Going back to Sicily is partially
discovering a newfoundland all the times and somehow digging back into my
memories as a child. I never lived there, but part of my roots are definitely
linked to that soil and I feel a sense of cultural belonging. Sicily is
uneventfully linked to the criminal enterprise of Mafia and indeed there are
several stereotypes that aren’t stereotypical at all, it’s the most transparent
truth: there are people who melted other people in acid, who became killers at
16 years old and frankly I do not envy their lives, since when you kill
somebody, you are necrotizing a part of you.
Despite this atrocious side of the medal,
it is redundant to have always the same feedback from people who have never
been there. Sicily is ancient and young at the same time and for these reasons
mysterious: the words of Augustine spring to my mind, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, beauty so old and so new (Confessiones, X, 27, 38).
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| Saint Augustine viewed by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1480. |
Too many areas of Sicily are sleeping
giants, like the Giant Tipheus (see image above), allegedly imprisoned by Zeus under the Etna
volcano, so that his attempts to free himself out provoke the eruptions. Let’s
say he trys hard! The area of Ragusa, Noto and Modica is a veritable ruby in a
panorama often stained by cities, which still suffer, so to say, of analphabetic
disease, high ranges of unemployment, and a vicious penetration of
international crimes, which does not praise social and cultural development. Ignorance
becomes the perfect basin where to hook up almost slave labour, which is sad! Luckily
for me, my coming back had a totally different aim and the area of Ragusa,
because of the ancestral absence of that kind of large estate called latifundium is less affected by Mafia’s
omnipresence.
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| The portal of Saint George, the only fragment of a chuch after the ruinous earthquake of 1693. |
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| Modica cathedral at dawn. |
On the contrary, I desired to pay a visit
to my grandma and to cook with her: she is my culinary mentor and the veracious
example of keeping-a-food-tradition within the walls of my family. She’s a wonderful
chef, yet, unfortunately - because of her patriarchal society formation - she always
used to live cooking as a necessity, rather than as a pleasure, as I do: as a
consequence she stuck to a relatively wee range of “cup of teas”, without ever
varying her menu!
The first evening, even if my travelling exhausted me, I had to confront myself with a simple but superior dinner. Pork chops and fried bread: yes, an even pedestrian recipe, yet it is complicated to gain that specific tenderness of the meat and overall the trick of the bread is embarrassingly good. First moist the bread in lightly salted water and then fry it into the meat gravy… Q_____ This is my watering mouth, the so called acquolina in bocca, in Italian.
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| Where do pork-chops come from. |
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| A small amount of extra-virgin olive oil, fry them for 3 mins per side, then one glass (250ml of water), salt and pepper, and let it go! |
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| When there's still some liquid, dip the lightly humid bread into the pork chop gravy and add a bit of oil, serve hot! |
The first evening, even if my travelling exhausted me, I had to confront myself with a simple but superior dinner. Pork chops and fried bread: yes, an even pedestrian recipe, yet it is complicated to gain that specific tenderness of the meat and overall the trick of the bread is embarrassingly good. First moist the bread in lightly salted water and then fry it into the meat gravy… Q_____ This is my watering mouth, the so called acquolina in bocca, in Italian.
We had numerous other meals. One with a
violet broccoli pie: violet broccolis are an early produce of February and they
taste so much better! Another lunch was based on hand made ravioli: it is
sufficient to fill them out with a sensational local ricotta, obtained by
free-range cows, and the magic takes place!
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| Violet Feruary broccoli, called in the Sicilian dialect ciuriddu, little flower: eat seasonal! |
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| Violet broccoli pie: backed overnight to astonish my grandmother. Recently a neighbour brought her a pie which was slightly uncooked and i wished to rise her moral again up. |
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| This ricotta is unbeliveble: you have to try it to define it, perception and description do not match! |
Therefore, I must mention my
grandmother deafness in terms of understanding when I was beyond fullness, in a
state swinging between sickness and food-coma. The most difficult and awkward
conversation happened when I revealed to her I almost quitted carbohydrates at
dinnertime…apriti Cielo (literally
“let the Heavens open! [for Doom’s day]”, but it can be translated simply as
“my goodness”).
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| An evergreen Boromir! |
The third day, we had involtini or saltimbocca,
a sort of meat roulade stuffed with goodness and gently fired on a bed of onions!
Finally, we had some unreal chips: lightly blanched first and
then wisely fired with a medium flame…in this way potatoes become fluffy inside
and crispy outside…what a gorgeous ending for these characterless tubers…with
all the respect!
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Another, surprising discovery has been the
presence of many Michelin star restaurants (Google maps research: ristoranti Michelin Ragusa). It is indeed a revelation yet also
a natural outcome: the triangle where all these restaurants are located is
fruitful, almost virgin in terms of industrialization, rich of hills, valleys
and coasts, and with an outstanding cultural tradition. In three words: Sicily
wake up! According to my budget, I wouldn’t allow myself a starter there, but
my cousin-in-law was seeking for a nice wedding setting and so I came across
some helpful informations, I will just list below.
HERE IS A LIST OF THESE TEMPLES OF high CUISINE:
Ristorante
Duomo (di Ciccio Sultano) F
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