Blog

26
Oct

Brioche with Tuppo

Brioche with tuppo This time I will share my husband’s memories. He had special grandparents. His grandfather was a very popular ice cream maker in Acireale known as “Donn ‘Angilinu.” He went around the alleys of the city with his tricycle, preceded by his unmistakable whistle, with crowds of children flocking to taste his delicious ice creams. My husband’s favorite

Read more

1
Oct

Granita

Granita So many summers spent in a fabulous little house in Fornazzo! So many memories in that Etna village where vacationers and locals met every year to experience the most beautiful adventures.  My home was a snowshoe and still today it has a whole basement that was used for snow conservation. HISTORY For Sicily, with its long seasons and its

Read more

17
Sep

Tomato Sauce for pasta

Tomato sauce for pasta. “I pummadoru,” “a sassa,” “i buttigghi,” “i casci di pumadoru.” So many names for our fresh tomato sauce preserves! In Sicily it is like that! A tradition made of flavors & aromas. Every year in September the time comes when the whole family meets and each one with different techniques works to make the preserves that

Read more

17
May

A Bread recipe

A bread recipe…I can still smell it under my nose. The smell of freshly baked bread mixed with the smell of wood and yeast mixed with hot and humid, love and tradition, simplicity and magic. “Do pane cù criscenti  n’to furnu a ligna dà Nonna ‘Nitta!”  (Grandmother’s bread recipe with sourdough, baked in a wood oven). Preparing bread was a

Read more

6
Apr

A cuddura cu l’ova!

There are traditions that are handed down and others that are created. Then there are those that exist and you make your own! Like the cuddura cu l’ova was for us! Grandma ‘Nitta prepared it and we ate it willingly. But as a child I was not fascinated by it, I preferred chocolate eggs. My children, on the other hand,

Read more

22
Mar

The Zeppole di San Giuseppe!

It is said that in life it is important to celebrate all the holidays! In our family that is exactly what we did. Father’s Day was on St. Joseph’s Day (San Giuseppe) and we also celebrated my mother because her name is Giuseppina! Sicilians always celebrate the person on the day of the Saint with the same name. This day

Read more

17
Feb

Macerroni with wire for Carnivale!

I have already talked about the ritual of fresh pasta. Grandma ‘Nitta was the queen of doughs but above all of macerroni! They could not miss Carnivale! “Pigghia i tabbarè ca facemu i maccarruni” (take the trays we make macerroni) and the party began. Flour everywhere, shapes, molds and ferretti (thin wire) to spread macerroni or whatever came out of

Read more

6
Feb

The fritters of “caliceddi” and potatoes!

The grandmothers “accalata a cogghiri caliceddi” (hunched over to collect the vegetables). It was a funny spectacle. Grandmothers, mothers and aunts intent on harvesting, rolling in the grass and the dog chasing her tail. An impressionist painting! As I have already mentioned, oranges and vegetables were harvested in this period. The countryside had a more intense flavor with the pungent

Read more

23
Jan

ORANGE AND CINNAMON TART!

I love the scent of cinnamon mixed with citrus fruits that we dried on the wood stove. Orange slices and their peel, intoxicated the environment while Grandma ‘Nitta whipped pieces of cinnamon. The aroma from our nostrils made those cold winter afternoons something magical and intoxicating. A few days before making winter dessert, Grandma ‘Nitta brought us to the countryside

Read more

14
Dec

THE POMEGRANATE LIQUEUR!

As a child I had 2 pomegranate trees that produced all those weird fruits, and I didn’t appreciate it at all! I did not even understand the meaning. Sitting to unshell the beans one by one and then taste them with those annoying little bones. How did my mom and my grandmother eat them? And also enjoy the flavor?! I

Read more