STRADA DEL VINO E DEI SAPORI VAL DI MAZARA
TYPICAL LOCAL PRODUCTS
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WINE
In Sicily, wine and traditions are two elements whose origins are lost in the mists of time. The cultivation of vines and winemaking were introduced to the western part of the island by the Phoenicians between the eighth and seventh centuries. B.C.
While Sicily with about 107,000 ha has one of the largest area planted with vines in Italy, the Strada del Vino Val di Mazara territory has one of the largest in Europe. This is the area were Marsala wine was born as a fortified wine (the first DOC wine in Italian wine history). For decades, Sicilian wine has been used to strengthen and cut French and Piedmontese wines, but since the 1970s, the refinement of winemaking techniques has led to the establishment of numerous wines with a controlled designation of origin. Including the DOC Delia Nivolelli reserved for wines produced in the territory of the Strada del Vino e dei Sapori Val di Mazara ( Mazara del Vallo, Marsala, Petrosino, Salemi).
OIL
Olive Oil, the “the green gold” of the island, has always been one of the fundamental elements around which the economy and tradition of Sicily has developed.
Among the varieties produced in the area of the Strada Val di Mazara, there is the Nocellara del Belice, a variety with a dual-purpose; producing both table olives and extra-virgin olive oil. It has a maximum acidity of 0.50% and a mild density, very rich in polyphenols. Its colour is green with golden yellow reflections and has a freshly crushed olive scent with herbaceous hints. Its flavour is fruity, slightly bitter and spicy with an aftertaste of almond, artichoke and green tomato.
PANE NERO
Is a bread obtained through an old processing method (with yeast, lu criscenti) and the use of a mixture of two groats: blond integral wheat from sicily and a variety of local wheat, the tumminia. The bread made with the tumminia remains tasty and soft for several days. The round shape low to medium-sized, in Sicilian is called vastedda, which lasts for 7-10 days.
SQUARATI
Squarati or cuccidati are hard and crisp, small, ring-shaped donuts. The dough is made with wheat flour, lard, salt, water and yeast. They are made manually and then boiled in appropriate containers (quarare), until they rise to the surface.
VASTEDDA
The Vastedda of the Valle del Belice is a cheese of sheep’s milk, to be consumed fresh. It is obtained from whole sheep’s milk, raw, by natural acid fermentation, from sheeps of the Valle del Belice and its crossings.
MUCCUNETTI
The Muccunetti are delicious morsels of sugar almonds and eggs, filled with soft pumpkin and gilded with icing sugar.
RECIPES FROM
STRADA DEL VINO E DEI SAPORI
VAL DI MAZARA
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CASSATEDDRE
cassatelle
Mix the flour with the lard, add the sugar dissolved with a little warm milk, vanilla, and mix the ammonia by adding warm milk until the dough is smooth and homogeneous. Reduce the dough into small sheets of about half a cm, put the filling in the centre, close and give the desired shape.Bake at 200 ° C until they have a nice golden colour. Decorate with frosting or icing sugar.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 kg of flour,
– 300 gr. of Lard,
– 300 gr. Sugar,
– 1 small bottle of vanilla,
– 10 gr. Ammonia,
– Milk to taste,
– Ground dried figs,
– Toasted and chopped almonds,
– Chopped Tangerine peel,
– Sugar and Cinnamon.
PIGNULATA
pignolata
Mix the flour with the oil, the eggs the vanilla and the grated lemon peel.
Make sticks and cut into steps, then fry them in seed oil seed.
In a saucepan melt the honey with sugar, cinnamon and cloves and soak the dough sticks.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 kg of flour,
– 12 eggs,
– 1 Lemon,
– 2 cups of oil,
– 2 packets of Vanillin,
– 500 gr. Honey,
– 4 tablespoons sugar,
– a pinch of cinnamon,
– 2 cloves.
SFINCI
sfinci
Cook the potatoes and pass them through a sieve.
In a bowl melt the yeast with lukewarm water, add the salt and gradually add the flour.
Finally, put the potatoes, and as you knead, add water to make soft dough.
Beat the mixture well until it will form bubbles.
Let rise for about 3 hours.
The dough expands quite a bit during frying so you’ll only need to use about a tablespoon of dough for each doughnut.
Drain and sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, or honey if you like.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 kg of potatoes,
– 1 kg of flour,
– 50 gr. Brewer’s yeast,
– Water,
– Salt,
– Lard,
– Cinnamon,
– Sugar or honey.
PASTA WITH SARDINIA
Boil the tops of the wild fennel for 5 minutes in 1 liter of salted water, drain it (keeping the cooking water) and chop coarsely. Clean the sardines by removing the head, bones and entrails, rinsed and opening them in all their length. Finely chop the onion and fry for a few seconds in hot oil, add the sardines and cook for 5 minutes. Add the fennel, drained raisins, pine nuts, pepper and saffron.Season with salt and add a few tablespoons of cooking liquid of the fennel and cook for 15 minutes. Boil the pasta until al dente (preferably bucatini type). When cooked add the pasta to the pan along with the sardines and mix well. Place in a baking dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and place in oven for 10 minutes at 180 ° C, then serve.
VARIATION: you can do a variation by adding 500 grams. Of tomato sauce and adding to anchovies.In a pan put oil and make a dried minced onion, add the anchovies and stir to dissolve, then add the pine nuts, raisins soaked in warm water first and then the tomato puree. Let the sauce simmer on low heat for 5 minutes add the fennel and sardines. Cook until al dente and drain the pasta, season it with the sauce of sardines, put it in the pan, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake 10 minutes at 180° C, then serve.
