Pasta for Beginners
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A TICKET TO THE CHIANTI REGION of TastesTHE BEST IN ITALIAN COOKING ItaliaJUNE 2016 Pasta for Beginners Spas Italian Style Sicily’s Magical Taormina Celebrating Cinque Terre U.S. and CANADA $5.95 SICILY MAGICAL TAORMINA Natural beauty, a rich past, and outstanding cuisine make this ancient Sicilian city that overlooks the Ionian Sea a must-stop for travelers. by Lauren Birmingham Piscitelli 50 MAY / JUNE 2016 • TASTES OF ITALIA CHURCH OF ST. NICOLO stands on the hill in Savoca, a small village near Taormina. TASTES OF ITALIA • MAY / JUNE 2016 51 SICILY Corso Umberto I is the pedestrian street that named a piazza after. Goethe once wrote, “To food loving passion caused him to dance winds its way through the center of Sicily’s have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is acrobatics all over the stage. Taormina, which sits between Messina and not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the Chef Mimo explains that Sicily has a mild Catania. Spilling with cafés, food shops, wine clue to everything.” He also wrote Italian climate, even during winter when oranges, bars and artisan workshops, it is bustling to- Journey in 1817. This book is a true tell-tale of lemons, and aromatic plants such as oregano, day. Even though this seaside town overlooks his intellectual experiences in the Kingdom of mint, rosemary, and wild fennel grow in the Gulf of Naxos, it’s a steamy 89°F today the Two Sicilies. There were also many other abundance. “Our cuisine is a melting pot and without a sea breeze in the sky. great artists who were seduced by Taormina. with its Arabic influence,” he says. My husband Rino and I arrived early this British writer D.H. Lawrence stayed for an He picks up small Sicilian eggplants and morning from Calabria, taking the old road extended period of time while he wrote Sea says, “We call them Chinese, because it was from Scalea and onto Castrovillari, Cozenza, and Sardinia. Americans Truman Capote, the Chinese who carried them here so many Lamezia Terme, Vibo Valentia and San Tennessee Williams and Greta Garbo came years ago. Cinnamon, cloves, pistachios and Giovanni. It was a three-day journey with and went often. Irish writer Oscar Wilde, saron blended their way into our cooking two overnights along the way, but Rino is a French artist Jean Cocteau and Italian style, thanks to the Arabs. For example, former race car driver and knows these roads American Francis Ford Coppola made it their macaroni or mukaran (in Arabic) are long by heart. At San Giovanni, we put the car home for extended stays. strands of pasta made from durum wheat on the ferry, cross the strait of Messina, and At one point Sicily was not part of Italy, flour. This pasta is cooked with fish, raisins, arrive in no time. and was called The Kingdom of the Two pine nuts and saron; it has Arab-Berber From Messina it’s another 40 minutes to Sicilies. It was once the largest of states before origins.” He speaks quickly in a passionate Taormina. We approach the ancient city set Italy was unified and included the Kingdom Sicilian accent. on Mount Tauro overlooking the Ionian Sea of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples. The Arancini, the savory rice balls fried to a and are welcomed by ancient walls where no arrangement of the states lasted from 1816 to crisp and left with a moist center, are also cars are allowed. Like all places in Sicily, it 1860 when it was included with the Kingdom Arabic in origin. Stued with peas, cheese has a rich and interesting past with invaders, of Sardinia. Italy was unified in 1861. and sometimes ham or meat, they are made dukes and noblemen who came and left their Peppered with medieval churches, a stun- throughout Sicily. Arabs also contributed to mark. First there were the Arabs, Normans, ning Greek theater and distant-past palazzos, the great pastries we know of today as Sicil- Angevins and then Aragons, to name a few. Taormina is also noted for its cuisine. Today, ian, using almonds, pistachio, cinnamon and But it is its natural beauty and stunning its mystical past blended with Arab influ- ricotta cheese. Although there are infinite aerial position that has made Taormina a ence continues to shadow its cuisine. To learn stories behind Sicilian desserts, the one that I must-stop on travelers’ maps. more about the magic spell that has been cast like the most is the one about Sicilian cassata. Like all places of beauty, Taormina was discovered by the artists and intellectual types. Among the first was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Others