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Weddings and food in Sicily

September 21, 2014 8 Comments Filed Under: Food, Uncategorized

Sicilian on a vespa, Palermo, Sicily
Ciao!
Mural on side of building, Palermo, Sicily
Palermo
Sicilian eating ice cream sandwich, Palermo, Sicily
Brioche and gelato, everyone was eating these.
Prickly pears, Palermo, Sicily
Prickly pear, the vendor will peel it for you so that you don’t get pricked.
Green figs, Palermo, Sicily
Green figs sold in boxes lined with fig leaves
Long zucchine, Palermo, Sicily
Long courgettes/zucchine
Large green cauliflowers, Palermo, Sicily
Giant green cauliflowers everywhere
sun dried tomatoes with pistachios, Palermo, Sicily
Sundried tomatoes with pistachios. These soft tomatoes tasted of the sun unlike the desiccated sulphur dried tomatoes we have in the UK.
Black olives with rosemary, Palermo, Sicily
Black olives with rosemary sprigs
Salted capers, Palermo, Sicily
I bought a ton of salted capers and caper berries
tins of sardines, Palermo, Sicily
Sardines are an important ingredient in Sicily, leading to  typical dishes such as pasta con la sarde, pine nuts and raisins
dried beans, Palermo, Sicily
Dried broad beans and la madonna
Fresh oregano, Palermo, Sicily
Fresh bunches of Oregano
Pine nuts and raisins, Palermo, Sicily
The pine nuts were longer than usual
Street trader, Palermo, Sicily
Salvo runs a lunch stall in the food market de Capo on the Antica sede dei Beati Paoli, selling battered broccoli florets, pumpkin in oil, grilled vegetables. For five euros, you can pick four dishes.
Sicilian children dressed up, Palermo, Sicily
Wedding guests
Sicilian calender, Palermo, Sicily

Sicilian children, Palermo, SicilySicilian children, Palermo, Sicily
aperativo, Mondello, Sicily
 Very 80s, fruit in a vase to go with my Americano cocktail
Cannoli,  Palermo, Sicily
Cannoli as in “Leave the gun, take the cannoli”
Sardines, Mondello, Sicily
Sardines at the port of Mondello
Wedding dress fashion show, Mondello, Sicily
Wedding dress fashion show
Ice cream poster, Cefalu, Sicily
 Ice cream sandwich menu
Tagliatelli with tomatoes and sea bream, Cefalu, Sicily
Tagliatelle with tomatoes and sea bream
Crema di cafe, Sicily
Crema di caffé, my addiction on this trip, a kind of coffee granita or slushy
Bruschetta, Mondello, Sicily
Bruschetta classica
Cefalu ceramics, Sicily
Cefalu is famous for ceramics
Beach huts, Mondello, Sicily
The beach huts at Mondello
Mondello, Sicily
Mondello port

What did I eat and drink in Sicily?

