Sicily’s Traditions for Easter: the Marzipan Lamb

Among all the traditions that Sicily preserves for Easter, I still remember the Easter Marzipan Lamb (agnello pasquale in Italian, agneddu pasquali in sicilian dialect). My grandfather used to give one to me every Easter. In fact, the marzipan lamb is an Easter tradition: you cannot find it any other time of the year. I used to prefer it the chocolate eggs, even if so sweet.

I am not quite sure where the tradition of the marzipan Easter lamb started in Sicily, but the town of Favara (Agrigento province) has been organizing a festival every year since 1997. The festival, a spectacle of colors, flavors and sweetness, gathers some of the best pastry chefs of the island. Apparently, some of the recipes of the Easter lamb are dated back to 1800.

To make the base of the marzipan dough:

2 1/4 pounds (1 k) blanched almonds

2 1/4 pounds (1 k) sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/2 cup cinnamon water (see above)

A great wine to pair with this dessert is the Donnafugata Ben Rye’ Passito di Pantelleria. You can find more information about the history and tradition of the marzipan Easter lamb at http://italianfood.about.com/od/italiandesserts/r/blr0732.htm.

Sicily and its traditions: the “Zeppole di San Giuseppe”

Growing up in a small town of Sicily, I remember that it was lots of fun on Saint Joseph’s Day (Il Giorno di San Giuseppe), every March 19. It was a day off from school and my mom was cooking the yummy crespelle, better known as zeppole di San Giuseppe or sfingi.

I remember the nice smell in the house and the sweet taste of the raisins and sugar contrasting with the simplicity of the fried pasta dough. I miss those flavors and tend to be profoundly fond of the memories now that I live in New York City.

The feast of San Giuseppe is still a big day for my family back in Sicily because it is also father’s day and my sister Pina‘s name day. Pina is a short form derived from the name Giuseppe. My sister was supposed to be named after my grandmother Peppina, but my father mistakenly registered her with the short form at the city hall the day she was born. My mother was upset at the moment, but soon she dismissed my father’s behavior as emotional. Many other relatives and family’s friends in Sicily are named after San Giuseppe. Therefore, you can easily imagine how this day turns into a very big feast.

I already published this recipe, but I want to make sure to revive the tradition…

Ingredients for 8 people:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 package yeast
Pinch salt
2 cups water (room temperature)
1 cup raisins
6 cups canola oil
1/2 cup sugar

Method

Mix flour, yeast, salt, raisins and water in a bowl. Let rest for about 2 hours. The dough should be almost liquid. With a spoon, scoop dough and make a ball. In a heavy pot, heat oil. Add the dough to hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar and serve the zeppole. Enjoy!

Swordfish cooked in Salmorigano by Ciccio Sultano from Ristorante Duomo in Ragusa

Mousse di Ricotta

This recipe was contributed by Angelo Treno, chef and owner of Al Fogher, a popular restaurant on the outskirts of Piazza Armerina. Chef Treno is recognized for his mixture of traditional culinary artistry with imaginative nouvelle concepts. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 15 ounces fresh ricotta cheese
• heaping 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons Moscato wine (Muscatel)*
• 2 tablespoons fresh cream
• 1 packet of unflavored gelatin (21/4 teaspoons)
• 1 tablespoon hot water

Nut topping

• 2 ounces almonds, coarsely ground
• 2 ounces pistachios, coarsely ground
• 2 ounces hazelnuts, coarsely ground
• 2 ounces pine nuts

Caramelized sugar sauce

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2–3 tablespoons warm water

Chocolate sauce

• 3 ounces milk chocolate, 40% cocoa minimum
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon wild fennel seeds, crushed†

