All flavors meet in Sicily

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

By BILL ERVOLINO
STAFF WRITER


Giovanna Bellia LaMarca's Sicilian creations include stuffed artichokes.

Her expansive living room boasts a view of the Manhattan skyline that any
New Jerseyan would covet.

Still, the heart of Giovanna Bellia LaMarca's Cliffside Park home is her
relatively compact kitchen, a space crammed with modern amenities - she'd be
lost without her food processor, she insists - and vintage plates,
knickknacks, and artwork from her native Sicily, all set off by a startling
splash of color.

"My daughter calls it egg yolk," LaMarca says, referring to the dazzling
shade of bright yellow that covers the walls, moldings ... even the
cabinets. "It's like a burst of sunshine every morning."

The color was a bold choice, but LaMarca's home, like her cooking, balances
the traditional with the unexpected. After all, she did grow up on an island
known as the crossroads of the Mediterranean, where, through the centuries,
Italian culture, architecture, and cuisine were tweaked and enriched by
Greek, Arab, and other influences.

"Throughout its history," LaMarca wryly notes, "Sicily was invaded by
everyone."

Those once-foreign influences are very much in evidence in LaMarca's new
cookbook, "Sicilian Feasts" (Hippocrene, $24.95), which includes such
Sicilian favorites as couscous and marzipan - neither of which became
popular in the rest of Italy until the last century.

Incorporating nuts and dried fruits into certain Italian dishes is another
Sicilian signature. And many of the desserts we associate with Italy - from
gelato to granita to cannoli - all originated in Sicily, as well.

As LaMarca writes in the introduction to her book, the Greek scholar Plato,
returning to his homeland after spending three months in Sicily, "deplored
the time and attention that was devoted to the preparation and consumption
of food ... [but] he forgave the Sicilians their sweet tooth, conceding that
sweets were the great contribution of Sicilian gastronomy to the ancient
world."

Wines and liqueurs, no stranger to Italian dinner tables, are often
incorporated into these desserts, as are candied fruits, citron, and plenty
of sugar.

A pinch of sugar also plays a part in the preparation of Sicilian tomato
sauces, although this cooking style also makes great use of other, more
savory ingredients. Cooked olives, lemon peel, anchovies, and capers are
used more assertively in Sicily than in other regions of Italy. The result
is a richness of flavor - too rich, for some Italians - that has been a
hallmark of Sicilian cooking through the ages.

A retired art teacher who taught for 20 years at the Bronx High School of
Science, LaMarca came to the United States with her family from Ragusa,
Sicily, in 1950 at the age of 10. And, she brought her sweet tooth with her.

"Every morning, my brother and I had our zabaglione, first thing in the
morning," LaMarca recalls. "Even after I got married, I still had this
thing. My father would call and ask, "Did you have your zabaglione today?"

Those childhood breakfasts also included a drink, made by LaMarca's father,
that consisted of sugar, milk, coffee, and two egg yolks. And it was while
watching her father prepare those drinks - and dispose of the egg whites -
that young Giovanna's "inner chef" began to emerge. She knew those wasted
egg whites could be turned into something. And she has been cooking and
collecting recipes ever since.

Today, LaMarca says she can't remember a time when she didn't love to cook -
or to write. Both interests converged with a hobby that took root many years
ago, when LaMarca began keeping a journal of her dinner parties and family
gatherings. She would write down the date of the event, who attended, what
she served, and the recipes for the dishes she prepared.

And although she enjoys cooking and eating foods from all around the world -
Korean is one of her current favorites - many of the recipes in LaMarca's
journals were either the dishes she grew up with or other Sicilian
specialties that she was exposed to as an adult.

In her book, LaMarca divides her recipes into the usual sections -
appetizers, meat, fish, pasta, etc. - but she also includes chapters on
eggs, side dishes, savory pies, and, yes, sweets.

Soups, which LaMarca describes as "the mainstay of Sicilian cooking," also
get a chapter, and the recipes may surprise those who think soups from the
region begin and end with minestrone.

LaMarca's selections include asparagus soup with rice; broccoli and ricotta
soup; a potato soup made with six potatoes, four ounces of spaghetti, and
garlic, parsley and olive oil; egg and zucchini soup; and an assortment of
other minesres (Italians spell this word for soup as minestre) made with
chickpeas, fava beans, and fish broth.

