Graniti Cherry Festival

June 18, 2011 5:00 pm

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June 19, 2011 10:00 pm

This Saturday 18th and Sunday19th starting at 5:00PM, Graniti in Valle Alcantara celebrates its annual Cherry Festival. For more information, visit the event official Facebook page. Cherries in Sicily are wonderful!

If You Wonder About the Difference between Sicilian Pizza and Pizza in Sicily, Read This Post

Scott Wiener at SliceSeriousSeats.com wrote this article that explains in a very detailed way the difference between these two types of pizza.

The contemporary pizza consumer is pretty well-versed in the language of Neapolitan pizza. We know what a wood-fired brick oven looks like, we appreciate San Marzano tomatoes and we’ve tasted mozzarella di bufala. We even know where to go in Naples for the most historic pizzerias on the planet. But what about other pizza styles that bare Italian pedigrees?

The main alternative to round Neapolitan-influenced pies is without a doubt the Sicilian pizza. For most, the name conjures images of a thick, doughy base smothered with a healthy layer of sauce and a mozzarella blanket. On my recent trip to Sicily, I found some interesting differences between what we call Sicilian pizza and what they call pizza in Sicily.

Upon arriving in Palermo, one of the first things I did was scout the local pizzerias. I was surprised not to find many and even more shocked at what I noticed next. Contrary to what I expected, the pizza of Sicily is not square. Am I still in Naples? Did I get on the wrong ferry? Nope, the pizza here is round and I’m just going to have to deal with it. Here’s a shot of the first pizza I ate in Sicily.

Looks a lot like a wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, right? That’s because it is. (Don’t tell anyone, but I liked this one even more than some of the stuff in Naples.) Sicilians don’t wear their pizza tradition on their sleeves the way Neapolitans do. In fact, they are adamant that real pizza is from Naples.

If we’re going to talk about thick squares of bread, let’s just forget the word pizza altogether. The ancestor of New York’s square pizza goes by a completely different name and, therefore, is not found in Sicilian pizzerias. You’ll have better luck heading to a bakery, or panificio. Bakeries are easy to spot and you’ll instinctively know that they are Sicily’s equivalent to Neapolitan pizzerias based on their frequency alone. Trust me, they are everywhere in Palermo.

Just head to the counter and ask for sfincione, a square, pan-proofed dough that fries on the base due to a nice amount of oil in the pan. The word itself literally means sponge, which accurately describes the light, airy feel of the base as well as the way the dough absorbs just the right amount of oil on the bottom. Trust me, “spongy” is not an adjective I usually use to describe breads I like but it really does work in this situation.

Source: SliceSeriousSeats.com

Sicilian Taralli

Taralli are a traditional sweets made in Sicily as well as in other Italian regions. The Sicilian tarallo is a delicious soft cookie covered with a sugar glaze. In Sicily taralli were one of the sweets served by families on special occasions, such as engagements, weddings and baptisms, exclusively celebrated at home.

Originally the “taralli” had a wreath-shape and the glaze was plain white. As years passed, they were made smaller, oval-shaped and the glaze was vanilla flavored and chocolate-flavored.
As Sicilian hospitality required, the sweets were served with the house wine or
with a home-made liqueur, very popular in those days, called rosolio.

By Maria Lina Bommarito

Cantine Aperte Festival in Sicily

May 29, 2011
10:00 am	to	9:00 pm

Cantine Aperte Festival (Open Wineries Festival) is the best time to visit wineries in Sicily. Selected winery members of the Movimento Turismo del Vino (Wine Tourism Movement) open their doors to the public offering wine enthusiasts a chance to visit their venues and participate to wine-themed events.

The interest in the event has grown considerably from year to year and has attracted the attention of tourists and residents, eager to participate to this
unique experience.

