Food diaries
Eating my way through Sicily
I have been traveling through Sicily for the last week. I have come to Sicily regularly since I was born, but usually I go to my grandfather’s birthplace San Vito Lo Capo, where the family still owns his house. For this trip I decided to do something different and spend time exploring all the places that my family is connected to. So my trip started in Palermo, where my father lived when he was a university student together with his mother and siblings (they all relocated there at that time). I continued to Castelbuono, a small town in the Madonie mountains, not far from Cefalu’. It’s the birthplace of my father and we still have a lot of family there, literally a cousin at every corner. I continued towards the west coast and reached Trapani, birthplace of my grandmother (on my mother’s side) and that’s where I am writing from.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you probably have seen already some amazing food I have had so far, but here a few highlights starting with some street food from Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is well known for its incredible street food culture, which certainly existed before the term “street food” was ever invented. Funnily enough Sicilians have embraced the english expression “street food”, maybe because of the tourism, but it’s what you see written everywhere and the way people talk about it.
It is a tradition that when you arrive into Sicily one of the first things you should eat is an Arancina (or two). When I landed I grabbed a taxi and the taxi driver (believe it or not) asked me if I had eaten (doesn’t get more Sicilian than that!). He brought me to eat an arancina at his favorite spot and he insisted on paying for it!! Read the full story here.
There is an ongoing diatribe between the people of Palermo, who call it Arancina, and the people of Catania who call it Arancino. It is not the only beef between the two biggest cities of Sicily, and whether you believe that the gender of this fried delight should be masculine or feminine, it is ultimately quite irrelevant as they are exactly the same (with a slight different shape in Catania).
These days Arancine are super popular worldwide and they come with all sorts of fillings, and often served with some kind of dipping sauce. I have no idea why the dip has become popular, I have never seen it in Sicily. The whole point of Arancine is that they are to be eaten standing up or walking, so you grab one of them with a napkin and off you go…dipping sauce makes it highly unpractical! Plus if it is freshly fried and still warm it is quite moist inside and it really doesn’t need it!
When I was a kid they only had two flavors in Sicily: alla carne and al burro. Alla carne is a classic Sicilian ragù, i.e. a meat tomato sauce with peas in it.
Al burro (butter) surprisingly has no butter, but melted mozzarella and prosciutto cotto (cooked ham). It is usually slightly more oval in shape and people think it’s the “lighter” one of the two…
Nowadays you will find arancine with all sorts of fillings, spinach (for a vegetarian alternative), norma (aubergines and tomato sauce) etc… Honestly you could almost put anything inside one of those, as they are a perfect vessel for any savory and even sweet fillings! (Popular these days). It’s the most perfect meal in a pocket and it’s so delicious and filling!
If we venture a bit more into the old school traditional street food, Palermo has a wealth of food using the butchers’ leftovers and cheaper cuts, or the ones that rich people would have not bought. With the resurgence in popularity of offal, some of these traditional poor foods have gained the spotlight once again.
One unbeatable classic is Pane ca meusa (Bread with spleen)
This comprises of a soft bun covered with sesame (vastedda), filled with veal spleen and lung (trachea sometimes too) cooked in lard. This can be served schitta (single), just dressed with a bit of lemon, or maritata (married) with added cheese. My version here was married to some fresh ricotta and grated salted ricotta (ricotta salata), and it was a good marriage! The sandwich pictured here came from the legendary food kiosk Nino o’ Ballerinu. His nickname “the dancer” apparently comes from the series of gestures as he assembles the sandwich at the speed of light. It is a little choreography that has the main purpose of refrying the spleen and then extracting and discarding most of the grease from the meat so that it won’t be too heavy (!). I don’t even want to imagine how heavy it would be without the dance…Nino is a legend in the area and he has family has been making these sandwiches for 4 generations.
One of my favorite street foods is the slightly less intimidating and vegetarian and vegan friendly Panelle. Panelle are small chickpea fritters that you will find everywhere in Sicily and, oh my, they are so delicious. You can eat these little squares by themselves as they come out of the frier with a squeeze of lemon, and maybe some pepper,
You can see them in the picture here above on a plate accompanied by Crocche’
Crocche’ are basically potato croquettes, and the traditional Palermo ones are made with pecorino and mint (so delicious!!)
The most traditional way to eat panelle is actually with bread! You might find this weird, as it looks like a starch on starch, but the soft sesame bun once again marries perfectly with the crunchy and salty panelle!
If you are a real pro you will order pane, panelle and crocche’, and it’s recommended if you wanna try the inebriation of a triple starch Sicilian adventure.
If you come to Sicily you have to eat a Cannolo or two (each day I guess!). I am sure you are all familiar with these delightful fried dough tubes filled with sweet sheep’s ricotta…but…here some advice on how to eat a cannolo like a Sicilian.
Lesson number one: repeat after me: one cannolo, two cannoli! So next time you order ask for: Un cannolo
Lesson number two: if someone is selling you an already pre-filled cannolo, do not buy it and do not eat it. The whole point of a cannolo is the that the fried tube has to be crunchy and thin and light. Anything prefilled will be either soggy or too thick. Every respectable pasticceria or bar will fill the cannoli when they are ordered and on demand only. Once they are filled their lifespan is not too long, maybe an hour or so. Some people that sell prefilled cannoli have come up with the idea of covering the inner part of the tube with a chocolate layer, to make them waterproof…so they can fill hundreds and leave them on the fridge display…shame on them!
Take a look a this cannoli station inside the sweet shop of the Convento di Santa Caterina and you will understand that the cannoli game is very serious here.
As you can see she is filling one with a sac a poche full of ricotta and you can also decide which toppings you’d like. I went for chocolate and pistachio but I actually missed the candied orange…next time
Lesson number 3: please do not try to split a cannolo in two to share it…the tube will inevitably break, the fun will be over and you will find yourself with a Massimo Bottura style of dessert in your hands. Just enjoy it by yourself with big crunchy bites.
The cannolo was so good that I had to go back there another day to try something different. I went for a slice of baked Cassata (Cassata al forno), which is an older version of the cake that you all probably know, but it doesn’t have all the decorations and it doesn’t have the marzipan. It’s more similar to a ricotta filled crostata and it’s much less sweet than the normal cassata and more delicate in flavour.
The little pot you see there is what they call “Gello di Mellone”, a traditional jelly made with watermelon and jasmine. There is no gelatine used in this, only starch and the fresh watermelon juice cooked with an infusion of jasmine flowers. It’s topped with pistachio and chocolate but that’s optional. It’s actually very light and refreshing and the jasmine makes it so delightful.
If you get thirsty while walking around I would recommend one of the little stands squeezing oranges or pomegranates. I have to confess that I never saw pomegranate juice in Sicily when I was a kid, so I am not entirely sure if it is a traditional thing or a more recent addition to the market stalls. Traditional or not it is very uniquely refreshing yet tart.
I’m gonna stop here for today as this post is getting long and i’m sure everyone is hungry by now.
Do let me know in comments if you have questions and if you would like to hear more about my Sicilian food experiences in my next posts.
Taking notes as I’m planing a trip to Sicily early spring.
Thank you for sharing your story, places to visit and food to eat!
Francesco, when I was in Palermo last year I did try the pane ca meusa and I can't say I enjoyed it. I had panelle and they were indeed delicious. I didn't try arancini, but I did have the similar suppli in Roma this year and they were delicious.