Method

Mix together ricotta, sugar and half of the moscato. Stir in cream and set aside. To dissolve gelatin put remaining moscato in a metal bowl on top of a small saucepan of boiling water just removed from the burner. Add 1 tablespoon hot water. Slowly add gelatin, stirring constantly. When gelatin is dissolved, stir it into the cheese mixture. Spoon into non-stick muffin pans, filling cups to the top. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Mix the nuts together and toast in the oven at 350.F until lightly brown. Set aside. To prepare the caramelized sugar sauce, melt sugar in a small saucepan over medium low heat, stirring constantly. When the sugar has caramelized, it will be golden brown and liquid. Remove from the burner and carefully stir in honey and warm water; the mixture will bubble up. To prepare the chocolate syrup, melt chocolate over medium-low heat in 2/3 cup water. Add fennel seeds and strain the sauce to remove any large bits of fennel. To unmold the mousses, first run a knife around the edges of the muffin wells. Then immerse the muffin pan in a shallow hot water bath for about 30 seconds. Overturn a cookie sheet on top of the muffin pan, hold the two together and flip upside down. Transfer each released mousse to a plate. To serve, sprinkle toasted nuts on top. Then drizzle with warm caramelized sugar sauce and chocolate syrup.

*Moscato (muscatel) is a light-amber, sweet dessert wine made from muscat grapes. Sweet Marsala wine can be substituted.
†Wild fennel seeds have more flavor than cultivated fennel seeds, but are not readily available outside of Sicily. Ordinary fennel seeds are a reasonable substitute.

Meat rolls grilled on skewers

This recipe was provided by Mariano Carbonetti (photo on the right), a native of Palermo. He is a chef at Agriturismo Antica Stazione Ferroviaria in Ficuzza and an instructor at the Paolo Borsellino Hotel School in Palermo. Involtini alla Siciliana reflects Sicily’s Arabic heritage. While Arabs typically use grape leaves to wrap around a filling, Sicilians use slices of meat, fish fillets or even eggplant as wrappers. This recipe can also be found on the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 6 mediums potatoes
• 6 wooden skewers, about 10 inches long, soaked in water
• 7 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 3 ounces prosciutto, finely diced
• 11/2 ounces hard, dry salami, finely diced
• 4 teaspoons dried black currants
• 2 teaspoons pine nuts
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, deseeded and finely shopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup grated, aged pecorino cheese, with or without peppecorns
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup caciocavallo cheese, finely diced*
• Freshly grated black pepper to taste
• 1 pound boneless beef top round steak (a piece about 2 inches thick and 5 inches wide), cut into 12 slices 1/8 – 1/4 inch thick
• 11/4 cups plain breadcrumbs
• pinch of oregano
• Olive oil to moisten breadcrumbs
• 30 large bay leaves
• 30 pieces of onion, about 11/2 inches square
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• Fresh rosemary, chopped

Method

Boil potatoes until done but still firm. When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and leave them covered in a warm place. Heat 5 tablespoons olive oil in small frying pan. Add onion and cook over medium-low heat until limp. Stir in prosciutto, salami, currants, pine nuts, tomatoes and wine, and cook for 5 minutes. Add bread crumbs and mix well. Turn off burner. Add pecorino cheese and mix well. Transfer mixture from pan to a small bowl. Add egg and mix well. Blend in caciocavallo cheese and pepper. Set aside. Cut each slice of meat in half crosswise to yield 24 pieces about 2″ x 2 1/2.” Place a piece of meat between sheets of waxed paper and pound with a mallet until it is roughly rectangular and about four inches at the longest point. Form a small portion of the filling into a sausage shape about 3/4 inch in diameter and 1 inch shorter than the width of the meat. Place filling parallel to the shorter length of the meat and begin to roll the meat around it. Firmly press the meat that extends beyond the filling over the ends of the filling while continuing to roll the meat completely around the filling. Repeat for the remaining pieces of meat, making a total of 24 meat rolls. Roll meat rolls in some bread crumbs seasoned with a pinch of oregano and moistened with a little olive oil. To skewer meat rolls (four to a skewer), begin with a piece of onion followed by a bay leaf. Then poke skewer through the middle of a meat roll at right angles to it. Follow with a piece of onion and bay leaf. Repeat until four meat rolls are on each skewer, separated by a piece of onion and a bay leaf. End with a bay leaf and piece of onion. Brown one skewer of meat rolls at a time in remaining olive oil over medium heat on a griddle. To brown ends, lift and rotate the skewer so one end of the rolls is on the griddle. Finish cooking in an oven at 350.F for 10 minutes. While meat rolls are in the oven, slice potatoes and lightly fry them. Put some potatoes on each plate. Place a skewer of meat rolls on each plate and carefully remove the skewer. Garnish with a cherry tomato. Sprinkle everything with a pinch of rosemary and serve.

