"chi pari picca a' carni senza patate!" ...(how "small" the meat seems without potatoes!)

Imagining ourselves to be in a play, the curtain rises in the South of our boot in the city of Palermo.

What is immediately apparent is the beauty and vivacity that you find walking along through the streets of the historic centre. A few steps from the centre, inside a beautifully constructed building, we find a very large, sunny attic room, embellished by a large number of books and pictures, a true family passion.

The gastronomic proposal of our Cesarina on this occasion, purposefully simple, which represents

a small part of the popular culinary culture of Palermo .

In tune with the geographical position of the island that has assured it in the past of an overlap of many historical and cultural aspects, Sicilian cuisine is characterized by the great variety of aromas and ingredients that are combined giving life to perfumed dishes, for both poor and refined people. at the same time. Among the many recipes that she knows, Annamaria proposes in opening a dish which is a symbol of typical Sicilian cuisine known as pasta "broccoli arriminati".

The bucatini with broccoli in a pan were born from the union

of the Arabic and Spanish cultures both present in Sicily at different times. The use of saffron and

pine-nuts is of Arabic derivation, whilst the real establishment of it is Baroque in origin

The bucatini give way to the rolled braciolone or farso magro (a slice of veal stuffed with bread,

pine-nuts and caciocavallo.......)

The name has historic origin, derived from the french "farce de maigre", which is "lean stuffing" ... a contradiction with what in reality is a "restrained" dish.

The name would seem to indicate a dish that, on the surface, may seem "lean" which instead has a rich and appetizing stuffing. This dish is accompanied by potatoes cooked in the oven, since as Annamaria maintains "chi pari picca a' carni senza patati" (how "small" the meat seems without potatoes).

To end this delicious gastronomic journey, Annamaria proposes as dessert ravioli di ricotta , made from a thin pasta filled with ricotta cheese, which is then fried in oil and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon, bringing to mind once more the strong bond with the different cultures that have influenced the culinary art of Palermo and Sicily.