The Sicilians were first to lay their hands on the eggplant in Italy. They are called dangerous by their name mela- apple and inzana- unhealthy. Since they are a nightshade veggie just as tomatoes and potatoes are, and they have harmful side effects eaten raw. They don't taste great raw anyways so why would you give up the opportunity to have fried eggplant cutlets, caponata, pasta alla norma with caciocavallo or parmigiana? Caponata is typically served room temperature with pignoli nuts (pine nuts), olives, and capers in a sauce thats both sweet and sour. It's great as a contorni (side dish) or mixed into pasta, you know that's how I eat most things.
Sicily has some of the best food I have discovered in Italian cuisine so far and due to their diverse heritage and Arabic food ways that include aromatic and colorful ingredients. One thing that I thought stood out and varied differently from European cuisine was cuscus. It's very common to see it made in the middle east, served with vegetables and meat. Sicily was the first to serve this tiny fragment of wheat with seafood, just as we had it today. The pasta for this region varies a bit differently than the north in that the doughs are made with farina (zero) flour and water, no eggs. They are also usually extruded pastas like rigatoni served with a delicious aromatic cavolfiore (cauliflower) sauce. Then there are other pastas like those made with everyones favorite micro fish, the sardine and anchovy. I think I have had enough of these guys before we started cooking with them. Is that terrible of me to say? If I think back on all the dishes with sardines or anchovies that we have made (and counting tomorrow and the next two weeks) I think it's amazing how many ways you can use them. They are either eaten as a side dish, meal, or used as a condiment. Fresh or salt brined, they are like the herring to Scandinavia, also something I am not so fond of.
WINE with Me:
Passito di Pantelleria are dried grapes used to make a very sweet tispy wine. Sicily, as an island off Italy, is kind of in its own world. There are so many DOC and IGP products throughout, and wine happens to make up its own huge list. Erice (white wine/ Inzolia grape/ best with shellfish), Etna (made from the volcanic ashes of Europes largest volcano), Faro ( red/ nero di avola or pinot noir grape/ best with hearty meat stews and braises). I love the marsala wine really because it's wondeful to cook with (sweet or savory). The "liquor wine" comes from Trapani Sicily with grapes harvested from Marsala.