sicily pt 3 :: food

After our stay in Palermo, we headed back to Erice for the weekend to see the Doric temple at Segesta and also the Egadi Islands...unfortunately, since we were staying in the middle of nowhere and were relying on public transportation, we forgot that on Sundays EVERYTHING is closed (especially in super Catholic Sicily). So after a bit of tears on my end, we decided to make sure that we return again to see more of Sicily...so we instead just enjoyed a last day on the olive farm, playing with the dogs, taking naps, and eating dinner with our hosts and his friends again.

pistachio sugar ball • Genovese tart • marzipan display at La Pasticceria di Maria Grammatico
...so on to the real subject of this post...the FOOD! I'm not sure if you noticed how I haven't really mentioned much about our culinary experiences in the first 2 parts of the Sicily posts, but I was saving the retelling for a post all its own. One of the things I looked forward to quite a bit, was sampling all the lovely treats that this region is so famous for: granita, gelato, marzipan fruits, pistachio confections, etc.

Our first day during our jaunt up to the mountaintop Medieval city of Erice, we stopped by the world famous La Pasticceria di Maria Grammatico. Opened by Maria, who is one of the most accomplished pastry-cooks in Sicily after learning the skills of pastry-making by the Sicilian nuns, her shop is known for the genovesi shortbread mini pies filled with custard, which are served warm. We tried one of these and also picked one of the pastel marzipan balls. I chose the pistachio flavor, but wasn't too impressed with the almond flour paste confectionary treat, but Chris enjoyed it. Some of the marzipan creations, including the life-like Frutta di Martorana have been showcased in art exhibitions around the world. The shop window was one to linger over for a while...
*More about the life story of Maria Grammatico can be read about in the memoir Bitter Almonds*

Frutta di Martorana • typical Sicilian pastry counter • fluffy gelato
Our time in Palermo was filled with new taste experiences. As soon as we arrived at our host's house, his mom sat us down for a traditional Sicilian meal of a linguine-type pasta with small berries, sardines, and oil based sauce. For the vegetarian in the bunch, they served me a big salad, cheese, and fruit instead, but Chris enjoyed the pasta. During the afternoon we explored the city streets looking for the legendary Sicilian cannoli. We bought a couple mini cannoli from a cafe' and ate them as we made our way to an outdoor 24-hr hot cannoli and croissant stand. There we bought a full size cannolo with candied fruit on the ends, and a fresh-from-the-oven cornetto (croissant) with pistachio creme.

yum. All I can say is that I had a slight stomach ache after that and was glad that Sicilians don't eat dinner until about 10pm, because I needed several hours to recuperate!

For dinner at Antica Focacceria San Francesco, we passed different plates around to try a variety of dishes from Palermo. There were a couple types of fried morsels, including a herbed mashed-potato stick that was breaded and fried, as well as a chick-pea mixture fried patty. We also tried a Sicilian pizza (which I liked SO much better than pizza anywhere else in Italy, because the crust was actually thick!), and the others shared a typical Sicilan sandwich of beef spleen. hum...

After dinner we went to a bar for caffe' and our host explained the story behind the Sicilian Cassata pastry. We also admired the cases of Frutta di Martorana and chocolate custard mini tarts, but didn't sample any as we were still full from dinner. The next morning, we had fun wandering around a couple of outdoor markets in the city. I wish I could do an entire photo study of the fish stands, because the stacks of fish, from swordfish, octopus, squid, neonati (just born octopi about 1/2" long in a big pile of silver goo), silver sardines lined in the crates is a feast for the eyes! It was so interesting to see the variety and I almost never even smelt a fishy stench because the seafood is so fresh that it only smells like saltwater.

fruit at the market • fish stand • octopi for sale
Our last day back in Trapani, we ate the gelato which is much fluffier than we're used to, but was flavorful. Chris had caffe' and zuppa inglese, and I had pistachio with a chocolate liquor and rum flavored mix. At the harbor-side, we later tried several treats from a bakery for our afternoon meal. We shared a couple types of arancini (fried rice balls with different ingredients) - one with spinach and cheese and the other with mushrooms. I also tried a rominella, which was like a yeast roll with spinach and cheese baked inside.

We just sat at the bar and kept pointing to different things in the case to try. For dessert we had a baba' (mushroom-shaped mini cake soaked in sticky rum, traditionally from the Naples area), a fresh cannolo which was piped with the chocolate-chip, ricotta filling when we ordered it, and caffe'.

There were several other treats we had on our Sicilian adventure...but this is the overview of our favorites. Next time we return, there are a handful of new things we still have yet to taste!