Sicilian cuisine shows traces of all the cultures which established themselves on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine is predominantly based on Italian cuisine, Sicilian food also has Spanish, Greek and Arab influences.
The use of apricots, sugar, citrus, sweet melons, rice, saffron, raisins, nutmeg, clove, pepper, pine nuts, cinnamon (along with fried preparations) is a sign of Arab influences from the Arab domination of Sicily in the 10th and 11th centuries.
Normans and Hohenstaufen influences are also found, such as in the fondness for meat dishes. Later, the Spanish introduced numerous items from the New World, including cocoa, maize, peppers, turkey, and tomatoes and other produce. In Catania, on the east coast, initially settled by Greek colonists, fish, olives, broad beans, pistachio and fresh vegetables are preferred instead.
Much of the island's cuisine encourages the use of fresh vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, and fish such as tuna, sea bream, sea bass, cuttlefish, and swordfish. In Trapani in the extreme western corner of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of couscous.
Spaghetti ai ricci (spaghetti prepared with sea urchin) Pasta alle sarde (with anchovies) and Pasta alla Norma (a specialty originated in Catania) are the most popular pasta dishes typically sicilian. Manicotti is another common dish.
Sweets are another specialty; examples include: frutta martorana, pignolata, buccellato, cannolo siciliano, granita, and cassata siciliana. Granita is particularly famous and well known. It is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water, and flavorings originally from the island, and is commonly associated from Catania, even though there is no evident proof that it hails from the particular Sicilian city. Related to sorbet and italian ice, in most of Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture.
Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet. This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals.
For the main meal Sicilians drink mostly wine. The soil and the climate in Sicily are ideal for growing grapes, mainly due to Mount Etna, and a wine-making tradition on the island has operated since the Greeks set up their first colonies on the island. Today, all provinces of the island produced wine and wine by the introduction of modern methods of Sicily established itself on the European wine market.
Sicilian red wines have an alcoholic content of 12.5 to 13% and are usually drunk in the evening with roast or grilled meat. Well-known red wines include the Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the Nero d'Avola mainly those product around Noto (Siracusa). The dry and white wines and rosés usually have an alcoholic content from 11.5 to 12% and are mainly taken with fish, poultry and pasta dishes.
In addition, various dessert wines are produced, such as the famous Marsala, the Malvasia delle Lipari.
More typical Sicilian drinks are the limoncello, a lemon liqueur, and the Amaro Siciliano, a herbal drink, which is often consumed after meals as a digestive.
Very famous street food are the arancine (a form of deep-fried rice croquettes). Diffused in the Palermo region is pani ca meusa.
I will be there next week to have a bite, will keep you posted unless you want to come along :) ciaooo!
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