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December/Januar y 2023 XIV MAGAZINE From its flour, local housewives and pasta makers produce Busiate, a type of pasta that, for some decades now, has become a symbol of the island, just like orecchiette for Apulia. Originally from Trapani, handmade in Modica, Busiate is a fresh, handmade pasta that is twisted around a long iron and then slowly dried at a low temperature; its format is somewhat reminiscent of fusillo. ‘Among our first courses there is no shortage of Busiate, an iconic dish that we can’t remove from our menu because customers won’t let us,’ the Palermo-born chef proudly points out, ‘to which we add black cavatelli in sea sauce and urchin foam. It is a short pasta, handmade with durum wheat semolina from Ragusa, kneaded with water and squid ink that I season with red prawns, squid, thinly sliced and with an emulsion of cream of sea urchin and olive oil, foam that somewhat dampens the strong flavour of the sea urchin’. FROM SEA TO LAND When one speaks of Pachino tomatoes , it is inevitable not to associate the product with Sicily. It is a variety that takes its name from the place where it is grown, Pachino, a town located at the southernmost tip of the eastern part of the island, in the province of Syracuse, a small area where factors such as soil, light, temperature and water make the fruit unique in both taste and texture (see box). Pachino tomatoes have recently been awarded the PGI quality mark. There is no shortage of other tomato varieties on the island. The Siccagno is unique, very fragrant and tasty and does not need much water; in fact, it is mainly cultivated in the Valle d’Olmo, a very arid area close to Palermo. Despite high temperatures and drought, the island is rich in pastures, sheep, pigs and goats, which have a positive impact on the Sicilian livestock economy. The indigenous breed of the Nebrodi and Madonie Mountains, the Nebrodi black swine , better known to the locals as ‘u porcu nivuru’, is special. Rich in unsaturated fats, its meat is delicious, with a sweet flavour, very delicate due to both the mountainous locations where it lives in the wild and the food the animal eats. The Nebrodi pig prosciutto, which recently obtained PDO recognition, is also highly prized. CHEESE AND CHEESE DERIVATIVES If Sicily is a land of flocks and pastures, it is inevitably also a land of cheese and its derivatives. Among them, the Pecorino Siciliano PDO, which is the cheese that unites all the Sicilian provinces. Its origins date back to the 9th century B.C., which allows us to call it the oldest cheese on the island and perhaps even in the whole country. Sicilian pecorino is produced in Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Enna and Caltanissetta. With a semi-cooked paste, it is obtained from the raw whole milk of the Pinzirita , Valle del Belice and Comisana breeds of sheep . It is cylindrical in shape, with a compact white or straw-coloured consistency and a slightly spicy taste, thanks to the peppercorns that are inserted during processing. Also in the dairy sector, Ragusano PDO cheese is in the top ten of Sicilian products. Unlike Sicilian Pecorino , Ragusano is produced with whole, raw cow’s milk from farms in the province of Ragusa and the municipalities of Noto, Palazzo Acreide and Rosolini in the province of Syracuse. In this part of Italy even desserts have their own identity, so strong that many of them have managed to cross the borders of Sicily; some examples: the cannolo, cassata, brioche stuffed with ice cream and coffee granita. ICING ON THE CAKE The absolute must-have ingredients in Sicilian pastry shops are pistachios and almonds. Pistacchio di Bronte PDO, is the most prized variety, grown in Bronte in the province of Catania, a town on the slopes of Mount Etna. Renowned all over the world, the Bronte Pistachio is also called the green gold of Sicily, both for its virtues, because it is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, vitamin C and E (as well as possessing potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium), and for its decidedly high cost, around 50 euros per kg. And if Bronte holds the record for its pistachios, the town of Avola, in the Syracuse area, holds it for its almonds. Although there are many varieties of almonds in Sicily, the Avola variety is the most prized, both for its flavour and its organoleptic characteristics, rich in unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, iron and antioxidants. Introduced into the Avola countryside in the mid-19th century, it immediately found the right soil and climate to grow. Also known by the name Pizzuta d’Avola or Avola scelta , with its wide, flat ellipse shape, red colour and aromatic flavour, it is also highly prized by confectionery companies. And as is usually the case, our food and wine tour always ends with the desserts of the places where we land. In this issue, however, talking about Sicilian pastries would be an arduous task because here the desserts are so many and so rich in history: one would inevitably risk being didactic. So to avoid this danger, we asked the starred chef of Bye Bye Blues - the restaurant that was the first in Palermo to include a dessert menu in ‘91 - to tell us about a dessert she particularly cares about. Patrizia Di Benedetto says: ‘Among my desserts, the one I am most fond of is the ricotta semifreddo, served in a sponge cake shell with bitter orange marmalade. With this dessert, I won the Espresso Guide’s award as best restaurant pastry chef’. AT PAGE 50 PRODUCTS Pachino tomatoes The Pachino PGI tomato has four types: Tondo Liscio, Costoluto, Plum and Miniplum, Cherry or Ciliegino. It can be grown both in greenhouses and in covered tunnels. Transplanting takes place in August-February, except for the Cherry and Plum and Miniplum varieties for which it can be done all year