Sicilian Roots

A little bookshelf roulette drew me to a red spine and then a cover bursting with spring vegetables. So a friend and I set out to make dinner from a new cookbook. A souvenir from a recent trip - Sicily: The Cookbook Recipes Rooted in Tradition by Melissa Muller was the choice. It turns out that this was perfect for a summer evening. To fuel our cooking we had a simple “apero” board featuring fresh figs and an aged Sicilian balsamic vinegar.

Photos by Ann Burzynski

The secret ingredient in both dishes was a handmade garlic paste.

The “Crunchy Caponata” is a bit Ottolenghi-like in its many ingredients. But in the end it’s some dedicated time chopping and then sauteing eggplant, zucchini, celery, onions and peppers. Then you make a simple agrodolge, toast pine nuts, mix and toss.

Crunchy Caponata

Oven-Baked Sea Bream

We couldn’t find sea bream, so settled on red snapper. This recipe bakes the fish and a low temperature (350 degrees). We then made a tomato spread made wth the garlic paste and onions. Muller suggests either a wine, olive liquid base or a potato, tomato, rosemary bed under the fish. We went with the latter.

Below are the final delicious results, served with a crisp Sicilian white. There is a recipe for pistachio ice cream in the book, but we opted for store bought. ;)