Day 7

Today was by far my most favorite day on the trip thus far. Not only did I get to go on my street food tour but I also go to fly to Rome and start my experience here.

I started the morning at 10:30 standing next to that same pile of dog shit from yesterday. But luckily this time there were 4 other people wandering around the same pile of poop. This pile of poop has become a meeting place. I find it slightly ironic that we begin our tour where our food on the tour will end up, a pile of shit. Not of the dog kind of course, we are not dogs, but none the less. That dog could have eaten arancina a few hours before, you don’t know that.

Our first stop was the Capo market. Easily my favorite place in the city. Here you really get a sense of the daily life of a Sicilian. Everything looked incredibly fresh and locally sourced; we know this because they literally put the place where it came from on the product. I’m not just making things up here.

Those really long things are zucchini and are only found in Sicily. They average about 4–5 feet in length. They are huge. They use the tops and zuchini in a traditional soup called Minestra di cucuzza longa and with the tops they made a soup called minestra di tenerumi.

Those are octopus and squid in the bottom right hand corner.

Huge whole tuna being butchered in front of you.

A very famous take home and cook prepared fish dish, Its sardines wrapped around a filling skewered and separated by bay leaves.

This last one is Spadini. According to my mother my grandfather made the best spadini ever. (Yes we’re sicilian, Yes, I know I dont look it) I made these one time and got in an argument with my mom because she said they separate it with bay leaves. But after doing research on it I could not find anywhere that said this. But here they are separated by bay leaves, in a market in Palermo. So this post is for my mom. Mother, you were right, you are always right.

The first stop on the tour was for cocche and arancini. Now the guide had a funny story about cocche. They are french in origin and came to Sicily under the brief era of french domination. The Sicilians hated the french, but admittedly liked their croquettes. So they decided to called them “cazzilo” which in Sicilian means, you guessed it, “little penis.” My boys in Sicily made fun of the french’s little penis’ and named their food after them. See its bred into me not to like the french, I can’t help it.

Arancine time. Now, arancine are comfort food for me. I grew up with my mom making them for Christmas. However, I did not know they were considered a street food. They are everywhere in Palermo, unlike my house...*cough*…*cough*…Renee. I loved them so much that after the tour I went and got two more at another shop. So in order of best to worst. Meaning close to my moms and terrible in comparison to my moms.

This one was amazing. It was a little different than the traditional in which it also had cheese in it. But that is the way my mom makes them. The are carne di burro. Which is a meat ragu sauce, with mozzarella cheese, and peas.

This one was also pretty good. This one had cheese and ham in it.

This one was not the best. It was still good, but not my favorite.

Then we ate cannoli…in the place they were invented. This cannoli is the holiest of all cannolis. Its like the Pope of cannolis. The pope eats this cannoli and says “holy f*ckin cannoli”.

Then I wanted another cannoli, so I got a much bigger pistachio one that was also outstanding.

Then I flew to Rome. Where I got off the plane, took a cab to my air bnb and was promptly greeted with wine and olives. It was a true family welcome.

For all you wine fans. This was a great white wine. Now I am not a fan of white persé but this was very good.

I then was given a great recommendation to go to this awesome bar called Bar Del Fico where I had some of the best bruschetta (pronounced brew-sket-ah)[ yes, I know, its annoying to find out that Giada DiLaurentis, the hot chick on food network with the massive head, seriously next time look at it, once you notice it you cant unsee it, is right] and pizza of my life.

This was bruschetta with baby San Marzano tomatoes and basil infused olive oil. It was amazing. You have never had tomatoes like this. They were honestly so sweet that it proves the argument tomatoes are fruit. They tasted literally like a fruit.

Quick tip and side note. San Marzano canned tomatoes make an incredible easy sauce. The sauce I make fore everything is as follows. Take a stick of butter and put it in a medium sauce pan on medium heat and let it melt till it starts to brown. Meanwhile take about to cloves of garlic, mince them, then take some kosher salt and kind mash and smear the salt in with the garlic with the back of your knife to make a paste. Once the butter is about to start to brown add in the garlic and cook it a little. Once the butter is browned (not burned it happens quickly) take a can of San Marzano tomatoes and dump them in there. Boom thats it. I add a little salt, pepper, sugar to taste. In the summer when my Dad has fresh basil I throw a handful in there. Super simple and it creates an amazing sauce. Mash the tomatoes up with the back of a spoon or take a hand blender for a smoother sauce. You can use this stuff on anything, pasta, pizza, lasagna.

Okay enough recipes, sorry. Then I ordered a roman style pizza with carpaccio (dry salted beef), arugula, and fresh amazing parmesan. Like this stuff is straight from Parma. I think I saw the guy chiseling it off the wheel and putting it on my pizza.

Now, I know a look a little drunk in this picture. It took awhile for my pizza to come out, and let say I may have had a bottle of wine. WHAT!? I don’t have anyone to split it with me. I also wanted to show you how stretchy the cheese was.

The house wine was also pretty good, a lot more expensive than in Sicily or Spain. But still good. This was closer to a merlot.

I then went on got pretty drunk at a bar at the piazza and watched these Indian guys hawk the shit out of fidget spinners. Those men are great salesmen you cannot take that away from them. Persistence is key.