Arancine: A fried yellow rice ball filled with stuff in the center. From my extensive research, I think that they come in two varieties: one that is filled with a sort of meat stew with peas, and a second that is filled with ham and melted cheese. I tried both, and both were good! I think I slightly preferred the meat stew version, because the other was a bit too rich.
Pasta Lido: Pasta with fresh tomato sauce, eggplant, swordfish, & parsley. I ate this dish twice, and the second time we were at a Middle Eastern-style restaurant and they added fresh mint on top as well. I was first intrigued by it because it boasts the same name as my dog (Lido), but when I read the ingredients, I knew I had to try it--the combination sounded delicious. It was!
Mixed Grilled Seafood: In Cefalu, several of us ordered an appetizer of mixed grilled seafood. We ended up with giant grilled squid, prawns (shells and all--the entire shrimp), and swordfish. It was so simple and delicious! Just add a squeeze of lemon on top, and you're good to go. I had never had squid that was prepared quite so simply, and I was impressed!
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| Freshly caught seafood at the Palermo pier |
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| A seafood shop in Monreale |
Cannoli: A cannolo, meaning "little tube," is a rolled piece of fried pastry dough that is filled with a ricotta filling. It often also has chocolate chips or pistachio in the filling, as well as other garnishes on the top. Sicily is famous for its cannoli, and so we tried them in several places. I got particularly good little cannoli in both Cefalù and Monreale.
Gelato: Yes we get this in Rome, but I two particularly good gelato experiences in Sicily. The first was at a place in Cefalù, which had the most amazing mango flavor. I tasted like I was eating chilled fresh mangoes. In Monreale, I found a gelato shop with amazing looking ice cream sandwiches and chocolate covered cones. I chose a little cone with mint gelato covered in dark chocolate. It was fantastic, and the small size was perfect because the chocolate was so rich!
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| Chocolate covered cone with mint gelato! |
Semifreddo: Semifreddo is a class of semi-frozen desserts, and they come in different varieties, such as ice cream cakes or frozen custards. The one that we had at group dinner was a rich semi-frozen custard (a slice of a loaf). Ours was a strong almond flavor with almond pieces scattered. It was quite tasty, although I think if I'm going to get something frozen, I'm still a gelato-girl.
Assorted Pastries: Sicily is also known for its amazing pastries (in addition to cannoli). Our very first day in Palermo, we went to a pastry store (see pictures below), and I got an amazing pastry that had chocolate cake layers (soaked in rum, I think), whipped cream, and amazing tiny, very sweet strawberries! As I mentioned in my earlier post, in Palermo I got a Cannoli-style pastry that was filled instead with Nutella and coated in dark chocolate. It was so rich and amazing!
Marzipan: Marzipan, the infamous (to most people, although it does have its fans...) almond paste was invented in Palermo by a group of nuns. I remembered hating marzipan as a child, so I bought some for two of my friends on the trip instead because it was too beautiful to pass up, and I knew they loved it. Most of the marzipan that we saw was designed as decorated as fruit, and it was almost too pretty to eat. Finally as we were in the airport waiting for our plane, I gave in and decided I couldn't leave Palermo without trying marzipan again. I went to the beautiful sweets shop in the airport, and got myself a marzipan strawberry. I liked it better than I thought, but it was still a bit too sweet and the flavor a bit too strong for my taste. Still, I'm glad I tried it!
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| Beautiful fresh cherries in Monreale! |
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