Maggie's Farm

Readers know that we love Italy and Italian cuisine but we do not much care for pasta dishes as Primi - with a handful of exceptions. For one thing, I find tomato sauce to be close to disgusting which might make me a food snob and, for another, I find pasta to be a generally unpleasant experience except in very small amounts.  I deserve some credibility because we have eaten our way through Italy from the Alps to the southern coast of Sicily.

Truth is, the cuisine of the Mezzogiorno is not exactly wonderful. Sicily, unlike southern Italy, is not big on pasta (more couscous and rice), but they make a few pasta Primis that are not bad: alla Norma, con le Sarde, and con Vongole (in order, with eggplant, with fresh Sardines, and with Little clams or cockles.

(The northern Italian pasta Primis I have liked have been Pappardelle con Funghi (only Porcinis)  and alla Bolognese. Given a choice, I'd often prefer a gorgonzola risotto sprinkled with a red wine reduction instead. Or a small bowl of steamed mussels with wine and herbs.)

Reminder: In Italian cooking, Pasta and tons of other things serve as Primi, meant to be small amounts of tasty first courses before the meat or fish Secondi.

When I think of Sicilian food I think first of eggplants, lemons, grilled pork and seafood, and couscous.

Sicily grows lots of eggplant and it is used in lots of their poverty cooking. Many people think alla Norma is wonderful but I think it is just OK, in small amounts.

Here's a recipe. Try it for yourself.