Currants and pignoli or pine nuts feature prominently in Sicilian cuisine.  The two ingredients are simultaneously used in many dishes.  Currants add just a touch of sweetness to any dish; and pine nuts add a little crunch.  In this dish the cauliflower is parboiled and sautéed with currants and pine nuts and topped with toasted […]

Most of us tend to overindulge ourselves over the holidays – myself being no exception.  Overeating at Christmas parties, New Year’s parties, and lavish dinners with friends and family.  In our house, we have the traditional Christmas eve seafood dinner (seven dishes to be exact); on Christmas day, we have rib roast; and then we […]

This classic Sicilian pasta dish is made with sardines and is also known as pasta con sarde (sardines).  Pasta Milanisa, or Milanese as the Italians say, is a marriage of wild fennel, sardines, currants, and pignoli nuts – native ingredients that are abundant along the Sicilian coast.  Currants add a little sweetness to the dish.  […]

My mother comes from the town of Castelvetrano, Sicily.  Castelvetrano is famous throughout Italy for its black bread – pane nero, or pane nivuru as they say in the dialect.  While living in Sicily, I couldn’t get enough of this stuff.  The bread was addicting, and I had withdrawals upon coming back home to the […]

Mustazzoli, mustazzoli, or mostaccioli are cookies, not to be confused with mostaccioli pasta.  These cookies are traditionally served at Christmas time throughout southern Italy.  The cookie has Arabic origins and dates to ancient Roman times where mustaceum cakes were made using grape must.  The first step in winemaking is pressing the grapes with skin and all, […]