Sfincione and a quick dinner

I spent the day in Palermo on Tuesday doing some shopping and walking around the city. I got a quick lunch at a panificio near Teatro Massimo that has really good sfincione. Traditional sfincione is thick focaccia bread topped with a little tomato sauce, onion, anchovy and maybe some grated cheese (usually caciocavallo). Some bread shops make more than just one type and the toppings can vary widely. It's very basic Sicilian street food and you really can't go wrong ordering it. It's also served a lot in bars as an accompaniment with a cocktail during aperitivo time. They usually cut it up into small squares and you can munch on it with your negroni before dinner. This is one of my favorite things about living in Sicily: the overwhelming presence of well made negronis and salty snacks before dinner...

Most sfincione I've had in Sicily is good, in fact, I can't EVER remember having a bad one, but some bakeries just do it better than others and this place is one of them. I walked in with my heart set on a slice with prosciutto, arugula and parmigiano...but they were all out. I settled for olive and tuna and found a bench in a little square about a block from the shop. The focaccia was dressed with a very light coating of tomato paste, olives, tuna, mozzarella and a few leaves of parsley. Perfect.

I got home late that night and Scott had been to the market already to buy some things for dinner: bread, fennel, carrots, thinly sliced chicken breasts and a bottle of wine. Side note here: clearly, Scott purchased this chicken because I hardly ever buy chicken breasts. I'm much more of a thigh girl. Braised chicken thighs are my favorite. I'm getting hungry for it right now as I type this.

Back to Tuesday night: we were hungry, it was getting a little late and we didn't feel like messing with a lot of things in the kitchen. I turned on the oven, scrambled an egg, got some breadcrumbs out of the freezer and drizzled some olive oil on a sheet pan. The chicken was dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs and placed on the pan, I drizzled the top of it with a little more oil and then it went into the hot oven for about 15 minutes. While the chicken was in the oven Scott made a fennel salad: thin slices of fennel, shreds of carrots, golden raisins, parsley, a pinch of cumin and a splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar. We also whisked together a little sulla honey and dijon mustard as a super quick and seriously tasty sauce for the chicken. Think of it as a healthier version of chicken fingers with honey mustard. There's also the added bonus of having less to clean up after dinner and you can't beat that.

We finished off the meal with a ridiculous amount of camembert and bread - which of course cancelled out the lower calorie version of the chicken. Whatever - I am who I am and that means I will probably never turn down an oozing piece of camembert on crusty bread. I refuse to apologize for that!

Soup season is upon us

The weather here lately has left much to be desired. Lots of rain and dark skies. It even got cold enough last week for me to start wearing a jacket outside. Luckily, I've been keeping up with my knitting and I have an assortment of scarves ready to be worn. I guess it's only a matter of time before my borsa dell'acqua calda makes an appeance tucked between the sheets in our bed.

I actually love cold weather, when I'm at home in Philly, that is. I think that part of the fun of winter time is warming yourself up with a glass of red wine and a hot bowl of soup. And for me a fleece blanket, a hot water bag and comfy ugg boots. You won't believe it, but last winter here felt colder to me than any winter I've spent at home in recent years. I think it was a combination of things: we don't have heat in our apartment, my lack of proper winter clothing, proximity to the sea putting a serious chill in the air and distance from family and friends.

Making soup is comforting and wonderful on so many levels. It's economical, a great way to use up things in the fridge, you can make a huge pot of it and have meals for a week, it warms you up and it makes a house smell like a home. It just makes me smile.

Last week I did Tomato Potato soup, Scott's Grandfather gave us his recipe last year. It's super easy and delicious: diced potatoes, a couple cans of diced tomatoes and chicken stock (I also add an obscene amount of garlic and thyme to this, not part of the original recipe). The best part: caramelize a mess of onions and then add that to the pot before you serve it. Incredibly simple and really, really good with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on the side.

This week was Spicy Carrot Ginger soup. Not much to it: carrots, a lot of garlic (I have a problem), ginger, celery, onion, red pepper, salt, cumin and vegetable stock. Would it have been even better with a little cream added? Of course, but I didn't have any, it was raining and I was determined to ONLY make this soup with what was in my kitchen. We had it for dinner (and lunch for the next 2 days) with bread, asiago, salame and a few arancine I made with some porcini risotto that was hanging out in the fridge from a previous dinner. All in all a good use of what I had on hand. Cream Shream, who needs it.