White Almond Sicily

There is an important date around the corner and this 14th February, due to Covid, we will all have to enjoy Valentines Day, or in Italian 'San Valentino' in a different way to usual as there can be no romantic city breaks in Sicily and no romantic meals in Sicilian restaurants. So a cosy night in with a delicious home cooked meal it is then. Sicily is where Europe ends and Africa begins. It began its history as part of Ancient Greece and soon became part of the Roman Empire. Thereafter the island was invaded by the Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French, Spanish and Bourbons before unifying with Italy. Each conquest left its mark on the island and its cuisine.  Being an island Sicily has wonderful fish and seafood and when eating a meal in a restaurant you will find that the fish you are eating was caught that morning. Sicilian pasta dishes make use of the abundance of local produce such as tomatoes and aubergines. You can find meat on most menus and in particular inland and mount...

"Happiness is like Jam - You can't spread even a little without getting some on yourself!" 'Summer Fruits' usually describes a mixture of summer berries, typically blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and blackberries. We are still stuck in London due to Covid_19 and missing Sicily very much but one thing that helps getting over "Sicily Syndrome" (the sickness of missing Sicily. I made that up) is picking the abundance of blackberries from the bramble bushes that grow around the back of our garden in London.  But don't tell anyone they are my little secret. In any case they are well guarded by our dog Daisy.  I cannot remember these brambles being there when we first moved into our home but each year they multiply in size and yield more and more delicious plump berries.  In Sicily we do not have these kind of blackberries but we do have are mulberries.  Mulberries translated into Italian is Gelsi . It is not known how th...

One of my favourite pasta dishes in Sicily is Pasta alla Norma, it completely embodies the flavours and fresh produce of the island. This dish originates from the city of Catania and there are numerous versions of this homage to music and food based on variations on a theme of pasta, aubergines (eggplant), tomatoes and ricotta salata. The composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in 1801 in Catania and according to legend on the opening night in 1890 of the cities beautiful opera house, which opened with a performance of his opera "Norma", the public were so overwhelmed that they insisted on marking the occasion by naming a dish after the event. Another story attributes the name to a compliment which was paid to a chef from Catania given by a famous Sicilian actor in the 1920's who declared that his pasta dish had been "as good as Norma" Another explanation, with not very much imagination, is that 'norma' in Sicilian dialect means "rule" ...