By Maria Lina Bommarito

PARTICIPATING WINERIES

Tenuta Barone La Lumia
Contrada Pozzillo – 92027 Licata (AG)
Phone/Fax: +39 0922 891709
Cell: +39 348 3102560 / 348 3102563
Web site: www.baronelalumia.it

Azienda Agrituristica Etna Wine
S.S. 120 Km 191+900 – Passopisciaro
95012 Castiglione di Sicilia (CT)
Tel/Fax: +39 095 931548 – +39 0942 983062
Web site: www.etnawineagriturismo.com

Azienda Cosentini
Cdr. Cosentini – Via Etnea 9
95020 S. Venerina (CT)
Tel: +39 095 958281 – Fax: +39 095 605162
Web site: www.vinicosentini.it

Cantine Nicosia
Via Luigi Capuana sn.
95039 Trecastagni (CT)
Tel: +39 095 7806767 – Fax: +39 095 7808837
Web site: www.cantinenicosia.it

Azienda Vinicola Benanti
Via Garibaldi, 361
95029 Viagrande (CT)
Tel: +39 095 7893438 – Fax: +39 095 7893677
Web site: www.vinicolabenanti.it

Cantina Barone Gandolfo di San Giuseppe
Az. Agr. Laganelli – Strada San Domenico, 5
96100 Siracusa
Tel: +39 334 317892

Baglio di Pianetto s.r.l.
Via Francia, sn – Contrada Pianetto
90030 Santa Cristina Gela (PA)
Tel: +39 091 8570002 – Fax: +39 091 8570015
Web site: www.stilesiciliano.com

Marchesi De Gregorio
Contrada Sirignano
90046 Monreale (PA) (vicino Alcamo)
Autostrada A29 – dir. Mazara del Vallo
svincolo Gallitello (Km. 64,5) proseguire sulla S.S. 119
dir. Alcamo, imboccare al Km. 13 Bivio Contrada Sirignano
Tel: +39 091 7816870 - Fax: +39 091 6123769 Cell: +39 347 9782640
Web site: www.marchesidegregorio.it

Feudo Arancio
C.da Portella Misilbesi
92017 Sambuca di Sicilia (AG)
Tel: +39 0925 579000 – Fax: +39 0925 31540
Web site: www.feudoarancio.it

Tenuta Scilio di Valle Galfina
Contrada Arrigo – S.P. Linguaglossa Zafferana Km 2
95015 Linguaglossa (CT)
Tel: +39 095 932822 - Cell: +39 348 8629754
Web site: www.scilio.com

Cantine Don Saro S.r.l.
C.da Arrigo
95015 Linguaglossa (CT)
Tel: +39 095 386245 – Fax: +39 095 373767
Cell: +39 331 7899258 – +39 336 235290
Web site: www.donsaro.com

Tenuta di Fessina
Contrada Rovitello, Via Nazionale S.S 120 n. 22
95012 Castiglione di Sicilia (CT)
Cell: +39 335 7220021 – +39 348 0115329

Gigliotto Tenute
S.S. 117 bis Km 60 – C.da Ghigliotto
94015 Piazza Armerina (EN)
Tel: +39 0933 970898 – 979092
Fax: +39 0933 970898 – 979234
Web site: www.gigliottotenute.com

Feudo Principi di Butera
Contrada Deliella – 93011 Butera (CL)
Tel: +39 0934 347726 – 346766
Fax: +39 0934 347851
Web site: www.feudobutera.it

Azienda Agricola Planeta
C.da Ulmo – 92017 Sambuca di Sicilia (AG)
Tel: +39 091 327965 – Fax: +39 091 6124335
Web site: www.planeta.it

Donnafugata
Via S. Lipari 18 – 91025 Marsala (TP)
Necessaria la prenotazione
Tel: +39 0923 724206
Web site: www.donnafugata.it

Cantine Florio
Via Vincenzo Florio, 1
91025 Marsala (TP)
Tel: +39 0923 781305/306 – 091 781111
Web site: www.cantineflorio.it

