A conversation with my nephew the other day reminded me that not everyone has been exposed to the kind of food that I was growing up. I take it for granted now that everyone enjoys burrata or harissa, and why not? They seem to be ubiquitous and are now available at every grocery store. But Americans tend to enjoy the things that are most familiar to their own cultures – whether regionally or from our unique heritages. My nephew, for example, is Irish and German, but he has a taste for Italian food that makes me very happy. Unlike my nephew though, I didn’t come by my tastes naturally, but rather was somewhat forced into it by an ever-eager group of relatives, particularly my mom, who were interested in making sure I knew about my family and the introduction was through food.
My mom is 100% Sicilian. Back in the day, immigrants usually found people from their regions here in the U.S. and cleaved closely to those like themselves. This was particularly true of Sicilians, who were often viewed as culturally backward and suspect. Even within my own family, my father had a lack of interest in traveling to Sicily because members of his own Italian family (they were from Campania) looked down on the island and its people. Naturally, the movies and TV shows featuring gangsters and mafia did not help with the image of my mother’s heritage and led to some unjustifiable fear.
For my part, I thought the food was weird. It seemed to be all eggplant and I was not very interested in that growing up. My mom was always trying to ply us with caponata, a dish consisting of fried eggplant and other vegetables and seasoned with celery, olives, and capers in what is called an agrodolce sauce (sour and sweet). It is delicious of course, but I wasn’t interested as a kid in having it in my lunch bag where I found it at the lunch table once during school with friends and was teased mercilessly for days about my strange food!
I much preferred the desserts! Cannoli was a regular treat, and my birthday cake was usually a cassata, which some believe has its roots in fourteenth century Arab culture. It contains candied fruits, citrus liqueur, and a glazing of chocolate with almond marzipan. No mere chocolate cake for me! My mom also made a version of lime granita, which was very simplistic in its preparation. She would always scrape the icy mixture into a bowl on hot summer days and I thought it was the best thing I ever ate!
Dinner was a different story. My mom always made something special on Sundays. I can recall being woken from a deep slumber by the scent of delicious aromas. Usually, some kind of braised meat cooking until tender in a tomato sauce like braciola, usually made of beef with stuffing made of pine nuts (if she was feeling frivolous, since they were expensive) or lemon zest with herbs and spinach. This was usually my favorite, but sometimes we had pasta made with tomatoes, eggplant, and basil – alla Norma style, clearly. Always with rigatoni. To this day, I don’t make rigatoni since apparently my dad only liked to eat it because he felt spaghetti was “messy.” No such concerns in my house – bring on the messy strands of noodles!
Most of the time though, my mom made traditional Italian American food, although always something challenging like homemade pasta, gnocchi, or ravioli. Those were my favorite days since I usually got involved in helping make everything.
As I’ve grown older, I have started to appreciate the diversity of my heritage and the influences that Sicily has on my own approach to food. It’s an island after all that sits at the heart of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Africa. It is no surprise at all that I enjoy diverse cuisines given my early exposure to these kinds of foods growing up. Sicily’s history is extremely complex – it has been occupied by the Romans, Normans, Spaniards, French and Greeks. Each occupation left a little of each civilization’s culture. To me, the Arab culture is what makes it so unique. This influence is particularly seen in so much of the food from saffron, pistachio, oranges, pomegranate, and almonds. Sometimes you will see couscous in some of the dishes, although quite honestly, I don’t make this very much since my son Ryan grew tired of it when I “overdid” it for a few months, and he said he would not eat it again! Maybe I can “reintroduce” couscous this Fall and see if he remembers it.
It should bear mention that Sicily has amazing seafood. Helping my mom clean inky squid and fresh sardines as a kid did not deter me from enjoying them. One thing neither my mom nor I are particularly fond of is swordfish, which figures heavily into many menus in Sicily. It’s something about the texture. But give me tuna and prawns any day and I will be happy. The thing about food is you don’t have to eat it all – make what you enjoy and try it all!
What I have learned about my Sicilian heritage is that there are many contradictions. My family members could be simple in their tastes, but in other ways complex and robust. This applies to the food as well. There is not a place on earth that is richer or more diverse culturally. I am very proud of where my family is from and the effort they made to make sure my sister and I were immersed in their culture from the very beginning. I hope that my children will someday be as interested in what they have learned and share their knowledge with their families as we continue to do.
I did want to share a recipe that offers some insight into this fabulous regional Italian cuisine. One that immediately comes to mind is cold green bean salad. My mom never served warm green beans. I didn’t even know they could be served hot! They are a summer vegetable and she enjoyed them cold on a hot day in a vinegar preparation. I share the recipe below. I recently served them to my mom for dinner and she remarked that they tasted just like what she used to give us. That was a big compliment!
Green Bean Salad
Ingredients
16 oz. green beans, trimmed
Handful of sliced almonds
1 small orange peeled and trimmed with pith removed and sectioned
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
½ tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. golden raisins
1 shallot or small red onion chopped finely
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
1. Cook the green beans in boiling water until tender. Drain immediately and place under cold water with a few ice cubes to stop the cooking. Drain the green beans and place in the fridge for the time being.
2. Toast the sliced almonds briefly in a dry pan until they are slightly brown and remove from the heat.
3. Segment the orange and capture any juice for the dressing.
4. Whisk together the vinegar, any leftover orange juice, olive oil and sugar and season with salt and pepper.
5. To serve, place the green beans in a salad bowl. Spoon over the whisked salad dressing and mix well. Stir in the raisins and shallot/onion. Sprinkle over the almonds and orange segments. Serve.
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