Visiting Syracuse and staying at the Residenze dello Scirocco, refined apartments located on the seafront of Ortigia, or at Casa Delo, you can discover Syracuse’s culinary tradition: a mix of flavours from all over the world.
It is no mystery that Sicilian cuisine is among the best in Italy: moreover, Sicilian culinary tradition is influenced by the people who have subjected it, from Greeks, Arabs and Normans to Spaniards and North Africans.
Add to this a wealth of ingredients that are the fruit of a fertile land and a swarming sea.
Fish and seafood, therefore, are superb – especially tuna, sardines, clams, anchovies, swordfish and shrimp – and often better than meat.
Vegetables like eggplant often take the place of meat (once too expensive for many Sicilians) in pasta and other dishes, which are enriched with raisins, capers, herbs, seeds and garlic.
Beans and legumes such as broad beans, lentils and chickpeas are common, as are Bronte pistachios on Etna and citrus fruits.
Sicilian wines
One of the most important aspects of a gastronomic trip to Sicily is to be able to taste wines with a strong character and well-structured as a result of intense wine production.
The traditional Sicilian white grapes (grillo, inzolia, grecanico) were matched with chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and occasional viognier. More or less the same happened with the reds: the black of Avola similar to syrah, was combined with merlot, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon.
Lolli no Maccu
One of the typical dishes of Syracuse are the lolli no maccu, it is a particular format of rolled pasta that is served with a sauce made from broad beans reduced to cream which is called maccu because the broad beans must not be blended but crushed by hand to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Fish soup, photo by lacucinaitaliana
Syracusan fish soup
Visiting Syracuse you can not miss a beautiful dish of Syracusan fish soup, in dialect “a matalotta“, which is made with the classic fish broth such as redfish, mullet, pheasant fish cooked with capers and white wine..
Tuna “alla ghiotta”
Another typical Syracusan dish is the tuna “alla ghiotta” which, as the name suggests, is a very tasty dish very simple to prepare that requires that the tuna is cooked together with potatoes, peppers and aubergines.
Cavateddi with roe, photo by checucino
Cavateddi with roe
A really tasty treat for all palates is the cavatelli with roe. This particular type of handmade pasta is seasoned with a tomato and roe sauce that gives it a strong flavor.
The shape of the dough is slightly hollow on the inside, is able to bring out the strong flavors and keep intact the taste and texture of the semolina, ideal with the tomato and enriched by the roe that reminds the flavors of the sea.
