Sicily: wine and food itinerary Vol.2
What To Eat in Sicily
We want to talk about the Sicily through another aspect of its culture, maybe the most famous.
An ideal culinary Sicilian tour of tastes, to discover the most authentic Sicily, through its gastronomy.
What to Eat in Palermo
Palermo is one of the street food world capitals. It differs from other Sicilian provinces for the use of poor food especially with regard to the cheap cuts of meat. U pani ca meusa (bread with spleen) the quarumi (bowels veal boiled with onions, celery, carrots, parsley), and the stigghiola (guts lamb wrapped around a leek and cooked on the grill) are food for the strongest stomachs. Instead sfincione (a sort of soft and very high pizza with tomato sauce, onion, anchovies, oregano and chunks of cheese on top) or pani e panelli (deep-fried chickpea fritters, which are included in a sesame bun called Mafalda) for the less brave. Palermo is also known for other dishes like salad of oranges and anchovies, anelletti al forno, pasta con le sarde e mollica (pasta with salted anchovies and toasted breadcrumbs) and sarde a beccafico. Among the desserts, apart from the cannoli and cassata, we must mention the sfincia ri San Giuseppe (sfincia of St. Joseph, a kind of pancake enriched with cream cheese and orange peel) and Martorana fruit, a sweet made of ground almonds and sugar, whose particularity is the shape of various fruits and vegetables.
What to Eat in Siracusa
Along with Palermo, it has contributed to making famous Sicily worldwide. Pachino tomatoes, almond d’Avola (at the basis of many Sicilian sweets), honey of Sortino and the red sicilian oranges are indeed produced in this area. And just in the little town of Avola, located in the Noto Valley, listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, it is produced the most representative red wine of Sicily and one of the most famous Italian wines abroad: Nero d’Avola.
What to Eat in Messina
The cuisine of Messina, due to its proximity to the Ionian Sea, has Greek roots and less Arabic influences than the rest of Sicily. It is based on both fish dishes similar to those of the closer Calabria, and livestock products. Typical products of the mountains are Nebrodis salami of Brolo di Sant’Angelo, the black pig and provolone of Nebrodis. Typical of Mistretta instead is pasta ‘ncaciata, macaroni with simple ingredients such as tomatoes, minced meat, salami, boiled eggs, eggplant, pecorino cheese, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
What to Eat in Catania
The city of Catania is famous for the well-known pistachio, that grows only in the city of Catania, and is the main ingredient for various desserts such as ice cream, granita (strictly accompanied by the so-called brioscia), and Fedora cake (a dessert made with ricotta cheese and sponge cake), but is also used as condiment for the arancini and especially the pistachio pesto, used as a sauce for pasta dishes. About the beloved pasta, we can’t forget to mention the famous pasta alla Norma (with tomato sauce, basil, ricotta cheese and eggplants). A special mention is up to the horse meat, that is a tradition. There is a district where the butchers sell exclusively horse meat and some of them have a small room used as a tavern where you can consume the famous polpette di carne di cavallo (meatballs horse) and other dishes of this food.
