes if it is not warm anymore put the chocolate chips on top and if you like also some pistaches as the one shown in the big picture above.
6. Place in the fridge at least two hours before serving it. Then, to finish up the decoration in the best possible way just stick two wonderful cookies or other kind of biscuits to accompany the pudding and you will enjoy it so much that you are definetely going to make it again and again and again! Happy Summer :-)))

Marzipan sheep, the symbol of Easter in Sicily

Do you know what "Pecorelle di pasta reale" are? We call it sheep of marzipan, which is made of almond flour, and in our Christian culture they are the symbol of Easter in Sicily. In some parts of our island they fill the marzipan with a kind of preserve of nuts, especially pistaches, or citron marmelade, but you won't find it in Palermo, where we use plain marzipan.

Sheep, in particular lambs, represent the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that during the Holy Week suffers and dies for Mankind and then, after 3 days, rises again on Easter sunday. 

We want to remember His sacrifice even at the table, with this little jewels of marzipan, made in proper molds or shapes of chalk, which are the result of faith and tradition.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

"Pasta ch' i sardi" one of the most famous Sicilian dish in the world

Do you know how to prepare the famous Sicilian pasta with sardines? First of all let's specify that in Sicily we learn that the period for fishing and eating sardines is during the months that have a "R letter". (In italian are February, March, April, September, October, November, December).

Said that you should know that the main ingredients of this dish are: sardines and wild fennel. As I always write about very traditional dishes it's very common to find different versions of the same dish, depending on which province of Sicily you are from, but also on the individual family tradition.

On the whole, I would say that there are two main recipes for this pasta: the red one and the white one. What does it mean? It means the version with the tomato paste and the version with saffron instead.

Ingredients & preparation for 4 people: 

- 400 gr. bucatini (long and thick shaped pasta like in the pic above)

- 250 gr. fresh sardines

- 400 gr. wild fennel

- 5 anchovy fillets

- 30 gr. sultanas

- 30 gr. pine nuts

- olive oil

- a small onion thinly chopped

- salt

- 6 ts of breadcrumbs

- 20 gr. saffron powder (for the white/yellow version)

- tomato puree or concentrated tomato extract (for the red version)

1. Wash sardines well under running water. Then wash also fennel and boil it in a large pot with salted water. Once it is cooked, drain it but do not eliminate the water. On a cutting board chop the fennel thinly and leave it aside.

2. In a sauce pan put a drizzle of olive oil on a medium heat, add the chopped onion and let it brown for a couple of minutes.
Add the anchovy fillets cutting it in small pieces using a wooden scoop or spatula just like in the pic on the right. They have to melt and become a paste.

3. Then put sultanas and pine nuts mixing all together.

4. Take half the quantity of the sardines, (leaving out the ones that are not broken that will be used after) and mix them in the sauce in small pieces too.


5. At this point add the saffron if you are doing the white/yellow version, or add some tomato puree if you prefer the red one (pic on the left). It's important to melt the concentrated tomato that has to become again a sort of paste. You can put a bit of fennel water to help melt the tomato puree.

6. Finally put the chopped fennel in the pan, together with a dipper full of the water in which has cooked. Mix well and place on top of the fennel the remaining sardines that should all be in one-pieces.

7. Let cook the sauce with a lit for about 10-15 minutes on a low heat. (Picture below)




8. In the meantime cook the pasta (bucatini or ziti) in the remaining fennel water as usual and drain it. If the water is not enough for all the pasta add some more water but remember to check the pasta on salt before draining it.

9. While pasta is cooking, in a small frying pan on a medium heat prepare the breadcrumbs with a drizzle of olive oil and stir the two ingredients until they become homogeneous and kind of dark brown in color (but not burnt).

10. Now you can either place it on a serving dish covering it with all the condiment and sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top and eat it as it is or doing the same process but placing it on a oven tray and bake it for about 10 minutes at a temperature of 200° C. 

Serve hot and enjoy the great Sicilian taste!

"Sarde a beccafico", the unique Sicilian sardine rolls

Do you know what "sarde a beccafico" are? And why they have got this strange name? This is a typical Sicilian dish made of fresh sardines filled with our traditional ingredients: breadcrumbs, olive oil, pine nuts and raisins. Beccafico (which is a little bird similar to a warbler or quail, literally means beak figs). These were little birds called so because they liked to beak figs. In  ancient times Sicilian Nobles used to hunt and eat them. They said that their  meat was nice and tender so they were eating them with all the guts.


The poor people having more sardines than birds started to cook them adding some lemon and orange juice to the filling, to mitigate the strong smell and taste of the fish.


Ingredients and preparation for 4 people:
500 gr fresh sardines

200 gr breadcrumbs
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
50 gr raisins
50 gr pine nuts
Juice and zest of one lemon (or if preferred half lemon and half orange)
20-22 bay leaves

Clean the sardines and remove the backbone. In a pan on a low heat, brown the breadcrumbs with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and remove from heat as soon as it gets golden. Add raisins, pine nuts, lemon zest. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil, then start filling the sardines, each at a time.


Once you had put the mix roll it up very carefully, because they are extremely delicate and easy to break.Put a leaf of bay to separate each roll and if you prefer stick a small wooden stick on each roll.

Mix the sugar with the lemon juice (or lemon and orange juices) and sprinkle on the fish to moisten and perfume the dish before baking it.

Now bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for about 10-15 minutes. It is a perfect starter or a great side-dish, hot or cold it doesn't matter, you are going to love and enjoy it!!!!