Lindsay Marie Morris

One of my Sicilian mother's signature dishes is stuffed peppers. But unlike regular Italian stuffed peppers, she loads hers with veggies. It never occurred to me that her style was uniquely Sicilian until I stumbled on Ada Parisi's Sicilian stuffed peppers recipe.

Ada, who was born in Messina, Sicily, blogs at Siciliani Creativi in Cucina from her home base in Rome. 

She recently shared with me memories associated with this dish, what makes her stuffed peppers Sicilian, the recipe's key ingredients, and her serving suggestions. 

 

 

What does this dish remind you of?

Stuffed peppers are a traditional Sicilian recipe, but I cherish the family version I inherited from my great-grandmother. A completely vegetarian version that was prepared at home every summer as soon as the peppers were in season.

 

What makes this recipe Sicilian?

The Sicilian characteristic is certainly the filling, which is not made with minced meat, as in the rest of Italy.

 

What are the key ingredients used in the Sicilian-style stuffed peppers?

The filling is made with a mixture of breadcrumbs, oil, parsley, capers, garlic, grated and chopped cheese. Many also add anchovies, olives, or some chopped tomatoes.

 

Why do you use breadcrumbs?

The use of breadcrumbs in fillings in Sicily is linked to the fact that peasant cuisine was a poor cuisine made of ingredients that farmers always had at home. Nothing was thrown away. Vegetables were stuffed with this old bread seasoned with oil, cheese, and aromatic herbs. Meat or fish were foods for the rich.

 

What do capers add to this dish?

Capers add a very interesting salty note and are typical of Sicilian cuisine (we produce capers in Pantelleria and Salina). Many use salted or oil-preserved anchovies instead of capers, a very common combination with peppers also in northern Italy.

 

If you're vegan or lactose intolerant, can you omit cheese?

Of course, you can omit the cheese and add a larger amount of aromatic herbs.

 

Do the types of peppers matter for this dish?

The most suitable peppers for this recipe are round peppers, usually red, green, or yellow. I think the red ones are the most suitable, but in terms of color, it is nice to use all three.

 

Are there any specific tips for ensuring the stuffed peppers turn out perfectly?

First, you must not spare the extra virgin olive oil because it is the oil that makes the filling soft and fluffy. Then, cook in the oven at a temperature that is not excessively high, 180 degrees Celsius maximum, so that the peppers cook without drying out.

  

How do you typically serve your stuffed peppers?

We usually serve them among the appetizers or as a side dish for meat or fish. In fact, since the filling is carbohydrate-based, they are also an excellent main dish if accompanied by a rich salad.

 

>>Get Ada's Sicilian stuffed peppers recipe here!<<

 

 

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Wheat first arrived in Sicily around the 3rd millennium B.C. Due to its ideal cultivation conditions, the region became known as the Breadbasket of the Roman Empire.

 

By 2021, the island had become Italy's second-largest durum wheat-producing region, with 343,500 hectares under cultivation and a production of 931,800 tons.

 

You may have seen durum on the back of a box of pasta. It's frequently coarsely ground into semolina, a common ingredient in Sicilian bread and pasta. 

 

One of the more popular semolina pastas is cavatelli, also known as cavateddi. This Sicilian version of gnocchi is served with plain red or meaty sauce. I recently caught up with private chef and cooking instructor Antonella La Macchia to learn more about this specialty and what differentiates her cavatelli recipe from typical gnocchi. 

 

 

What is your background?

I was born in Catania, Sicily, and live in Florence, Tuscany. I moved here 23 years ago because I married a Florentine, and I have been teaching cooking classes in Florence for more than 10 years now. 

What is the difference between cavatelli and gnocchi?

It's funny. When people take the class, they usually talk about potatoes and gnocchi because they are the more traditional or famous.

 

If I talk with my mother, gnocchi are completely different. Our gnocchi in Sicily, cavatelli, are made with semolina and water. The dough is very chewy and has a nice consistency. Of course, the flavor is completely different because we have the semolina flour. Also, the sauce that they require is different. Most of the time, Sicilian gnocchi are served with meat sauce because they have this consistency and want a strong sauce.

 

The shape is different because when we make gnocchi, we use a tool called rigagnocchi. You use the board to make a little cavity that holds the sauce. That's the reason why they're called cavatelli.

 

Semolina pasta can also be a little bit trickier than regular pasta. The regular pasta, the pasta from the north—ravioli and tagliatelli—has the classic dough with flour and egg. When we talk about pasta from the south of Italy, from Puglia to Sicily, it's important to balance the right amount of water to obtain the right consistency. This shape is usually made by pushing the pasta on a wooden board with your hand or knife. If the consistency is not perfect, it won't be easy to have the shape of the pasta you want.  

 

Once you have a good dough, you can make the cavatelli with your hands or use the rigagnocchi. It is important to get the right shape because, of course, if this pasta is thicker, it can be pretty chewy.

What makes this recipe Sicilian?

When I teach about pasta, I always say that through the pasta, we can see the difference between the countries. You can see easily that this country was divided for many years, and the food from the north and the south is very different.  

 

When we talk about fresh pasta, the first difference that we can say is that most of the fresh pasta that we find in the north is made with white flour. What makes this pasta really Sicilian for me is the use of semolina and, of course, the sauce. We don't have butter and sage; ours is mostly red, so tomato-based.  

What do you hope the readers will take away from this recipe?

What I like, and I always talk about this during my class, is that at the end of the day, the most important thing is when a recipe becomes yours. It makes the food real and, in a certain way, eternal.

 

>>Get Antonella's Sicilian gnocchi recipe here!<<

 

 

 

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