Sicily Cuisine - by food author Howard Hillman

Sicily Cuisine

Italian cuisine guide

Sicily

a concise guide
for diners & travelers

Roots of Sicilian cooking

Though several Mediterranean powers of old controlled all or parts of Sicily, it was the conquering Arabs who made the most enduring culinary imprint on this mountainous island anchored off the tip of the Italian peninsula. During the Middle Ages, the Arabs introduced the now famous Sicilian art of making sweets: sugary ices and rich pastries studded with candied fruits and almond paste.

Popular foods of Sicily

Food markets overflow with these items:

Seafood
It's Sicily's leading protein source because of its abundance. Tuna, swordfish and sardines head the charts. Meat is usually tough and expensive, owing to a lack of suitable pasturage.

Pasta and breads
They are flavorful and well liked in Sicily.

Produce
Sicilians adore fruits and vegetables, especially tomato, eggplant, artichoke, citrus fruits, almonds, and olives.

Ricotta
This is Sicily's most consumed cheese, bar none.

Olive oil
It is Sicily's favorite cooking medium (except in Palermo, where cooks prefer butter).

Famous specialties
of Sicily

Caponata

Chopped vegetables such as eggplant (the most essential ingredient), tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olives, and celery individually cooked in olive oil, then combined. Caponata is similar in concept to the French Ratatouille.

Pasta con le Sarde

Macaroni cooked with sardines along with various flavorful seasonings. This dish is particularly popular in Palermo.

Cassata alla Siciliana

A sponge cake sliced into several layers and spread with a Ricotta cheese, cream, candied fruit, chocolate, and liqueur mixture, and then reassembled and covered with chocolate icing. Cassata alla Siciliana may also refer to an Italian ice studded with candied fruits.

Cannole

A confection consisting of a hard, tubular pastry shell stuffed with Ricotta cheese enriched with cream, candied fruit, and sometimes chocolate.

Wines of Sicily
Sicily's best known wine is Marsala, a fortified wine similar to Sherry and Madeira. It can be dry or sweet and is widely used by chefs as a cooking wine. The best-known table wine is the dry white Mt. Etna.

Best city for gourmets

Palermo is the top all around food city in Sicily. Criteria include cooking, food markets, cooking ingredients, cooking schools, beverages, dining and restaurants. Siracusa is the runner-up.

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