During the introduction day of NURAY’s cook club I prepared a few theme options per workshop to share with club members. My first choice was Sicilian cuisine and being selected as a first workshop of the total 6 workshops of the club.
Although Sicilian cuisine has a lot in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food also has Greek, French, Spanish and Arab influences.
In Trapani, in the extreme western corner of the island, even North African influences are clear. That makes this cuisine more interesting to be chosen by the club members.
We started with Panelle – from region Palermo – a popular Sicilian chickpea fritters, street food snack of Arabic origin. Panelle is completely gluten-free but, often served in the sesame seed sprinkled durum wheat rolls .
Our next recipe was Arancini al Ragù !
Arancini – fried rice balls – is one of the most culinary symbol of Souther Italy, especially Sicily.
Indeed they are said to have been introduced to Sicily by the Arab invaders who also brought rice to the island in the 10 th century.
Our arancini with the classic saffron to flavor the rice and filled with ragù .
It looks like, arancini has so many elements to do; risotto binder, filling, shell, shaping and frying but ! for delicious and perfect arancini, it’s worthed and easy to keep in freezer for an other occasion to eat .
Tonno al marsala – tuna salad with marsala dressing is a great option for hot, summer days as a lunch or as a main dish with toasted bread. It’s easy to make and very fancy.
Marsala is a wine – dry or sweet – produced in the region surrounding the city of Marsala in Sicily. That was our first recipe with dry Marsala.
Insalata di finocchi e arance ! Fresf fennel salad with sweet orange dressing & pistachios. What a feast ! It looks beautiful, easy to make and delicious …
Zucca al pesto Trapanese… Trapanese style pesto with fried pumpkin.
This pesto is impossible to find elsewhere only in the town of Trapani / Sicily.
It’s used normally with an oddly shaped pasta – busiate -. Tossed almond is the main ingredient of this pesto. We made a delicious vegetarian recipe instead of traditional pasta recipe.
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Here is our last recipe with Marsala: Cannoli Siciliani !
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Cannoli are famous pastries of Sicily; a dessert consisting of small deep-fried pastry tubes with a creamy filling, typically of sweetened ricotta cheese.
This is one of my favorite Italian desserts and the perfect ending to any Italian dinner ! of course with a glass of home made limoncello liqueur !
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We discoved the story about the origin/details of the yellow lemon flovered liqueur.