Serves 6.

*Caciocavallo is a type of cheese called pasta filata, which is made by stretching and molding the curds by hand. More-readily available pasta filata cheeses such as provolone or mozzarella can be substituted.

Veal meatballs wrapped in lemon leaves

This recipe was provided by Annamaria Simili, chef and cooking instructor at Azienda Agricola Trinità in Mascalucia, an agriturismo or rural B&B located on the eastern slope of Mt. Etna in the province of Catania. The agriturismo includes a large lemon orchard, so fresh lemons and lemon leaves are always close at hand. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces ground veal
• 2 ounces breadcrumbs, moistened with water
• 1 egg
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
• Zest of lemon
• 20 fresh lemon leaves, 5 inches long*
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons olive oil

Method

Mix veal, bread crumbs, egg, cheese and zest together in a bowl until well blended. Form walnut-size balls and flatten each into an oval. Wrap a lemon leaf around each oval and secure ends with a toothpick. Sauté in olive oil until exposed meat is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. The leaves will brown at the edges. Add wine, lemon juice and oil, and cook, covered, for 10 minutes. The leaves should not be eaten.

Serves 4.

*Do not substitute kaffir lime leaves or leaves from salal, the lemon leaf plant.

Pasta con le sarde

This recipe for Sicily’s signature dish was contributed by Salvatore Cascino, chef of Ristorante La Botte in Monreale since 1962. The family-owned restaurant offers typical local cuisine in an informal setting. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 1 ounces dried black currants
• 10 ounces wild fennel fronds, washed*
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 7 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons dry white wine
• 12 ounces fresh whole sardines, deboned and butterflied
• 3 canned anchovies packed in olive oil, drained
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• pinch saffron threads (soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water)†
• 3/4 pound bucatini††

Method

Soak currants in water until plump. Drain and set aside. Boil fennel in abundant salted water, intact, until tender, about 10 minutes. Coarsely chop and set aside, reserving fennel water for boiling pasta. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in large frying pan. Add three chopped scallions and fry over medium heat until lightly browned. Add 1 tablespoon white wine and cook until it evaporates. Break all but four of the sardines into 2–3 inch pieces. Add the whole sardines and the broken pieces to the pan and fry until fish is flaky, about 2 minutes, being careful to keep the four sardines intact. Set aside and keep warm. To make the sauce, stir-fry the remaining scallions in another pan over medium heat in 2 tablespoons olive oil until lightly browned. Add remaining wine and cook until wine evaporates. Add fennel, currants, pine nuts and broken sardines. Stir in 11/2 cups fennel water, saffron mixture, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat for 5–10 minutes. Set sauce aside. Bring remaining fennel water to a boil. Add pasta and cook al dente. While pasta is cooking, mix anchovies with one tablespoon olive oil in a small saucepan over low heat, mashing and stirring anchovies until they become a smooth paste. Drain pasta well to remove water trapped within it. Stir anchovy mixture into pasta. To serve, add some sauce to the pasta and blend well. Top with the remaining sauce and decorate each serving with a whole sardine.

Serves 4.

*Ordinary fennel fronds can be used, but the flavor will not be as strong.
†Sicilians use a packet of colorant that provides a rich yellow color to many of their dishes, especially those with pasta. We have substituted saffron threads to provide yellow color and saffron taste.
††Bucatini is a long pasta with a thin hole down the center.

