Dining al siciliano
With artful pastas, well-stocked seas of fish and an abundance of almond and ricotta sweets, Sicily has rightly earned its reputation as a great place to eat. Why is the food so good? Much of it has to do with the variety of foreign products brought into Sicilian kitchens over the centuries. Also, the island has always been particularly fertile. Vegetables grow heartily; eggplant is one of the local favorites. Sicily was known as the granary of Rome in ancient times, providing much of the nearby Roman Empire with wheat. Even today, elaborate pasta timbales are a Sicilian holiday tradition; the fish couscous made in Trapani uses the island's wheat crop in an Arab-inspired way. Even arancini, the fried rice balls stuffed with meat sauce, cheese and other fillings, were inspired by the Arab tradition of eating rice and meat in the same bite. (By the way, some of the best arancini in Sicily are sold at the snack bar on the Messina-Reggio Calabria ferry). With the sea on all sides, piatti a base di pesce (fish-based dishes) rule Sicily's menus. The range of fish species is impressive though tuna and swordfish can be found almost anywhere. They are both served in dozens of ways, including thin grilled steaks, even thinner slices of raw fish carpaccio and triangles of smoked fish as an appetizer. Smaller fish such as sardines and anchovies are often used in pastas. With such an abundance of fresh fish, most of Sicily's meat dishes have never reached the same degree of fame (with the exception of the classic chicken cacciatore).

Citrus special
Many sweet and savory dishes draw on the island's superb citrus fruits. Sicily provides 50 percent of the oranges eaten in Italy and devotes plenty of space to lemon orchards, especially in the rolling terrain around Etna, Catania and Syracuse. Sicily's red-fleshed blood oranges are the most distinctive. All three main varieties-tarocco, moro and sanguinello-are loaded with vitamin C (more than regular oranges), and the chemical that colors them red has been found to fight allergies and viruses.
Sicily's pasticcieri (pastry chefs) have come up with an amazing array of desserts over the years, mostly based on citrus fruits, nuts and ricotta. Tube-shaped cannoli are one of the most common favorites. The classic cassata packs candied fruit, ricotta and pistachios into a sponge cake base. Almond paste makes up a category of its own, with thousands of variations on almond cookies and fanciful marzipan fruits.

email this article printer friendly