NEW - Typical Sicilian Wines - A palate pleasing example of Mediterranean health food!
The wine and food of Sicily have their own roots in the Greek’s age, when the Greek colonies where placed in Naxos. Greeks decided to dedicate their activity to the cultivation of grapes in a professional way. From this, the Phoenicians, (skillful merchants) made one of the most important products of that era. The climatic conditions of Sicily facilitate the cultivation of grapes and they enjoy mild temperatures with regular sunshine.
There are more than 150.000 hectares of land dedicated to cultivating wine yards:
77% cultivate to white grapes and concentrated in the zones of Trapani, Agrigento and Palermo; with the remaining 23% cultivated to red grapes in the oriental Sicily.
There are many wines D.O.C (Controlled denomination and origin), wines I.G.T (Typical Geographic Indication), and D.O.C.G. (Controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin).
In particular, the best wine yards are on the slopes of the Etna Mountain. Here, wine takes its peculiar characteristics from the fertile volcanic land. Milo, Linguaglossa, Castiglione di Sicilia and Santa Venerina are the most important wine producers.
The Nerello Mascalese and the Mantellato obtain the red wines. Pope John Paul II appreciated these wines. The Carricante and Cataratto grapes of Spanish origin make the withe wines.
In particular, there is a study that explains how the Sicilian red wine consumption is associated with a lower cardiovascular risk. In this research, undertaken by a famous Italian scientist Prof. Gino Avellone, he conducted a time delay visitation survey (15 days, 4 and 8 weeks) to monitor the following parameters, which were measured and studied. They were: blood glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides…
Results
At the end of the red wine intake period, cholesterol was significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in both study groups. The results show a positive effect of these Sicilian red wines on many risk factors, suggesting a moderate consumption of red wine in the adult population as a component of the Mediterranean diet.
RECIPES:
Caponata (Ingredients for 6 people)
Ingredients:
6 eggplants
2 onions
2 celeries
3 tomatoes
200 gr. of greens olives without stone
3 spoons of capers
A pinch of basil
1-½ spoons of sugar
4 ounces of vinegar
A pinch of salt to taste
Preparation:
First, Ready the eggplant by cutting them into dices. Place the diced eggplant into a colander and sprinkle with salt to taste. Allow one hour at room temperature to separate bitter juices from the eggplant.
While you are waiting for the eggplant, prepare the celery by cutting out the hearts, and separating them into pieces.
Pre-dice the onions in preparation for use later.
Also, peel the tomatoes and cut them into pieces.
Next, place a wide frying pan on the stove and heat the oil. Then, Make sure to brown the diced onion.
Once an hour has passed to drain the eggplant, you’ll need to prepare a separate pan to fry them in.
Place the friend eggplant aside for the final steps.
Near to finish, combine the ingredients: celery bits, tomato pieces, whole olives, onion pieces, capers, and a pinch of salt to create a sauce. Continue to cook the sauce until the celery is tender.
Once the celery is tender, add the fried eggplant and basil to taste. Continue cooking for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add the sugar and vinegar.
Last, but not least, serve the Caponata cold and enjoy.
Polpette of “Nunnata” (Ingredients for 6 people)
Ingredients:
1 Kg. of ninnata (Newly born fish: anchovies, Sardinians, red mullets)
3 eggs
A pinch of parsley
2 garlic segments
½ teaspoon of oil
Add salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
First, prepare the garlic by mincing.
Next, combine the nunnata with eggs, parsley and minced garlic to amalgamate.
Warm a frying pan with the necessary amount of oil. Add the previously mixed paste.
Close to finish, continue to cook until the nunnata forms a polpette and takes on a gilded color.
Last, but not least, serve warm on a plate garnished with lemon slices.
Sardinians “a beccafico” (Ingredients for 6 people)
Ingredients:
1 Kg. of Sardinians
8 spoons of bread -crumbs
2 garlic segments
1 spoon of sugar
1 spoon of parsley
70 gr. of pine-seed
70 gr. of grape sultanina
½ spoon of olive oil
A pinch of bay leaves
A squeeze of lemon juice
Variations:
Pasta with Sardinians (Ingredients for 6 people)
600 gr. of bucatini
1 Kg. of fresh Sardinians
1 Kg of wild fennel
4 fillets of anchovies
A pinch of salt
2 onions
50 gr. of grape passolina
50 gr. of pine-seed
Saffron to taste
Half olive oil glass
Pasta alla Norm (Ingredients for 6 people)
6 ounces of tomato sauce
A pinch of basil
3 eggplants
700 gr. of spaghetti
Salty cottage cheese to taste
Preparation:
First, ready the eggplant by cutting them into dices. Place the diced eggplant into a colander and sprinkle with salt to taste. Allow one hour at room temperature to separate bitter juices from the eggplant.
While you wait for the eggplant, prepare the tomato sauce with basil.
Next, after an hour, fry the eggplant in a pan of olive oil.
While you wait for the eggplant, boil the spaghetti in a separate pot. Continue to cook the pasta until tender, then drain, and run cold water over the noodles to stop them from cooking.
Combine the cooked noodles with earlier prepared tomato sauce.
Next to last, for each variation, you combine all ingredients over the salty cottage cheese.
Finally, serve warm and enjoy.
If you would like to go and stay in Sicily while experiencing Mediterranean diet recipes first hand, you should seriously consider booking in at the highly recommended Taormina Sicily hotels.