During a recent visit, LaMarca prepared three favorites from her book:
stuffed artichokes, oven-dried tomatoes - two relatively simple, but
extremely flavorful recipes - as well as a lavish cassata cake, replete with
almonds, citron, and candied cherries.

Although each would be prepared a bit differently in other parts of Italy,
LaMarca insists that all Italian cooking does have at least one thing in
common: "You don't need great quantities of money to cook great Italian or
Sicilian dishes," she says, adding that "the best cooking is simple. Find
the best ingredients you can get - in season, if possible - and you'll eat
very, very well."

@ @ @ @ @
Stuffed artichokes (Carciuofili cini)

11/2 cups dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 artichokes

To make the stuffing place the bread crumbs in a small frying pan, add three
tablespoons of olive oil, and mix with a wooden spoon over medium heat until
golden.

Immediately remove from the frying pan. (The bread crumbs can burn easily at
this point just from the heat of the pan.) Pour the toasted bread crumbs
into a bowl. Add the cheese, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper, and set
aside.

Wash the artichokes. Cut away all but ½ inch of the stems. Cut away the top
1/2 inch of each artichoke. With a pair of kitchen shears, cut away the tips
of the remaining leaves, and gently open up the leaves.

Starting with the outside and working toward the center, spoon a little bit
of filling in each leaf. Pour one cup of water into the bottom of a pot that
will hold all four artichokes. Stand the stuffed artichokes in the pot, and
drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil over each one.

Cover and place over medium heat. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a leaf
separates easily from one of the artichokes. Serve at room temperature. Each
artichoke can be cut in half to serve as an appetizer.

Servings: 8.
_____

@ @ @ @ @
Oven-dried tomatoes (Pumarori salati)

2 pounds Italian plum tomatoes
Kosher salt as needed
Fresh basil leaves (optional)
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more as needed.

Cut the tomatoes in half lengthwise and place on a jelly-roll pan, cut side
up. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt, and place in a 200-degree oven for 12
to 14 hours, or until tomatoes are dried but still pliable. Cool to room
temperature, place in a jar with fresh basil leaves between the layers, if
desired, and cover with olive oil.

Yield: About one pint.
_____

@ @ @ @ @
Sicilian cake (Cassata Siciliana)

Spongecake:
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup self-rising flour
Filling:
2 cups fresh ricotta
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup candied fruits, chopped
4 ounces chopped milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate, or small chocolate
morsels
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Ricotta icing:
2 tablespoons fresh ricotta
2 cups confectioners' sugar
Assembly:
11/2 cups Marsala wine
Half of a whole candied citron
1/4 cup candied cherries
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Separate the eggs and place
the yolks in one bowl, and the whites in another. Add 1/2 cup sugar to the
yolks. Beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar until thick; set
aside and, without washing the beaters, start beating the yolks, sugar, and
vanilla until thick and lemon colored. Fold the flour into the yolk mixture
together with about one-third of the egg whites so that the batter doesn't
get too thick. Fold in the rest of the whites.

Spoon the batter into three buttered or oil-sprayed round 8- or 9- inch
layer cake pans. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. They are done when they are
light gold in color and they shrink away from the sides of the pans. Remove
from the oven, cool for 5 minutes, remove the cakes from the pans and cool
on a rack.

For the filling: Beat the ricotta and the sugar with an electric mixer until
smooth. Divide in half, and add the fruit to one portion, and the chocolate
and cinnamon to the other. Set aside.

For the icing: Beat the ricotta and the sugar until smooth and of spreading
consistency. Set aside.

For the assembly: Place four triangles of wax paper on a serving platter
under and all around where the cake will be so that the papers can be pulled
out after the cake is assembled. Place one cake layer on the wax paper.
Place the marsala wine in a small spray bottle, and spray one-third on the
first layer. Spread the ricotta and fruit filling on the top of the cake
layer. Place the second layer on top of the ricotta filling, and spray with
another one-third of the marsala wine. Spread the ricotta and chocolate
filling on the second layer, top with the third layer, spray it with the
rest of the marsala wine, and let it rest.

Place the citron on a cutting board, and slice thinly. Slice the candied
cherries in half.

Spread the icing on the top and other sides of the cake. Press the sliced
almonds lightly all over the side of the cake. Place the citron slices in a
pattern around the top of the cake. Add the cherries, cut side down, to
complement the design. Chill until ready to serve.

Servings: 12 to 14.
_____




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