Cucina Siciliana

     On Tuesday, I had the special opportunity to learn how to prepare a traditional Sicilian Easter meal at a cooking class. I thought it would be exciting to use the recipes I learned for our family's Easter meal as a special treat for Matt and Christopher. In the span of three hours, we learned how to make eight typical Sicilian dishes using fresh, local ingredients and techniques and tools that are standard in a Sicilian kitchen. One of my favorite side stories that our instructor, Flavia, shared was how her family members argued over who would inherit the tool she used to rice the potatoes. I really liked the multipurpose knife we used for everything from cutting pastry to dicing pears, and I learned some tips for using a pastry tube for both side dishes and desserts. 

     At the end of class, we were able to sample all of the recipes that we prepared which was a nice way to celebrate our work. The menu included:

 Sausage-stuffed plums

Uova ripiene (Sicilian filled eggs)

Spinach and ricotta mini pies

Pasta in a box

Scallopine with limone

Duchesse potatoes

Chocolate eggs with caramelized pears and cream

Cassata mousse with Grand Marnier

Learning how use a pastry tube to make duchesse potatoes.
 

 

Our instructor, Flavia (right), works with her assistant to dip the filled eggs in bread crumbs.

Sausage-stuffed plums, spinach-ricotta pies, Sicilian filled eggs

Scallopini and duchesse potatoes