Sicilia

Sicily is an island that has seen many cultures traverse its shores over the past few thousand years. These many different peoples have influenced everything from the architecture to the dialects to the food, which reflects its historical melting pot. Not simply Italian food, Sicilian cuisine has Arab, Greek, and Spanish influences, using all the natural ingredients of the land and sea surrounding the island.

The Ballaro Market in Palermo reminded me more of Marrakech than Rome. Piles of colorful fruits and vegetables - pale green squash two feet long, baskets of writhing live snails, pig's feet hanging from the tented stalls, tuna bellies larger than my torso, gleaming pink in the sun. We got some fresh bread and marinated olives and wandered through the marketplace spitting pits and perusing the spices and wares. The sellers' dried apricots and raisins, golden saffron and smoky cinnamon, and melon and citrus reflect the culinary influences of the Arab eastern Mediterranean. We shared an arancino - fried risotto ball with ragu in the center, a typical Sicilian street food, which was nearly the size of my face, for one euro. Then smoked ricotta topped with honey and pistachios:

Roasted warm cheese with a sticky sweet glaze and crunchy nuts on top - you had to lick the paper, it was so good. And of course I had to try a real cannoli, the famed dessert of Sicily, which was stuffed with the lightest cream imaginable, and darted with tiny candied orange peel, such a far cry from the heavier Americanized version of the treat.

And of course there's the seafood. In every seaside town in Sicily, there was an array of fresh fish and shellfish to choose from. First, in the coastal town Sferracavallo we had dinner at the Antico Posillipo restaurant near the harbor. Steamed mussels to start, then risotto con salmone (salmon), fish eggs, and radicchio:

Then I had pesce di spada con gamberoni (grilled swordfish with jumbo shrimp):

In Italy, less is more: the simplest preparation, with olive oil, parsley, and a hint of pepper and sea salt, lets the fresh seafood shine. We finished with limone sorbetto, but it was a frothy liquid rather than the ice-hard sorbet you'll find in the U.S., and a wonderfully refreshing end to the meal.

In Scopello, a small village near the Zingaro nature reserve, we went to the Trattoria di Scopello, down the road, where we were seated at the end of a table with other diners, in typical casual Italian fashion. There we had a fantastic seafood antipasto:

Polpo insalate (octopus salad), fish "meatballs", gamberetti (shrimp), and marinated eggplant that tasted like sausage, it was so meaty delicious

Then a fish platter feast:

Orata - whole of course, eaten right off the bone - with tuna, swordfish steaks, gamberoni, and squid

The next night we ate at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the water, starting with calamari. For the primi, the pasta alla norma, a typical Sicilian pasta dish from Catania, which uses native eggplant in tomato sauce. This eggplant was cooked to such perfection, it was actually sweet:

For dinner I had the seared tuna, and it was the best tuna I've ever eaten. Now this is a strong statement to make, coming from me. I'm obsessed with tuna - I've had it in many different places for many years; if it's on a restaurant menu I will almost always order the seared tuna, I love it so much. And honestly it's often cold in the middle, with the flesh raw from the ice to the plate, and loses some of its flavor. But not this tuna. This tuna was warm, savory, so buttery that it melted in my mouth - I didn't even need a knife, it was so good. This tuna was the best.

The night ended with a pistachio cannoli to share, but there's no photo since I didn't have time to take one before we ate it. Enough said.

Our last night in Sicily we stayed by the salt fields near Marsala (which is of course where the wine gets its name.) We asked the lady selling salt where to go that night and she recommended the Cothon Ristorante, a family-owned place on a side street outside of the city, about as non-touristy as you can imagine. For ten euros we got a starter, entree each and pitcher of house wine, and everything was good. The cook brought us fried polenta bites when we sat down, crispy golden nuggets of heaven, and then I really wanted to try caponata, a Sicilian eggplant dish with vegetables and golden raisins.

I had the couscous alle pesce (fish) , a great example of the North African influence on Sicilian cuisine:

And the busiate pasta is a typical Sicilian pasta made in the seaside city of Trapani, which we passed:

Curly tendrils of soft pasta in a light sauce with cozze (mussels) - more seafood, of course.

Then there's the Sicilian breakfast that we enjoyed every morning during our stay. Pastries, cakes, even cookies are a breakfast food in Italy, apparently. A dangerous habit to form ...

Finally there's the granita, a Sicilian shaved-ice drink that is so light and refreshing it's addictive. We tried espresso and mandorle (almond), shown here:

The food in Sicily is arguably some of the best in the world - an incredible fusion of Mediterranean flavors all joined on one gorgeous island.