INGREDIENTS:
– 400 grams of pasta (preferably type Bucatini),
– ½ kg of wild fennel,
– ½ kg of fresh sardines,
– Extra virgin olive oil,
– 1 medium onion,
– Breadcrumbs,
– 1 handful pine nuts,
– Saffron,
– Salt and Pepper to taste.
SPAGHETTI AL MATAROCCO
You peel the garlic cloves, put them into a bowl and cut into small pieces, then you crush them with the tip of a spoon until you obtain a paste. Separately, clean tomatoes, peel and remove the seeds, then cut them into small pieces and add to the mashed garlic. Work with the tip of a spoon to crush all the tomatoes with the garlic.After you add the olive oil, chopped basil, pecorino cheese, crushed almonds or pine nuts and continue to stir. When the spaghetti is cooked you mix it with the matarocco.
INGREDIENTS:
– 500 gr. Spaghetti,
– 12 cloves of garlic,
– 1 kg of peeled tomatoes,
– half cup of oil,
– Chopped basil,
– 150 gr. Of Pecorino cheese,
– Shelled and peeled almonds or pine nuts.
FISH COUS COUS
Put 500 grams of semolina in a mafaradda (a special clay pot) and a lemma (painted terracotta container that can contain the already processed semolina).
Put water and salt in a bowl (5 grams of salt per 100 cc of water). The starting point for all couscous recipes is the same. Semolina grains are slowly poured into a large, round terra cotta dish with sloping sides called a mafaradda and formed into small pellets by hand. The process of raking, rolling, aerating, and forming the pellets is called incocciata by the Sicilians. When the couscous pellets are formed they are then steamed over boiling fish broth in a couscoussiere. Add the semolina incocciata a wire jar virgin olive oil and, with the palms of your hands, rub it so that eventually all the grains are shelled and well oiled. Prepare the fish stock will be used to season the cooked couscous. At this point you put 4 – 5 bay leaves in the cuscusiera together with the couscous. Drill few holes in the couscous, with a wooden spoon, which will act as a chimney for the steam leak. Cover and place the pot on the fire. As soon as the steam comes out of the holes, reduce the heat and cook for about two hours and a half. At this stage, you have to mix the couscous from time to time (every 10-15 minutes) and make all over again the holes as described above. In the last part of cooking, mix a little ‘more often, repeating the process until it’s ready. When the couscous is cooked, pour it into the lemma, cover with the fish soup and put it to rest covered with a towel for half an hour.
Serve sprinkling it with more soup and boneless pieces of fish.
INGREDIENTS:
– 500 grams of semolina for cous cous,
– 1 kg fish for soup
(redfish, snapper, Mullet, sea bream, shrimp, etc.),
– Extra virgin olive oil,
– 3 or 4 ripe peeled and diced tomatoes,
– 2 Carrots,
– 2 Onions,
– 1 clove of garlic
– A bunch of parsley,
– A bay leaf,
– Saffron,
– Salt and Pepper to taste,
– Chilli pepper if you like.
BABBALUCI A “PICCHI PACCHI”
snails with tomato sauce
When you have already wash the snails, boil them for 10/15 minutes and then whash them again with cold water and drain them well.Meanwhile in a large clay pot you soften the onion in the oil and place the peeled and mashed tomatoes. Add salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes.Pour the sauce over well-drained snails, salt and cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 Kg Snails,
– 400 gr. Tomatoes,
– 1 Onion,
– Extra Virgin Olive Oil,
– Bran,
– Salt & Pepper.
SARDE A BECCAFICO
Clean, scale, gut and behead the sardines, then you remove the bones and wash them again. Prepare the filling by mixing the toasted bread crumbs, olive oil, lemon juice, grated lemon peel, add a teaspoon of sugar, a little salt and pepper, then the anchovies sauce, parsley, capers, black olives, raisins and pine nuts, and finally the toasted and chopped almonds. You can also add 1 minced garlic clove, 1 chopped shallot or onion, 60 grams of grated pecorino cheese. When the filling is well mixed and homogenized, you spread a little on the opened Sardine, and then you put another one on top of it, then tied with a thread and pass them in egg, breadcrumbs and fry them in oil.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 kg of fresh sardines,
– 100 gr. of bread crumbs,
– 1 tablespoon of olive oil,
– 50 gr. Capers,
– 50 gr. pitted black olives,
– 40 gr. of Sultanas,
– 40 gr. of Pine,
– 20 gr. Toasted Almond,
– 4 anchovies,
– 1 tablespoon lemon juice,
– grated lemon peel,
– half a teaspoon of sugar,
– a sprig of parsley,
– Salt and pepper.
SEA SALAD
octopus salad
In large stockpot boil the octopus until tender (The cooking time is not accurate because it depends on two factors: the size and quality of the octopus so we can establish that the octopus is cooked when, pricking with a fork, it will be soft.). Take out and let cool. Chopthe octopus mix it with the otheringredients. Season withlemon juice, olive oil and chopped parsley, stirand serve.
INGREDIENTS:
– 1 kg. of medium-sized Octopus,
– 100 gr. of Marinated Anchovy,
– 2 lemons,
– A small bunch of parsley,
– Extra virgin olive oil,
– Salt and pepper to taste,
– 10 cherry tomatoes,
– 100 gr. Olive green,
– Two small pieces of celery.