Isolitudine of the kitchen

Anna lives in Palermo, home of one of the oldest civilizations in the Mediterranean as well as the crossroads of cultures between East and West; a place of transit and landing of peoples, languages and different religions, Palermo enchants for this reason being at the same time cosmopolitan and strongly rooted to its own traditions, proudly conservative with a sense of "isolitudine" described by Gesualdo Bufalino, who summarised the ability of the people to integrate the innumerable historical incursions that occurred in the territory with the local fabric, mixing together harmoniously creating a vivacious and proud identity.

To stay in the theme of traditions and typical characteristics we begin with a triptych of local delights: fried ricotta fritta. pecorino cheese with anchovies and vastidduzza with ricotta cheese, a kind of soft stuffed sandwich, In the biblical exegesis considered symbols of a solid mind and straight reasoning, the star of the appetizer is pecorino cheese made with sheep's milk which is very widely found in Sicily as well as a precious resource of the regional gastronomic heritage.

We continue with a dish of popular palermitana cookery: the timbale of anelletti, circles of pasta which as our Cesarina points out, represent the shape of the typical Arabic hat, the turban, First seasoned with a meat sauce of pork and veal flavoured with onion, tomato, red wine and various other flavourings (amongst which are bay leaves, sage and chilli pepper), the anellettis are then placed in layers in small cylindrical moulds interspersed with pieces of cheese and then re-covered with the meat sauce to form a timbale.

The second dish. involtini ra nonna Pina, represents for Anna one of her first memories of the kitchen, when with her still small hands outstretched she participated in the rituals of the table, entrusted with preparation of the slices of meat, the caciocavallo cheese, the tomato, onion and breadcrumbs with passolina and pine nuts.

They are accompanied by the cavuliceddi ‘ngranciati cu l'agghia, a local vegetable similar to chicory with a slightly bitter taste that, after having been boiled, is lightly fried with garlic.

To close the journey Anna proposes a sweet which dates back to the XVIII century: the dolce dell'amicizia (the friendship dessert), prepared thanks to friends of the family who decided to entrust its traditional recipe to our Cesarina, A preparation of clearly Arabic origins, as is testified by the presence of the cooked fruit and spices, among which is cinnamon; emerging during tasting in their sweetness are French influences, provoked by the whipped cream and autoctone with the almond marsala.