Strange times, we went from the fullest March calendar I can remember to being "Alone Together". Something like fifteen concerts or club dates all cancelled and now they're dying in April as well. At least we've had nice spring weather so we don't have cabin fever. Along with no live music, no restaurants are open so lets cook the books. Starting with Mary Taylor Simeti and Sicilian cuisine. In 1962 fresh out of college she landed in a small Sicilian town eventually married a Sicilian and raised a family, that story is in her book On Persephone's Island but here we dive into Pomp and Sustenance Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food.
I probably shouldn't reprint pages from her book without permission but here goes.
Most of the ingredients are pictured below with quantities cut down from a recipe for 6 to enough for just two, after all we're alone together. I had to take some liberties substituting barberries for currents, being more tart seemed a better choice than raisins and not having an abundance of wild Sicilian fennel I put in a bit of fennel bulb and the silver packet has fennel pollen. I also cheated by using tinned sardines instead of fresh. The minced onion somehow went missing from the picture.
And the final result as a simple pasta dish pretty much from the pantry. The near future holds a lot of this sort of entertainment.
I bought my copy more than 25 years ago and many of the seafood related recipes appear on our table with some regularity. I haven't checked to see if it's still in print. As the title implies she covers more than recipes. The two books together provide an enlightening view of Sicilian life and their table. Read them before you go, if we ever get to travel again. For folks in Seattle the public library has both so you can find them there when they reopen.
I probably shouldn't reprint pages from her book without permission but here goes.
Most of the ingredients are pictured below with quantities cut down from a recipe for 6 to enough for just two, after all we're alone together. I had to take some liberties substituting barberries for currents, being more tart seemed a better choice than raisins and not having an abundance of wild Sicilian fennel I put in a bit of fennel bulb and the silver packet has fennel pollen. I also cheated by using tinned sardines instead of fresh. The minced onion somehow went missing from the picture.
And the final result as a simple pasta dish pretty much from the pantry. The near future holds a lot of this sort of entertainment.
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