Baked eggplants with oregano

It is not necessarily that the preparations must be very elaborate to be good; rather, in truth, I have a preference for the simple dishes in which is able better to appreciate the taste of the ingredients. The kitchen for eveyday, moreover,must be suitable besides to the contemporary style of life that asks for a moderate quantity of calories, considering that our days develop sedentarily.

In this article, I propose you a recipe that sees how protagonist the queen of the Sicilian summer tables: 'a mulinciana (the eggplant in sicilian language).

Lukewarm salad of fava beans

It is time of fava beans still!

Passionate and "wedded" - over that to the Santuzza[1] - to a kitchen that uses products of the territory and seasonal, today I propose you a recipe of the tradition of the Sicilian popular cuisine. A very simple preparation, of country origin, that however it exalts the good taste of the green legume above all if it accompanied with some good oil of olive.

Before passing to the recipe, I reiterate the only my true recommendation: use fresh products and of first quality, always!

The Panelle

Today it does so much "cool" to go around for the world to try the street food, natural father of the most modern fast-food. Needless to say you that in Sicily, where we are ahead always, we have been serving it for centuries: we have invented fast-food, practically. I know, you will be thinking that I am a flag-waving terrona[1], an extremist of the terrone’s thought. Well, a fund of truth there is perhaps, the certainty however it is in the fact that I madly love my earth and above all my city Palermo, an old stretched out lady between a mountain (Monte Pellegrino[2]) and the sea, noble, indolent, magnificent despite the marked signs of the time, that it still emanates a strong aura, memory of her shines of Liberty époque and of all of her ancient history.

Carciofi alla "Villanella" - Artichokes at the "villanella" (farmer mode)

Ogni famiglia siciliana e palermitana ha la sua ricetta. Io l'ho imparata da mia nonna Nella, madre di mia madre, la quale, dopo averli nettati delle foglie più dure e delle punte, li faceva spaccati a metà e messi in un sol strato in una padella, conditi con aglio a pezzetti, prezzemolo, sale, pepe e abbondante olio extravergine d'oliva e circa mezzo bicchiere d'acqua. Io ho apportato una piccola variante: spolverata di pangrattato tostato ("muddica atturrata" in Siciliano) e li lascio cuocere coperti per circa 20 minuti, o fin quando non risultano morbidi infilzandoli con una forchetta, senza mescolare.

In Palermitano, il carciofo diventa femmina: "a cacuocciula". L'"abitudine" linguistica di declinare alcune parole al femminile è un'eredità lasciataci anche in questo caso dalla dominazione araba. In Arabo, infatti, si dice "Al Kharsuf".

Artichokes[1] to the "Villanella[2]" (farmer mode)

Every sicilian and palermitan family have their own recipe. Well, I have learned it from my grandmother Nella, my mother's mom, which, after to have eliminated the harder external leaves and the extremity, did them broken to half and envoys in a only layer in a frying pan, seasoned with bits garlic, parsley and abundant extravergine olive's oil and a half glass of water. I have brought a small variation: dusting of bread crumb toasted ("muddica atturrata" in Sicilian language) and I let them to cook covered about 20 minutes, or until when they don't result soft pierced them with a fork, without mixing.

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[1] “A cacuocciula” in Palermitan language. Many of the palermitans’ words are inflected to female. This linguistic "habit" drift from the Arab language. For example, "a cacuocciula" derives from "Al kharshuf."

[2] U viddanu (villano, in Italian), he who worked the earth and he generally lived in small villages. It was a simple person and without culture. In the common language the word has become synonymous of "boor".

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[1] U viddanu (villano, in Italian), he who worked the earth and he generally lived in small villages. It was a simple person and without culture. In the common language the word has become synonymous of "boor".