Fava beans in macco (maccu) style

This recipe is used with permission from Anna Tasca Lanza from her book, The Flavors of Sicily: Stories, Traditions, and Recipes for Warm-Weather Cooking (Amazon Link), published by Clarkson Potter, Inc., 1996. Anna conducts cooking classes at Regaleali, her family’s large country estate near the little village of Vallelunga in central Sicily. The extensive vineyards of the estate produce some of Sicily’s most notable wines. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried, skinned fava beans*
• 1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup chopped wild fennel, fronds or 1/2 cup chopped dill†
• 1 teaspoon sun-dried tomato paste dissolved in 1/4 cup water
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup toasted bread cubes

Method

Soak beans overnight in cold water. Drain and place in a pot with fresh water to cover. Pick out and discard any pieces of skin. Add onion, fennel and dissolved tomato paste, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partly covered, until the beans disintegrate into a soft purè at least an hour. As the mixture thickens, stir more frequently. Season to taste with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and cool to room temperature. Serve in individual bowls with toasted bread cubes.

Serves 4.

*If skinned, dried beans cannot be found, simmer whole dried beans until they soften, about 45 minutes. Squeeze out the beans as you would squeeze roasted garlic, discard skins and continue to simmer until they melt to a soft purée.
†Ordinary fennel fronds are much less flavorful than those from wild Sicilian fennel (finocchietto). Dill is sometimes used as an alternative.

Pennette with pistachio and almond pesto

This recipe was provided by Giovanni Farruggio (photo on the right), chef at the Ristorante La Pigna in the Hotel Villa Paradiso dell’Etna in San Giovanni La Punta in the province of Catania. The hotel has remained family-owned since it was built in 1929, but was briefly taken over as an operations center for the German army under General Rommel during WWII. The current owner, Mariagrazia Monaco Rendo, has maintained her family’s tradition of fine hospitality and dining. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

• 12 ounces pennette*
• 1/3 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 5 fresh basil leaves, washed and trimmed
• 3–4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Ground pistachios for garnish
• Small sprig fennel for garnish†

Method

Cook pasta al dente in salted boiling water. While pasta is cooking, grind pistachios, almonds and basil together with salt and one tablespoon olive oil in a small food processor. The nuts should be in small pieces, not a paste. In a frying pan, warm the nut mixture in the remaining olive oil over low heat. Drain cooked pasta well and stir in nut mixture until all of the pasta is coated. Top with a sprinkle of ground pistachios and a sprig of fennel, and serve.

Serves 4.

*Pennette is a smaller version of penne, a straight, quill-shaped tubular pasta, which can be substituted.
†Sicilians use wild mountain fennel, which produces fronds, but not bulbs.

Fresh Bucatini with Sicilian olive pesto with currants and raisins over fresh bucatini

This recipe, developed by Chef Matt Pratt from RP’s Fork & Spoon Café, was provided by Peter Robertson, president of RP’s Pasta Company in Madison, Wisconsin, maker of traditional fresh Italian pasta using a labor-intensive handrolled process. The dish uses bucatini, a long pasta with a thin hole down the center. This recipe is from the book Eat Smart in Sicily (Amazon Link) by Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce for Ginkgo Press.

Ingredients

Olive pesto

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 pound pitted Sicilian black olives
• 3/4 cup shelled pistachios
• Juice and zest from 1 orange
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon aniseed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon GROUND CINNAMON
• 2 dried white figs. cut into quarters

Currant and raisin sauce

• 1/2 cup shallots or onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt to taste
• 11/2 pounds RP’s Fresh Pasta fresh bucatini
• Pecorino cheese, freshly grated (optional)

Method

To make the olive pesto, heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, olives, pistachios, orange zest, cloves, aniseed and cinnamon. Heat gently until the spices release their perfume and the pistachios toast lightly. Add figs and orange juice, and remove pan from heat. Allow the figs to plump for 5 minutes. Process mixture in a food processor while drizzling in the remaining olive oil until the pesto reaches a good consistency to coat the pasta. Keep mixture warm. To make the currant and raisin sauce, sauté the shallots in 2 tablespoons olive oil until softened. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until reduced to a saucelike consistency that will nicely coat the pasta. Set aside and keep warm. Bring 6 quarts of water and 11/2 tablespoons salt to a rolling boil. Loosen pasta so it doesn’t stick together, and add it to the water. Boil for 5–7 minutes until tender, stirring well for the first minute. Drain (do not rinse) and toss with the pesto and currant sauce. Serve immediately and top with freshly grated pecorino.

Serves 6.

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