Azienda Agricola Pupillo
Contrada Targia – 96100 Siracusa
indicazione per il navigatore satellitare “Casa Targia”
Tel: +39 0931 494029 Cell: 339 5700843
Fax: +39 0931 490498
Web site: www.pupillowines.com

For more information on the wineries participating to the event, visit:

Web site: www.mtvsicilia.it
Email: sicilia@movimentoturismovino.it, info@mtvsicilia.it

The Fiasconaro Brothers Turn Pastry Baking into Real Art

This is not an endorsement or advertisement. I was on the phone with my sister the other day and she asked me if I knew about the Fiasconato Brothers in Castelbuono (ME). She was eating a cake filled with a pistachio cream and said that they even bake a panettone with a pistachio filling. I love pistachio, so she told me to look at their Website. I have to admit that I knew nothing about the Fiasconaro Brothers and I was pleased to discover so much. I really have to visit their shop next time I am in Sicily. Read more and view the video below.

The story of the Fiasconaro Brothers began three generations ago, when first of all the grandfather and the father managed a small artisan workshop in the village of Castelbuono, in the heart of the Madonie area. It was then when the three brothers, Fausto, Martino and Nicola, not much more than kids, began to learn the trade, giving a hand in their spare time. Today the Fiasconaro Brothers own a company that bears their name: Fausto manages the marketing sector, Martino runs the administration and Nicola is the first confectioner having won many awards and for the role he has carried out during these years as ambassador of the Sicilian sweets in the world, he has received the honor citizenship from the local council of Avola.

Fiasconaro is a modern continuously expanding company: thanks to the teamwork of skilled, impassioned professionals, to their great entrepreneurial spirit and an extraordinary instinct, the firm has won an important place in the sector, becoming successful on the home an international market. The experience acquired through the years in artisan workshops and confectioners, first in Italy and then abroad, and the knowledge of the latest work techniques, have made the Fiasconaros pioneers in the artisan confectionery sector. Their love of nature’s flavors, their respect for nature’s times and an unshakeable faith in tradition, have never made them fall for the enticements of large scale industrial production.

For more information, please visit www.fiasconaro.com

Wine Spectator’s Sr Editor Bruce Sanderson Discovers Frappato Wine from Arianna Occhipinti

A recent dinner at Il Buco in New York presented the opportunity to try an Italian wine new to me. It was the Il Frappato 2008 from Arianna Occhipinti, for $85 on the list. This red came recommended by the restaurant’s sommelier, Josh Eisenhauer, who was two for two on the wines I ordered that evening.

Frappato is a grape native to Sicily, and this was juicy and full of blackberry and raspberry flavors, with a slight hint of spice, and beautifully balanced. 89 points, non-blind. It was delicious with the grilled quail I ordered.

Arianna Occhipinti’s first vintage was in 2004. Her 25 acres of vineyards are in southeast Sicily, near Vittoria. They have been farmed organically since her start and biodynamically since 2010. She makes numerous wines, most of which carry the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) Sicilia designation. The Il Frappato is fermented with indigenous yeast and aged for 14 months in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks before bottling without filtration.

 

Source: WineSpectator.com

Map

Joy Ray at La Gazza Ladra Restaurant in Sicily

They had me at “ricotta.’’ Or was it the intriguing tomato sauce with a dash of cinnamon spooned onto hand-rolled pasta? Maybe it was the “Sicily Squeeze.’’ Three cooking courses — one modern, one based on centuries-old cuisine, and one tugging the apron strings of the ever-present Sicilian grandmother — like the three-legged triskelion adorning the island’s flag, create a better, tastier whole.

I met Accursio Craparo, a fast-rising, Michelin-starred chef, at an informal dinner to which I had wheedled an invitation so I could try his food. Though the meal had nothing to do with the light, haute cuisine of Craparo’s restaurant here, La Gazza Ladra, I was an immediate fan. He served whole octopus with the taste and texture of top-notch Maine lobster, along with scabbard fish fillets wrapped around a mixture of almond flour and bread crumbs, served atop olives, capers, and slow-cooked onions.