seduced by it include British writer D.H. Lawrence and Americans Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Greta Garbo, as well as Irish writer Oscar Wilde, French artist Jean Cocteau and Italian-American Francis Ford Coppola. Taormina is part of Sicily’s rich past. His- upon so many travelers, we are spending the The cassata is said to have been introduced tory books tell us that Sicily was first inhab- day with our friend, Chef Mimo, who has his in the ninth century when the Arabs intro- ited by the Phoenicians and Greeks, then own restaurant. duced cane sugar, almonds, cedar, lemon, evolved into a prosperous area under the We meet Chef Mimo at the produce orange and mandarin to the people in Pal- ruler Gelon II, who was also Greek. Then market at the Arch of Porta Messina, and ermo. Then, when the Spaniards arrived in the Romans took command for a short time, after exchanging greetings, we head inside. Sicliy and ruled, they brought chocolate and until they were conquered by the Normans in We peruse the stalls and start to shop for the their famous sponge cake. They quickly incor- 1087. Fast-forward to the eighteenth century ingredients that we’ll later use in the kitchen. porated these two ingredients in the cassata when the European aristocrat invasion oc- Crates, baskets and wooden counters are recipe, adding ricotta, and the dessert curred during the Grand Tour. Like all places piled high with artichokes, eggplant and evolved again. It didn’t stop there, because of beauty, Taormina was discovered by the Sicilian mandarins. Sellers shout out, some when the Baroque period arrived, this deca- artists and intellectual types. Among the first singing and waving their hands, enticing dent cake was decorated with candied fruit, was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. you to shop at their stand. It all looks more leaving us with the cassata that we know of Goethe was a German writer and like a Commedia dell’arte siciliana, a Sicilian today. statesman, whom the Taorminese even theatre comedy starring Peppe Nappa, whose “I am from Catania,” says Chef Mimo, who 52 MAY / JUNE 2016 • TASTES OF ITALIA SIGNOR ZAZA, a Sicilian connolo maker, offers samples of his creations. TASTES OF ITALIA • MAY / JUNE 2016 53 SICILY FOG LIFTS OVER TAORMINA, which has a typical Mediter- ranean climate of mild win- ters and warm, dry summers. has also lived in Sardinia, Spain and Eng- women, I followed my calling. My mamma al sugo, carne al sugo, la lasagna e pasta al land. and nonna taught me the love we have for forno, everything made in the traditional “But I cook very traditional foods from my the family must always be transmitted to the way,” he says. He opens his wallet and shows region, which I now consider Catanese and kitchen,” he says. me a photo of his nonna. “I cook my lasagna Taorminese. I returned to Sicily because it’s “At 14, I was still in school and studying, in my wood-burning brick oven, the same the most beautiful place in the world—rich but I started to work in a local trattoria in the oven where the pizza is made. The burn- in scent, colors and tastes,” he says. Now the prep kitchen. It was a little job, but I learned. ing wood adds a rich flavor. It’s the same for chef in his own restaurant, he shares how he After I knew how to prep I changed restau- the carne al sugo or ragù. My nonna always got there. rants and began working with a pizzaiolo. I added a little pork skin in the sauce, not only “Everything started in the kitchen with my trained, learning every aspect of pizza mak- because it completely changes the taste mak- mamma, Silvana, and nonna, Grazia. They ing,” he says. After this experience he con- ing it richer, but it tenderizes all the other are the leaders of our family—always avail- tinued his schooling and also his hands-on pieces of meat in the pan. Tricks of la nonna able to listen and help. When I was little we experience in a 5-star hotel as a chef in Sar- we don’t learn in culinary school,” he says. did not start our day with the typical Italian dinia, where everything was made by hand. He quickly swings from meats and rich breakfast pastry, cornetti. Instead, we woke Turning the conversation back to the pres- sauces to delicate light fish as we leave the to the ragù of my nonna. I took my inspira- ent, I ask Mimo about his first and second meat section of the market and head to the tion from them. Family is so important in courses, which I know are his favorite. bancarelle di pesci, ice beds piled with daily our Italian culture, and thanks to these two “I make everything my nonna made: pasta catches.