My sister Michele visited me this week in L.A. for my official IBM retirement party. We thought hard about what to cook together. We’re focused on Sicily at the moment and discussed that nothing but nothing is more Sicilian than pasta con le sarde. Fennel and sardines are so plentiful in Sicily that this dish jumps right out of nature. And when combined with the sweet and sour flavors imported by the Arabs around 900 A.D., you get that classic Sicilian flavor palette.

Continue reading Pasta con le sarde (Pasta with sardines) – The national dish of Sicily at Our Italian Table.

Sicily’s cuisine is vastly different from the rest of Italy and heavily influenced by its Mediterranean neighbors. The classic sweet and sour flavor palette, along with exotic ingredients such as saffron, all came from North Africa and the Middle East. In fact, hard durum wheat and rice both came to Italy via Sicily and saffron dates back three millennia.

This classic Sicilian dish is common to the city of Palermo, where cauliflower is called broccoli.

Continue reading Pasta with saffron and cauliflower (Pasta con i broccoli rimestati) at Our Italian Table.

Spring has finally arrived here in Pennsylvania and therefore, spent the entire weekend outside.  Glorious!!  Garden is almost ready! Little basil plants are growing stronger! I moved the olive tree and the fig tree outside…and I even have one spring fig growing on my tree (hmmm, good excuse for a fig party when it is ripe!)  I was just outside listening to night fall and had to drag myself back inside.  I spent a perfect weekend with a wonderful friend who paid a surprise visit.

Continue reading Fusilli with Eggplant, Tomatoes, Capers, Pine Nuts and Raisins at Our Italian Table.

Involtini.  Rolls of….beef, veal, pesce spada (swordfish) ….you name it. Italians love Involtini and the Sicilians have their share of versions of these tasty recipes.  Having spent a good deal of time in Sicily, I have had this wonderful dish made numerous ways in both winter and summer. This version is one of my favorites for a cold winter evening. They always take me back to my winter trips to Taormina when the nights are frosty.

Continue reading Involtini di Manzo: Sicilian Beef Rolls at Our Italian Table.