Sicilian dishes

Pistacchio pesto- Made with Pistachios, basil, garlic, pine nuts(optional), parmigiano reggio cheese and olive oil. Grind the Pistachios and pine nuts with a mortar and pestle, add in chopped basil and parmagiano and about a tablespoon of olive oil depending on the consistency you're aiming for. Simple and dilizziusu! serve the pesto with bread! If you noticed that there's no measurements with this recipe, bravo! you can add as much or as little of the ingredients as you want, if you want it more creamier, add a little more olive oil and cheese, if you want it crunchier, add more pistachio and pine nuts, that's the beauty of Sicilian cuisine, we tweak our recipes to fit our mood, È beddu!

Italian cheese blend, grated.

Parmigiano Reggiano, Romano, Asiago, Pecorino, Provolone, Pecorino Siciliano if you can find it, and Tuma cheese if you can also find it. Grate all of it and mix it all into a zip lock bag.

Sauce- Sarsa Sicilianu. Canned tomatoes- Cento, if you can find the Cento with San Marzano tomatoes, also use Tuttorosso tomatoes, use both and use 6 cans total, use crushed tomatoes for this sauce but if you can only find the Cento San Marzano in the peeled version, just blend the peeled tomatoes in a blender first. Cento and Tuttorosso are two of the best tasting and easily found canned tomato brands so we always use those but the choice is totally yours.

In a large sauce pot, add all canned tomatoes and turn heat on low. I never measure ingredients but i'll give ball park estimates of the amounts i think i use in sprinkles.

Onion- could use both powder which i would be generous with, roughly 8 sprinkles of powder, you can use minced onion freshly chopped too, if you use fresh onion too, don't use as much powder.

Garlic- for powder, the same as onion powder (8 sprinkles), or you can use minced garlic from a jar or fresh cloves, 

Turmeric- 2 sprinkles

Curry powder- 2 sprinkles.

Cumin- 5 sprinkles, i love Cumin but it can be over powering if too much is use so don't use more that 3 to 5 sprinkles.

Lemon pepper- 6 sprinkles.

Celery seed or salt or both, 3 to 4 sprinkles.

Cayenne pepper- 2 to 3 sprinkles.

Oregano- 5 sprinkles. Most people don't like oregano in their sauce but they either don't use the right amount i.e too much or just don't know how use the right amount so it's not over powering.

Parsley- 7 sprinkles.

Marjoram- 5 sprinkles.

Thyme- 3 sprinkles.

Rosemary- 4 sprinkles.

dried dill weed- 5 sprinkles.

Basil- use dried whole leaf or fresh whole leaf, for fresh whole leaf drop 5 to 6 single leafs, if using dried store bought, use about 8 to 10 sprinkles.

Filippo Berio extra virgin olive oil- 4 Tablespoons.

Alessi white balsamic vinegar and Flora balsamic vinegar of Modena- 4 Tablespoons.

 Soffritto tomato base preparation- Chop in to small pieces, an onion, a carrot, a celery stalk, 2 cloves of garlic, green and red bell peppers, slowly cook this on low heat in butter or olive oil(extra virgin), add in tomato paste to thicken it while still on low heat, if too thick, add a small amount of vinegar so it's the consistency of a relish. When finished, add to pot of sauce.

Cook sarsa Sicilianu for at least 4 hours! Use on pasta dishes, pizza, calzones, chicken parm, baked ziti or a lasagna. Bona Pitittu!