The famous feast os San Gennaro is now in full sswing on Mulberry Street, Manhattan. It's a NY tradition and the street food is very good. The saugae and pepper hero is the star of the feast and must be savored.

Buon appetito.
 

It's all about the food

I love to cook but I love eating good even more. I do most of the cooking and when I'm in Sicily where the ingredients are fresh and very tasty cooking becomes a fulfillment of my body and a recharging of my ethnic soul. These are a few of the pasta dishes I prepared during my July trip.

Bucatini con salsa di pomodoro e melanzane

Tagliatelle con salsa fresca di pomodoro

Spaghetti al tonno all'olio d'oliva

Pasta con zucchine e pomodorini

Tutti  a tavola

This is not a food blog but....

I love to eat and naturally to cook. Of course I tend to favor Italian food and especially Sicilian dishes although my taste is very catholic. These are dishes that are tasty, healthful and simple. However in order to reach this goal, one must find the best and freshest ingredients otherwise the results can be disappointing. Of course  when I'm in Sicily this task is very easy. Most of these dishes were  prepares stateside.  

Canazzu sicilianu, vegetable stew

 

Pasta con broccoli fritti, fried broccoli

Pasta con pomodorini e zucchine

Pasta riminata. it has mainly cauliflower but other ingredients

Pasta con salsa di pomodoro, tomato sauce. This was cooked in Sicily

Ecco. è fatto

This is a recipe that I just got from a food site from Sicily. It's called canazzo siciliano. that literally means big bad Sicilian dog. Naturally the name is mysterious and this totally vegetarian plate has nothing to do with dogs. It simply has onions, potatoes. tomatoes, a red pepper and eggplant. It's axiomatic to add basil and the use of olive oil is inferred. Naturally, each ingredient should be added keeping in mind the different cooking time for each. Buon appetito, carissimi amici.

Have a delicious Sunday

This is my arrianata di brocculi or cauliflower pizza that I sort of invented. It's delicious and very easy especially if you get the  fresh dough from a pizzeria. Garlic, onions, cauliflower, Sicilian sea salt, EVO, some grated cheese, any type as long as it's Italian and a topping of bread crumbs. That's all folks.

Ferdinando's Restaurant / LX-3

Finally, a nice size dish of pasta con sarde, pasta with sardines

Ferdinando's restaurant located at 151 Union Street Brooklyn, is perhaps one of the best places for Sicilian cuisine in New York. A place where we occasionally go to when it becomes too hard to stay outside of our beloved Sicily. One eventually craves for this comfort food so to Ferdinando one must go. These shots are all taken by my daughter Jennifer, a professional photographer of note who commandeered my LX-3 and took these photos one summer evening when we all went there to enjoy the delicious fare. I am the one enjoying the food while the owner is outside the store. A visit to this place is highly recommended. No nouvelle cuisine here with it's tiny dishes. This is real food.
I hope that you allow me a little of self indulgence occasionally.

Rice with broccoli Sicilian style

These very delicious and simple dishes can only be created with the local products that we have here. This celebration of nature as Luigi Barzini described Italian cuisine, can only be pulled off when all the ingredients are super fresh , of the highest quality and organic.

I bought the broccoli that had been harvested an hour or so before, the rice came directly from Vercelli in Piemonte where the best arborio rice is produced, the olive oil came from my neighbor who gave me some this past November, the garlic is local and so is the incanestrato cheese, the Sicilian pecorino.BTW, this is the best time of the year to make cheese here.
Boil the rice and broccoli together and drain. On a dish put some freshly cut up garlic-small pieces- and some real olive oil. Add the rice, mix well add some more oil and top off with the cheese. It's another of those cucina povera dishes very in with hipsters etc. It's also a vegan dish but I do not care about it. If you get fresh broccoli from a farmers market in the States, give it a try. American broccoli have had their flavor taken out, so to speak, but if fresh they are still good. As for the other ingredients try to use the best quality available. Buon appetito carissimi amici e seguaci di questo blog.

Have a delicious Saturday / Abbiate un sabato delizioso

Busiate con salsa fresca di pomodoro; photo by Jen Galatioto