  • Campari: with orange juice, with soda, as an Americano cocktail with Martini Rosso
  • Ice cream sandwiches: French women don’t get fat but Italian women don’t care. For lunch everyone ate buns filled with ice cream. 
  • Granita: like a posh slushy. My favourite type was coffee flavoured, eaten in the morning with brioche or lemon flavoured, after dinner. These cost 2.5 euros.
  • Aubergines: their aubergines are round, sitting squat, the size of footballs. They are eaten in pasta alle Norma (pasta with tomato and aubergine sauce) or Caponata, an agrodolce (sweet sour) aubergine and caper stew, sometimes with swordfish.
  • Pistachios: green slivers, in pesto, on pasta, as a snack, as a spread, also in sheep cheese. 
  • Oranges: I wasn’t there in season for the famous blood oranges but they are delicious sliced with either dark anchovy fillets or boquerone style anchovies in a salad, again that whole salt/sweet thang that I love.
  • Bruschetta: pronounced brusketta, with diced ripe tomato or slices of aubergine sprinkled with cheese
  • Cannoli: a kind of fried pastry filled with ricotta or ice cream. 
  • Artichokes: god I love artichokes. I can consume them by the jar. Big Sicilian ingredient.
  • Coffee: no one does coffee like the Italians, nobody. The cappuccino, the expresso, but I also made a discovery, ‘latte’ just means milk, you have to order caffe latte to get coffee in it. Plus I had coffee flavoured yoghurt, like all your breakfast in a small plastic tub. 
I went to Sicily because of a wedding that I wasn’t invited to. My mum and dad were going and I asked if I could come. “You’d better not”, they said darkly. “You’ll cause ructions. You know what this family is like, a vendetta can start from the smallest thing”. My dad’s side of my family is Italian/Scottish/Irish. Everybody is an uncle, an auntie or a cousin, even if they are not. I heard family history recounted, old stories repeated, and the odd new one. How my dad, as a fatherless British orphan, was sent to Switzerland for a month as a child, a gift from the Swiss to celebrate the Queen’s wedding. How Nanny Savino, who was born a Criscuolo from Sicily, moved to Naples and then England. How she adopted a son who was not ‘blood’ (this said sotto voce). Something about two brothers who set off from Naples and wrecked their father’s boat and were too scared to go home to face the music so became part of our family instead. How Gennaro ‘Gancio’ (nicknamed the hook because he would pull the girls) Contaldo was courting a girl in Minori and my aunt had to chaperone them & how he stayed with nanny when he first came to England.
(Even my very English mum is not ‘blood’. Nor is Auntie Sandra’s partner who is clearly ‘English’ too. The English wives and husbands huddle together protectively at family occasions, rolling their eyes.) My family are supposed to be English but we are not. We are loud, expressive and emotional and most of us are fat and short like vibrant little cuboids made of flesh. But we dance well. This wedding was that of a second cousin, the son of Uncle Dixie who was a boxer, so I was not offended not to be invited. I arrived at midnight Saturday night as the wedding finished. Then I couldn’t be accused of being a wedding crasher. 
Sicily is full of weddings; people get married mid-week. Every time we passed a church, a wedding party would exit, once simultaneously with a cloud of white doves. The men are sharp in dark smart suits, with the whitest shirts gleaming at the collar, a glint of diamond on their cuffs or even in their ears, hair slicked back. The women are a treat for the eyes; extravagantly beaded hair, tall shoes, flaming nylon dresses, floral sleeve tattoos. Like TOWIE but with a real tan rather than spray-on. The children are decked out in frou-frou prom-style frocks.
I was staying near Mondello, on the outskirts of Palermo. Mondello doesn’t have many restaurants or shops, but has a clean sandy white beach with yellow umbrellas and pastel beach huts, shouldered by looming cliffs. Palermo is worth a visit, particularly the old town, with a food market and Romanesque architecture. I wish I’d known about this particular food tour around Palermo. We drove to Cefalu, along the coast, which was pretty with some good restaurants, rather more lively than Mondello. But a warning: if you miss your turning on Sicilian motorways, it will be miles before you can turn around. I wanted to visit Corleone in the interior, where the Godfather was filmed, despite the warnings that it was mafia country, but my mum doesn’t like windy roads. Next time.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cate Lawrence

    September 21, 2014 at 8:18 am

    I've so enjoyed looking at these pictures, what a wonderful trip! And isn't it fantastic to eat local food abroad!

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      September 21, 2014 at 9:03 am

      Still so many foods to be tasted in Sicily, I need to go back at a different time of year.

      Reply
  2. Anonymous

    September 21, 2014 at 9:55 am

    Ciao Kerstin,I love those colours 🙂 I'm lucky enough to be one if your floral lunch guests today..i know the road and password but not house number so please could I ask you to send me quick email with it- [email protected] REALLY sorry to give a job mid cooking, Can't wait,Anne

    Reply
    • Kerstin Rodgers aka MsMarmiteLover

      September 21, 2014 at 10:37 am

      Just emailed you Anne. We got tickets do send out the address, maybe it's in your junk. See you later x

      Reply
  3. catherine trudel

    September 21, 2014 at 1:29 pm

    Great pictures and I really enjoyed your article, you have a great style of writing.

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      September 21, 2014 at 8:55 pm

      Thanks Catherine!

      Reply
  4. Aj

    September 21, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    Another great post K, always fancied Sicily, good stuff.

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      September 21, 2014 at 8:56 pm

