Sicilian Delicacies
The foods in this section are mostly specialties common in the popular cuisine and considered ordinary convenience food because it is easy to carry and practical to take to work. This category includes all stuffed flat breads called “sfinciuni, cudduruni, ‘mpanata, scacciata”, the single serving turnover stuffed with vegetables and meat, the “crispeddi” and “frittedde” to name a few specialties. We also will submit the recipes for the “panelle, crocche’, vasteddi, arancine, caciu alla argintera”, and other dishes and finger foods that are Sicilian delicacies and gourmet foods.
Some of the foods described in this chapter are served as appetizers in many restaurants and households and the faster and easy “panino con salame”- a sandwich with cold cuts- became the convenient food to take to work for lunch.
In my family, it was a rarity when appetizers were served before dinner, however a lunch or a dinner made up only of various specialties and some appetizers were not so infrequent and it was well accepted by everyone.
“Il Festino”, the festivity of Saint Rosalie was celebrated in my family with this type of food. The “Festino” was three days long and the most important was the last day when the feast was concluded with fireworks, located in barges near the shore in the gulf of Palermo and ignited with a brilliant display of lights and sounds. Our cousins Barbaro’s house had a terrace overlooking the sea and from this terrace we viewed the spectacular fireworks and celebrated the event with special foods.
The specialties consisted of vasteddi, panelle, sfincione, rice balls, prepared by “zia Ciccinedda” and the “stighioli” the milk feed lamb‘s innards prepared by cousin Pino DeRosalia whose family was in the meat business. Also an abundant quantity of “babaluci”, snails, were prepared and eaten by everybody. And very importantly for us children, my mother prepared the “sfingi” sweet fritters, to conclude the saint's festivities. We were indoctrinated from childhood to have respect and celebrate all holidays, taught prayers and the skill to eat snails, how to appreciate the simple chickpea fritters, the “panelli”, and only in a roll, in fact in my life I rarely have eaten “panelli” without bread….
In recent times, many restaurants in the countryside have a fixed price dinner at a set time and everybody is served the same menu made up of many courses and many local specialty foods including ricotta and homemade pasta made in the open kitchen in view of the patrons and accompanied with local wines.
If you visit Sicily, I suggest you go to a “friggitoria” a kind of a fast food establishment and enjoy a lunch usually standing up. Sample some of the food they make :the “spiedino ca’ béciamela”, a Sicilian kebab with béchamel, “fritto misto” which includes artichokes fried in batter, croquettes made with milk, and fried veal brain, taste the “gratto’” which is a potato cake, or the “vrocculi a’ pastetta”, fried cauliflower. If you visit a “friggitoria or focacceria” in Palermo, the “vasteddi, panelle, crocche’ di patate, calamaru frittu” and the “maccarronello” small fish, fried to a crispy consistency, are just a few of the most common delicacies; more sophisticated places have table service and on their menu have listed tripe “alla levitana” , sardines “a beccafico”, fried eggplant and the “caponatina”.
“Boiled polpo” can be sampled in Palermo at the famous open market called “Vucciria” There in some kind of rudimental kiosks, “polpo” the octopus, is boiled in front of you and you can taste the sweetest and most delicious and tender “polpo” that cannot be found anywhere.
At Joe’s of Avenue U, the Focacceria Palermitana in Brooklyn, we brought some of those culinary traditions into the U.S.A. We adapted those specialties to the availability of the local supply and most importantly to the changed taste and trend of our customers without sacrificing the traditional taste and by using quality ingredients.
We prepared a selection of specialty foods that appealed to the old timer, to the Sicilian-American, to the occasional food adventurer and to the liking of the sophisticate gourmets. Our “Cucina Siciliana” was known further than the tri-state area, the customers who moved away would visit us if they made a stop over in New York and through recommendations, new customers came in every day.
We served with pride our specialties and offered not only a gastronomic experience but a fantastic journey to Sicily and to memories of days gone by.
