AUNTIE PASTA: A Simple Island Salad

SARONNO, Italy - Insalata pantesca is a great, easy to prepare summer salad  original to the Sicilian island of Pantelleria.  

 Rugged Coastline of Pantelleria

It  is just one of the many local dishes you’ll find  on this little island that I have written about in the past. (see http://thisitalianlife.blogspot.it/2012/06/auntie-pasta-sailors-delight.html

 and http://thisitalianlife.blogspot.it/2010/07/auntie-pasta-island-caper.html)  

It’s usually served as a side dish, but there is no reason why it can’t be a great entrée as well. Like most regional dishes there are many variations on the insalta pantesca theme, but  the original recipe is fairly simple. It calls for boiled potatoes, firm ripened tomatoes, green or black olives, capers, oregano and a sweet, red onion that locals call cavuli. 

 Just a Few Simple Ingredients

Some cooks add sun-dried tomatoes or fresh tumma cheese, a soft, unsalted, low-fat cheese typical of the island, while others add sun dried tomatoes, chunks of cold, cooked chicken, tuna fish, any kind of white fish or boiled octopus.  The truth is you can add pretty much whatever you want, there are no hard and fast rules, and this simple island dish becomes a great summer meal no matter where you are.

Easy as I, 2, 3

 Insalata Pantesca

Ingredients

1 glass of red wine vinegar (about 1 cup)

Fresh basil

20 capers from Pantelleria (preserved in salt)

1 sweet red onion

6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Green or black olives

Dried oregano

600 grams new small potatoes

 300 grams of cherry tomatoes (Pachino from Sicily are good)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Wash the unpeeled potatoes and, (1) starting with cold salted water, boil them until they are soft. Actual cooking time depends on the size and number of potatoes used. (2) peel them while they are still warm and (3) cut them into thick slices.

 Peel the onion (4),  slice it into rings and put the onion rings to soak in the wine vinegar (5) for about 30 minutes.  Drain the onion rings (6)  and rinse them under running water.

Wash the cherry tomatoes, cut them in half (7), and gently squeeze them to remove the seeds and excess liquid (8); then put them in a colander cut side down (9)

Put the capers in a small colander and rinse them under running water to remove the excess salt (10). Remove the pits from the black olives (11), (you can use a meat tenderizer or flat knife to pound them and help the pit removing process along). In a large bowl (12) place the cherry tomatoes, the drained onions, the rinsed capers, the pitted olives, the slices of potatoes and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a generous amount of dried oregano, the chopped basil leaves, salt, pepper and a few drops of vinegar. Mix gently and serve. 

Like the locals, you can add sun dried tomatoes, cheese, chunks of cold, cooked chicken, tuna fish, any kind of white fish or boiled octopus to turn this simple dish into a wonderful summer meal.

AUNTIE PASTA: Sailor's Delight

SARONNO, Italy - The volcanic island of Pantelleria, is the largest of all the Sicilian islands. It’s a wild place, only 15 kilometers (9 miles) long in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, closer to Africa than to Italy.  It is a place of contrasts, a place with spectacular beaches, where lush olive groves thrive and dark, rocky volcanic landscapes that make you think you have landed on the moon.

 Beautiful Panelleria

There have been people living on this island since the Bronze Age. Because of its unique position between Africa and Europe, Pantelleria has seen more than its share of sailors as it was the perfect place to stop and rest, and restock their ships. Remember these were ships which traveled by the power of the wind, or if there was no wind, by the power of the men who manned the oars.  

One tribe that came from the sea were the Sesioti. But they didn’t come to Pantelleria to rest, they came to extract a special black stone, Obsidian. This rock-glass material was used to produce sharp-edged knives, cutting tools and arrow points, and was a precious in prehistoric times as gold is today. What the Sesioti left behind were their dome shaped burial tombs, called sesi, a World Heritage treasure which are still there for all to see.

Sesi Prehistoric Burial Tomb found on Pantelleria

 But the strongest influence was left by the Arabs, who arrived in Sicily first in 827. The Berbers of North Africa named the island al Quasayra; the little one, and some still call it that. Other Africans called the island Bent-el-Rion, daughter of the wind. Both names are perfect for Pantelleria as both are true.

GRAPH The Arabs contributed the most to the culture and cuisine of Sicily and it’s islands. You hear their influence still in the Sicilian dialect of today which contains numerous words of Arabic origin. Many of these words have passed from Sicilian into standard Italian, words such as: zaffarana (saffron), sorbetto (sorbet, originally sharbaat), carciofi (artichoke, from al-khurshouf),  zucchero (sugar, from sukkar), and coucous (kuskusu). 

 Sicilian Couscous Festival

Couscous is the perfect mate for whatever meat or vegetables are available, or as the Italians say, it marries well with many things. Being an island in the Mediterranean Sea, it’s logical that the couscous served in Pantelleria is most often paired with fish. In the past, couscous was a staple of everyday life on the island, but today it has moved from the fisherman’s table to the most elegant of restaurants.

Here’s a recipe I found in an old Italian cooking magazine. Give it a try, or use it as a starting point for your own couscous creation.

Fish Couscous

Cuscus alla Pantesca

Ingredients for 4-6 people

320 grams cuscus (precooked)

600 grams mussels

600 grams red snapper (or any similar fish)

400 grams shrimp

250 grams tomatoes

2 onions

1 hot red pepper

1 garlic clove

Extra virgin olive oil

Small bunch of rucola

Salt

Clean the mussels and heat them in a casserole dish or pan until they open.

Then filter the juice and set aside. Peel the tomatoes by first dipping them in boiling water for a half a minute, then remove the seeds and rough chop.

This recipe calls for cleaning the whole fish, but it’s a lot easier if you buy fish that is already clean.

Peel the shrimp.

Finely chop the onions and garlic and fry them along with the hot pepper in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for 4-5 minutes. Then add the chopped tomatoes, and after 5 minutes add the juice you reserved from the mussels and 1 liter of water.

Bring that to a soft boil and add the red snapper, and let it simmer until cooked (about 10 minutes), adding the peeled shrimp about two minutes before you take the pan off the heat.

You can also add fried eggplant, zucchini or a handful of peas to this mix if you want.

In the meantime, prepare the couscous. Calculate 1 glass of water for each glass of couscous (or 1 cup water for 1 cup couscous).  Bring the amount of water you need to a boil, add salt, and then pour it over the couscous, turn off the heat and let sit for 8 minutes. When the couscous has absorbed the water, mix it with  a fork and add a little of the broth the fish had been cooked in. Serve the couscous with the fish and seafood and garnish with the rucola.