Page 55 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

from the use of prickly pears (originally imported from Mexico by the Spanish) to

the North African influence evident in the western Sicilian version of couscous or in
orange salads. The Arab influence is also apparent in the profusion of sweets –
marzipan is used extensively, while cassata, the most Sicilian of desserts, derives
from the Arabic word quas-at, referring to the round bowl in which it was
traditionally prepared. Indeed, virtually every dish – though apparently common-or-

garden Italian/Sicilian – calls upon 2500 years of cross-cultural influences, from the
Greeks and Romans to the Arabs, Normans and Spanish.

Breakfast, snacks and markets

For most Sicilians, breakfast (prima colazione) is an espresso or cappuccino, and
the ubiquitous cornetto – a jam-, custard- or chocolate-filled croissant. Many bars and
patisseries (a pasticceria) also offer things like an iris (a pastry ball stuffed with
sweet ricotta cheese), a romano (deep-fried sugared turnover filled with sweet

ricotta), and cannoli (pastry tubes with sweet ricotta cheese and candied fruit). The
traditional summer breakfast is a granite (preferably almond or coffee) with a
brioche. Look out also for almond milk in summer, and freshly squeezed red oranges
in winter.

There are sandwich (panini) bars in the bigger towns, though alternatively, in most
places, you can simply go into an alimentari (grocer’s shop) and ask them to make you

a sandwich from whatever they’ve got. Bakeries sometimes sell panini or pane
cunzati, crusty bread rolls filled with pungent combinations such as tuna, tomato,
anchovy and capers. Tramezzini are ready-made sliced white-bread sandwiches with
mixed fillings, while toasted sandwiches (toste) tend to be a variation on cheese with
ham or tomato. Look out also for impanata or scacce, bread turnovers filled with
combinations of potato, onion, fennel-seed and chilli sausage, broccoli and wild

greens.

You’ll get most of the things already mentioned, plus small pizzas, ready prepared
pasta and deep-fried, breadcrumbed balls of rice known as arancini (usually either
ragù, with Bolognese sauce, peas and cheese, or al burro, with cheese and ham) and
full hot meals in a tavola calda (literally, “hot table”), a sort of stand-up snack bar. In

the larger cities, you’ll occasionally come across an old-fashioned focacceria –
takeaway establishments selling focaccia (an oven-baked flatbread, with a topping or
filling) and other bread-based snacks. Or there’s the ubiquitous rosticceria in every
Sicilian town, a takeaway grill-house where the speciality is spit-roast chicken (pollo
allo spiedo).

Grocers’ shops (alimentari) and markets are the best places for fruit, veg and