Located in the Palazzo Failla building in Modica, La Gazza Ladra is an elegant and stylish restaurant. In the kitchen is Accursio Craparo, one of the most acclaimed young Sicilian chefs.

Accursio Capraro

Born in 1976 in Sciacca… On the Sicilian coast facing south towards the distant Africa. With a great desire for learning he packs his bags and leaves for the Dolomite mountains then for Frankfurt in Germany, where he starts his working experience in ‘Osteria Enoteca’ (One star in the Guida Rossa).

Read more at http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-22/travel/29571836_1_crumbs-cooking-classes-sicilian-cuisine

La Gazza Ladra

Address: Via Blandini, 5
97015 Modica (Rg)

Tel.: (0932) 94 10 59
Fax: (0932) 94 10 59
Web site: http://www.ristorantelagazzaladra.it/

Glutenfree World Day in Palermo

May 28, 2011
10:30 am	to	2:00 pm
3:30 pm	to	7:00 pm

Glutenfree World Day takes place at the Splendid Hotel La Torre in Mondello Lido (Palermo) next May 28, 2011. Among the many events of the day is a gluten free cooking show with the comedian Andy Luotto.

To participate, RSVP at mbadiniconfalonieri@webershandwick.com or info@schaer.com and specify Glutenfree World Day Palermo in the subject line. In the body of the email, please include:

− name of participants;
− morning or afternoon program;
− specific workshop with title and time.

It is also possible to RSVP  at the phone number +39 02 57 37 84 25 (from 11:00AM to 1:00PM and  from 3:00PM to 5:00PM) by Tuesday May 24, 2011. The invite is valid for two people upon availability.

Program: http://www.aicsiciliaonlus.it/Invito%20Mondellodefinitivo.pdf
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/schaer.it?v=app_10467688569

Address:
Splendid Hotel la Torre – Palermo (Mondello Lido)
Via Piano Gallo, 11 – 90151 Palermo

 

Lee Marshall’s Insider Guide to Restaurants in Sicily

 

This is the type of news that Sicily needs and we love when journalists like Lee Marshall write about Sicily in this terms. Even though we are not knew to this, it is always welcoming!

Sicily used to produce chefs for export, but these days more and more of the island’s culinary talents are staying at home.

The Cous Cous Festival in San Vito Lo Capo (Annual Event)

September 20, 2011 5:00 pm

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September 25, 2011 11:59 pm

The ancient fishing village of San Vito Lo Capo, located between the Gulf of Castellammare and the city of Trapani on the northern coast of Sicily, hosts an annual Cous Cous Festival each September. The festival takes place from  September 20 through 25 this year.

Dedicated to exploring the culinary and cultural aspects of the tasty Mediterranean dish, the festival celebrates the cultural legacy of the Arabic peoples who ruled Sicily for more than 150 years. Cous cous originally arrived in Sicily with the Arabs from Morocco and other areas of Northern Africa who landed on the island in 827. By 903 they ruled all of Sicily and would continue to do so until the Normans began their conquest of the island in 1060. Despite the change in rulers the cultural and culinary stamp of Arabic culture would remain.

Cous Cous

Cous Cous is a food from Morocco of Berber origin. It consists of spherical granules which are made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. Traditional couscous requires considerable preparation time and is usually steamed (Wikipedia.org). Cous cous is a communal meal, that comes served from a large round platter. Another variety of cous cous, Israeli cous cous, or by its Arabic name, maftoul, is larger–almost pearl-size–nuttier-tasting than its familiar Moroccan counterpart.

The Festival

San Vito Lo Capo’s Cous Cous Festival‘s principal event is a cous cous cook-off with the best cous cous Chefs from Israel, Morocco, Egypt, France, Algeria, Tunisia and Italy participating to determine who indeed is the cappo of cous cous (the best chef) in the Mediterranean.

The festival also includes six evenings of music, featuring free performances by Sicilian and international artists.

Source: www.couscousfest.it

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