During a holiday at Hotel Mamma Santina, located in Santa Marina Salina, in the Aeolian Islands, in the province of Messina, Sicily, you can taste fish, wild herbs and cheese in the tradition of the Aeolian Islands, in Sicily.
Goat cheese of Vulcano
Goat cheese in the Aeolian Islands is still made with traditional methods in rush baskets. There are few farmers who follow these methods, making an important contribution to spread and keep alive the flavors of the past. Depending on the maturation period we can find fresh toma, cheese first salt, second salt and seasoned cheese. The seasoned Vulcano goat cheese is flavored with black pepper or chilli pepper and has a spicy and definite flavor. Perfect for seasoning the first dishes.
Sicilian pesto, photo duespaghetti
Sicilian pesto
Sicilian Pesto is a dressing made from basil, but unlike Pesto of Genoa, they use fresh goat cheese and add some cherry tomatoes. The pesto has a creamy look and pink color, great to taste with fresh pasta. Another version used in Sicily is pesto with aromatic herbs. They can add up to 18 erbs for an inimitable taste. The herb pesto is born from poor needs when they used to harvest spontaneous herbs and today we can still find several variants. We can not find a pesto like another for the quality and amount of herbs used that may vary each time. Basil, mint, sage, parsley, marjoram, oregano are among the most used herbs in Sicily, try it on fresh pasta or bruschetta. In the Aeolian pesto there are also rapuddi (wild cabbage), fennel, borage and spinach.
Anchovies Parmigiana
Anchovies Parmigiana is an excellent alternative to the eggplant parmigiana, both dishes much loved in Sicily. On vacation at the Aeolian Islands you have to try a fish dish and the anchovies are a key ingredient of Sicilian cuisine. In this recipe, clean, ground, and fried anchovies are overlaid alternating with tomato sauce. You can add pecorino cheese as you like. Sicilian anchovies are prepared instead as an appetizer. In this case they create cakes with anchovies stuffed with breadcrumbs, parsley, pecorino cheese and cherry tomatoes.
Anchovies Parmigiana, photo ricettedonnamoderna
Rapuddi and mussels soap
The rapuddi and mussels soap is a dish of poor origin. The “rapuddi” are wild sprouts that grow spontaneously in the countryside. They are often found near vineyards or fields, and for a long time they have been used as a vegetable dish with beans, eggs or pasta. Today we can enjoy this ancient and simple recipe combined with mussels, or other types of fish such as swordfish or yellowtail fish, all of them great traditional ingredients of Sicilian cuisine.