      You've got to go! x

      Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @bre Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @brentcouncil Willesden library. I’ve been doing this a few times a year for the last few years. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a kitchen set up permanently. Libraries are community centres and could be used to teach how to cook from scratch.
Mother’s Day flowers from @siennamarla who is ex Mother’s Day flowers from @siennamarla who is experiencing her own first Mother’s Day with Ophelia. I’m still living in chaos & work was slow yesterday due to rain. Only another month…
Last week I did a wild foraging walk with @luciath Last week I did a wild foraging walk with @luciathewildkitchen in Kent @kent_downs_aonb just outside Canterbury. I’m going to help out during her May wild asparagus workshop. This chef lived in France, is a brilliant forager and cook. Her campfire meal of lentils, wild garlic raitha and a dukkah of alexanders, Parmesan was genuinely delicious not worthy like so much foraged food.
I did a bushcraft workshop with @naturalpathwaysbu I did a bushcraft workshop with @naturalpathwaysbushcraft Hannah Nicholls in Kent. An all female group, this felt very empowering and I must get myself one of these fire sticks. @kent_downs_aonb
Me @hamyardhotelsoho where I participated in a BRI Me @hamyardhotelsoho where I participated in a BRILLIANT block printing workshop with @mollymahonblockprinting it was a belated birthday present from @siennamarla The hotel is gorgeously designed, look at the fabric wallpaper behind me. Every corner is a feast for the eyes. Lunch was included and unlike many hotel restaurants the food was so tasty (and vegetarian), perfectly judged in quantity. Congrats to the chef. I got so excited on Friday I bombarded my timeline with stories which may have been a tad overwhelming. I’ve had a great week, going to Kent @kent_downs_aonb to meet foraging chef @luciathewildkitchen and bushcraft teacher hannah @naturalpathwaysbushcraft so it’s been one of extremes, from urban high glamour to roughing it outside in frosty countryside. I’m loving life as a journalist and photographer, I get to meet so many inspiring people. At home things are a bit grim because I’m having building work done and for almost 3 months I’ve lived in rubble, without heating, and sometimes without cooking or hot water. So these days out are fab for my mental and physical health. I will be posting more on Kent, Molly Mahon, Ham Yard hotel and the building works. #springiscoming🌸 dress by @designerfriday
Artichoke lasagne. I made a white lasagna with bec Artichoke lasagne. I made a white lasagna with bechamel, Parmesan, mozzarella and artichokes. I prepped the artichokes from fresh but you could use jarred. I had this @nonna_betta in Rome. It was so good I had to figure out how to make it myself. #artichokes #carciofi #romanjewishfood
Hags by Victoria Smith @glosswitch on twitter. On Hags by Victoria Smith @glosswitch on twitter. On the demonisation of middle-aged women. We are all karens now. We’ve passed our last fuckable day. This book, an easy read, not an academic one, is brilliantly written, with an ice cold anger at the way women over 40 are erased, told to shut up. Yes we call the manager. We are sticking up for ourselves. We don’t take shit anymore. We aren’t beholden to being liked by men, being girl-friend material anymore. Embrace your hagdom. You can buy your own flowers. #books #feminism #hags
Carciofi alle giudia, artichokes, Roman Jewish sty Carciofi alle giudia, artichokes, Roman Jewish style. I learnt how to prepare these from @silvia_nacamulli a local Jewish Italian cook and teacher, who recently wrote a book ‘Jewish flavours of Italy’ available from @green_bean_books you need the right type of artichokes: mammole are currently available @natoora via @ocadouk have some lemon quarters to rub on the newly exposed parts of the artichoke and put them in water with lemon juice to stop them going black. #you take off many of the outer leaves until they are half pale green. Then cutting in a circular upward stroke, you take off the hard green purple tops of leaves. It ends up looking like a peony. Cut off the fibrous parts of the stalk. Smear salt and pepper inside the flower. Fry at 150c for 15 minutes. Remove and drain, open up to look like a sunflower. Then fry again at 180c until the outer leaves are golden and crispy. Serve immediately. Divine! #jewishitalianfood #carciofi #artichokes #mammole #artichokeseason
@silvia_nacamulli has just brought out a fantastic @silvia_nacamulli has just brought out a fantastic book ‘Jewish flavours of Italy’ . She lives local to me so I went round to see how she prepares artichokes for the famous carciofi alle guidea and artichoke stew. You need mamole artichokes that are in season now from @natoora I’ll be publishing a longer video on YouTube and a piece on her cooking in the @hamandhigh
Whipped feta dip is so simple: a block of feta, a Whipped feta dip is so simple: a block of feta, a couple of spoons of yoghurt, some lemon juice, whizzed up. Add black pepper or herbs. #5minuterecipes
This is what I’ve been doing for the last month. This is what I’ve been doing for the last month. Want to replace window overlooking garden with a wider, lower one but struggling to find something nice. All new sash windows look kinda fake. #vintagewindows #building #exposedrafters
Baking for the builder: cranberry pie with cream. Baking for the builder: cranberry pie with cream. Just because you are a builder it doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate pretty pink china and home baking. #builders
My piece is The Great Read: My piece is The Great Read:
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
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