How to prepare the best authentic sicilian recipes - Vol. I

First part. Arancino is a typical recipe in Sicilian cuisine and it is a kind of street food that can be enjoyed in any Sicilian café. It is a rice ball, seasoned in various ways. The classic arancino recipe includes meat with ragù sauce, peas and caciocavallo cheese. It is a particularly tasty dish that combines the flavour of a crispy crust, a layer of soft and tasty rice and the delicious sauce that you can find at the very heart of the arancino. In this first part the Chef will cook the rice and the ingrendients to season it. She also will shape the arancini.

In the second part the Chef will prepare a batter where she will dip the arancini. So she will fry them and fry them.

There is no typical Sicilian restaurant which does not offer, among its appetizers, the Caponata, a delicious recipe prepared with sweet and sour fried vegetables. Depending on the location you are in, the caponata can present small variations in the preparation. In this video recipe we will prepare the Caponata alla catanese made with aubergines, peppers, celery, onion, green olives, capers, raisins, tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar.

Macco is a fava bean purée, similar to a soup, which was once prepared by poor Sicilian families, especially in winter. It is a very easy recipe, so tasty as well, whose main ingredients are fava beans (fresh or dried) and extra-virgin olive oil.

Parmigiana is a dish prepared in almost all of Italy, but it is typical of Sicilian gastronomy. In this video, the Chef presents her own recipe, handed down from mother to daughter for several generations. The main ingredient is the fried aubergine, which is prepared together with a tomato sauce, hard-boiled eggs, grated parmesan and caciocavallo cheese to give birth to this delicious dish called Parmigiana.

First part. Scacciata is a sort of stuffed pizza also known as “'mpanata” or “scaccia”. It is a baked product sold mainly in bakeries. It is prepared with pizza dough (in some cases even with bread dough) and can be stuffed with different types of fillings, such as sausages and ricotta, tuma cheese and anchovies, tuma cheese and potatoes, tuma cheese and broccoli, etc. In this first part the Chef will prepare the dough to make the scacciata with broccoli.

In this second part, the Chef will cook the cauliflower and she will add all the other ingredients to complete the stuffed pizza.

Zucchini al miele is an ancient recipe of Sicilian gastronomic tradition, difficult to find even in the most typical restaurants. It is very easy to prepare. The main ingredient are fried zucchini, seasoned with a honey sauce.

Very tasty appetizer that can also be served as a main course. Difficult to find in Sicilian restaurants, it is an easy recipe to prepare at home, in which it is possible to savour the taste of mussels and of olive oil mixed with lemon juice. It is a recipe that can be enriched with shelled shrimps.

This dish is made with a very thin type of pasta eloquently called “angel hair pasta” and it is not easy to find in typical Sicilian restaurants. It is presented as a flan and can be served sliced.

In the first part of this video recipe, the Chef explains how to prepare homemade pasta in different formats, such as cavatelli, tagliatelle or pappardelle. 

In the second part, the user will learn to prepare a tasty seafood sauce that will be used to season homemade pasta.

Pasta alla Norma is a typical dish of the city of Catania, that takes its name from the famous work of Vincenzo Bellini. It is a recipe where typical Mediterranean flavours meet: spaghetti with a tasty tomato sauce, fried aubergines and delicious salted ricotta.

In this video-recipe the Chef explains how to prepare this tasty dish of Arab origins. It is a dish usually prepared from March to September, when sardines are caught, and it combines the taste of the sea with the flavours of the land, such as wild fennel and pine nuts.

Timballo del Gattopardo is a macaroni pie whose original recipe dates back to the times of Arab domination in Sicily. Subsequently, the recipe was revised by the monks who prepared it on the occasion of Sicilian noble feasts. This recipe, which dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century, became famous thanks to Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa who mentioned it in his famous novel The Leopard (Il Gattopardo). It is an unusual recipe, very elaborate, where sweet and salty tastes mix. From outside, it looks like a sweet pie but it is stuffed with a savoury filling, prepared with macaroni seasoned with meat sauce, hard-boiled eggs, peas and caciocavallo cheese.

In this video the Chef explains how to prepare this delicious dish where it is possible to savour the taste of the sea. It can be prepared with the seafood available in your area, but it is advisable to include mussels, shrimps and calamari and to eat it with croutons.

This recipe is very important in Sicilian gastronomy as, in addition to being enjoyed as a main course, it is also used as a sauce in many other delicious Sicilian recipes. It is in fact used to make arancini, the Gattopardo pie and also as a sauce for homemade pasta. The original recipe involves using mixed meat, such as veal, pork and sausages. To make it more tasty, some use to add pork skin as well.

In this video recipe the Chef cooks the meat following a particular cooking method. Infact, while cooking, the meat is not turned, as it exploits both the heat of the flame and the water steam created during cooking. At the end of cooking, will be obtained a soft and tasty meat with a pizza-flavored taste. 

This meat course is widespread in Sicily and in particular in the restaurants of the Etna area. You can also taste involtini as street food, especially in the historic streets of the centre of Catania, where several restaurants on the road offer this speciality to go, usually served as sandwich filling.These meat rolls can be of chicken, veal or pork and stuffings can vary as well. In this video recipe the breaded rolls will be prepared with veal, onion and caciocavallo cheese.

Meatballs are cooked and appreciated all over the world. Sicilian style ones are really tasty and delight both adults and children. In this video recipe the Chef explains how to make meatballs wrapped in lemon leaves or zucchini and also how to prepare them with a tasty sauce of Marsala wine.

Swordfish is a kind of fish mostly used in Sicilian cuisine. In this recipe, very easy to prepare, the chef uses slices of swordfish. At the end of the preparation, the result will be  soft and tasty, enriched with extra virgin olive oil and seafood.

Cannoli are probably the desserts that have made Sicily famous all over the world. In this first part of the recipe, the Chef explains how to make the dough to obtain the crispy waffles to be filled with a soft cream. 

In the second part of this tasty video-recipe, the Chief explain how to work the ricotta cheese (preferably with sheep milk ricotta) to get the cream which will be used to fill the waffles. The union of waffle and cream gives birth to this well-known dessert, crunchy outside and creamy inside.

Typical Sicilian spoon dessert, easy to prepare, very similar to a pudding. In this video, the Chef proposes coffee Gelo, but several variants are possible: lemon, orange, cinnamon, chocolate, watermelon, the latter particularly appreciated during hot summer days.

Spoon dessert that can be prepared with seasonal fruit. In this video recipe, Zuppa inglese is made with strawberries, tasty lemon flavoured custard and biscuits.

Salame turco is the Sicilian version of chocolate “salami”. In this video recipe, the Chef explains how to make this delicious dessert, which can be prepared even one-two days before serving. Easy to make, it does not require cooking and is particularly appreciated by chocolate lovers.

Typical Catanian dessert, traditionally prepared during the celebrations of St. Joseph. Invented by the nuns of the Benedictine monastery in Catania in the sixteenth century, today it is possible to find crispelle from September to May in bakeries and cafés in Catania and its surroundings, generally on holidays. Their main ingredient is orange-flavoured rice, which becomes crispy through frying, staying soft inside. The characteristic sweet taste is given by hot honey poured over them.

The video recipe explains how to prepare an ancient Sicilian dessert of Arab origin that today can hardly be tasted in Sicilian cafés and pastry shops. Capellini al miele are prepared using a very thin type of pasta called “angel hair” (“capellini”), fried and seasoned with honey and candied fruit. This dessert is easy to make but refined and crunchy: delicious.