Sicilian Girl

Tweet Lentils are one of the world’s oldest health foods. This little lens-shaped legume came to the Americas in the early 16th century. During World War II, people began to see it as a low-cost, high-protein meat substitute. Both my mother and grandmother served them often. Two of my favorites are lemon-y lentil and Chickpea […]

Tweet Native to the western and central Mediterranean, the artichoke is a domesticated variety of the wild cardoon. Cardone, in Italian, is a thistle and looks like large stocks of celery. My grandmother used to coat them in breadcrumbs and fry them. They were amazing. Unlike an artichoke, you eat the stems not the flower […]

Tweet This past New Year’s Day, I made this sensational salad with caramelized pears. It’s really good! Today, I only have one pear and am in a bit of a hurry. So, this is basically the same ingredients, using a room temperature pear, rather than a warm caramelized one, and a different presentation. It’s still […]

Tweet Inexpensive and readily available, cauliflower is a nutritional powerhouse. It is high in vitamins C and K, potassium, manganese, folate, fiber and cancer-preventing glucosinolates. If you are (currently) not a fan of this cruciferous vegetable, perhaps it is because it wasn’t cooked properly. I say cooked because as much as I enjoy cauliflower, there […]

Tweet One of my favorite ways to enjoy pears is the simplest, fresh off the tree with a handful of walnuts. Now, add crumbles of Gorgonzola and a drizzle of honey and you’ve got a healthy, slightly decadent snack. Or turn it into a delicious toasted walnut and pear salad. Caramelizing the pears and the […]

Tweet Burrata is a cream filled mozzarella sack. Invented in Puglia, Italy, as a way to use the scraps of curds left over after twisting balls of  mozzarella. The scraps are pulled into shreds then mixed with cream and then wrapped with a thin skin of mozzarella. This simple salad of luscious burrata and tomatoes […]

Tweet This is a fresh and flavorful raw zucchini dish featuring tangy capers and ricotta salata. The words ‘Ricotta’ means re-cooked and ‘Salata’ means salted. Ricotta Salata is a Sicilian cheese made from the whey part of sheep milk, which is pressed, salted and aged for at least 90 days. It is mild and milky […]

Tweet There is only one authentic Insalata Caprese and it originated in Capri, Italy. Traditionally, tomatoes are used in the infamous dish. Since it is peach season and I have an abundance of the fruit, I thought this would be a delicious twist on a classic. I swapped out the tomatoes for peaches and in […]

Tweet Potato salad with olives, tomatoes and capers is a popular salad on the island of Pantelleria (Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea). Capers are a small but distinctive ingredient in Sicilian cooking. I have seen these plants all over Sicily, growing right out of stone walls (see photos below). In addition to abundant […]

Tweet Fennel, a favorite Italian vegetable, customarily eaten raw with a bit of salt, sees the year’s second crop in Autumn. We enjoy it in soups, salads, a creamy bowl of beans and even as a beverage. If you’ve never tried this versatile vegetable, this is a perfect recipe for you. Roasting fennel softens the […]