Thursday, November 5, 2009

the sicilian kitchen

Have just read a wonderful book called the sicilian kichen by michele di bartolo. Its the story of an italian family that had immigrated to australia in the late 50's, told through the eyes of their grandaughter michele who grew up in the inner city of Brisbane surrounded by her family and italian friends. She was raised with traditional italian values passed on from her nonna along with her wonderful recipes which she interspersed throughout the book. It begins with sarsa semplice, the foundation of many fabulous dishes, the simple red sauce for pasta combined with a generous helping of parmesan-italian of course, which is delicious. It ends with the tradional family gathering at christmas, full of fabulous food and sicilian love. Ahhh family what would we do without them!

Here's my own salsa italiana:
One medium onion diced
3-4 cloves garlic chopped finely
good smoked kassler or salami about 100g
3-4 ripe tomatoes diced roughly or one can of tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato paste reconstituted with about half cup water
handful of basil and oregano
a good splash of red wine

lighlty cook the onions until soft then add garlic and kassler or salami cook for a couple of minutes then add the tomatoes, wine and herbs, add extra paste if needed for thicker sauce and simmer for at least half an hour for flavours to infuse. Serve over your favourite pasta with loads of good parmesan, buono appetito!

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