Home Cooking In Sicilia

 'Tis finally here. The long promised gastronomical post. Or I should say the rather incomplete gastronomic post. Sadly for some reason, I simply can't remember to take pictures of things. Sometimes I forget altogether. Sometimes I start taking pictures and then stop in the middle. Sometimes I take pictures through out, only to forget the final plating shot until we've eaten half of it. 

So that's what you're getting. The sort of half-eaten, half cooked gastronomic post.

This trip has been all about living in Cefalú. Back in Albuquerque, always cook at home, eating out only on the rare occasion. Our experiment here is to see how we might 'live' in a place like this. So our daily eating is about our own cooking. HOWEVER, there are some BIG differences. One is our change in life pattern so we are eating our big meal in the afternoon always. A second is (to some degree) emulating the Italian practice of buying what you are going to cook, the day you cook it. A third is taking advantage of the incredible quality of food ingredient here to cook in a simple style that highlights the ingredients.

So let us move on the Most Incomplete Food Post Ever

Basics

Each afternoon after the big lunch and the nap comes the double espresso before my afternoon and evening of work

This is what it is all about. The ingredients.

Italian Design

We see it all through the apartment we are in. But in a pizza box?

Why is this so special?

Because the bottom is designed to hold the top so you have self-stacking pizza trays! How cool is that?

Dealing with the ingredient.

I remember reading in a Saveur magazine article about how the Italians didn't believe in al dente vegetables, how they believed that really cooking them brought out the best. I was always skeptical about that until I bought this celery.

I had tried it as a stir-fry and in a salad and it was tough as could be. Then I remember a Julia Child preparation of braised celery. We don't usually think of celery as a cooked vegetable in the US.

Saute onions

Create a braising liquid using magical, totally chemical flavor cubes which you find in every supermarket here (how this is reconciled with 'everything else fresh' thing, I have no idea. I just know they work really damn well).

Add garlic to the braising broth. By not sauteing it, the flavor is more intense

Next add your celery and braise, forgetting to take anymore pictures until you have served and half eaten it.

Now if I had had my act even a third together, I would have gone through the whole making my own breadcrumbs and frying this delectable flounder. But coming back to the braised celery, IT WAS FREAKING UNBELIEVABLE! So tender, sweet, full of the braising liquid flavor. You can bet I will do this again.

Beef Stew Rice Dish

I am not sure how I exactly came upon this idea but I have found braising meat here is always good because there is so much flavor. In this case though, I used the finished stew to cook rice in making a one-pot rice/meat/vegetable dish.

Onions and garlic sauteed, now the meat goes in to brown.

 

Steam meat with herbs (thyme and sage in this case)

Add water, magic flavor cube and some soy sauce

Cook until meat is tender. Now let it rest until the following day.

On day two, skim off the fat. Heat. Add enough water to cook the rice you will add. Add vegetables (in this case some cauliflower, the leftover celery, and some cooked golden bell pepper.). Add your rice and cook as with any rice dish.

Don't take ANY pictures during this whole process. That would be too informative.

But at least get some pictures of the end product.

It tasted GREAT!

As a finale to our foodie post, Wife and I took our first baby steps to figuring out how to order pastry and coffee at a local cafe. We got the pastry part right. Still need to figure out the coffee and being served part.