The heat is starting to be felt and the desire to stay with the oven on and hot pots is not that much, so what can you prepare? A perfect Sicilian recipe for the summer: the Canazzo!
A quick and easy way to useseasonal vegetables is by preparing simple, tasty and colorful recipes. Canazzo is one of those, a Sicilian recipe that cheers up family tables during the summer months. Very similar to the more famous caponata , this dish is decidedly lighter: you can also prepare plenty of it, and the next one is also tasted cold and perfect, indeed, perhaps it is even better!
It is considered a typical condiment of the Sicilian tradition and it is said that this dish was prepared by women who, with imagination and culinary genius, let fathers, husbands and children find it on their tables after an exhausting day's work in the countryside. At a time when TV programs were non-existent and no Benedetta Parodi could suggest to these women what to cook for their men every day, what did they do to create nutritious and simple dishes? They cut a loaf of bread in two , removing all the excess crumb, and filled it with the "Canazzu", and then closed it again.
In short, a lunch with a surprise!
How is it prepared?
There are those who follow various ways to cook vegetables: baked, stewed, fried? However you prepare them, success is guaranteed. The Sicilian canazzo recipe can be prepared in various ways, but the one that comes closest to tradition is the Palermo one; it suggests adding the vegetables according to the cooking time they require: the potatoes first and the aubergines last, just to be clear.
Before going into the actual preparation, we bet you are curious to know the meaning of its very particular name. "Canazzo" may appear to be a very harsh term in pronunciation and, in fact, the term has a derogatory value. Reason? Compared to the traditional recipe, that of the caponata, this one is made somewhat " in bulk ", in a coarse way. So if until today you thought it came from "dog", we are sorry to bring your world down.
Sicilian canazzo recipe: ingredients (for 8 people)
- 5 potatoes
- 5 yellow pepper
- 5 red pepper
- 5 eggplants
- 4 bunch tomatoes
- 2 onion
- oil
- salt
- pepper
- mint
- basil
Preparation of the Canazzo
To prepare the canazzo , start by peeling the onion and slicing it thinly into crescents. Let it dry in a saucepan with extra virgin olive oil . When it is transparent, add the peeled and diced potatoes.
Add the quartered tomatoes and let them flavor briefly. Add a trickle of hot water and the peeled and diced peppers.
Add the aubergines cut into chunks , salt and pepper and add a little more hot water. Cover and continue cooking until the potatoes have become soft without being floury. Serve the canazzo warm or cold with basil and mint.
The Sicilian canazzo can be served as a side dish or as a single dish . If leftover, it can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days. It is recommended to consume it at room temperature.
A recipe of this type is perfect for those who follow a very strict diet ; canazzo is a dish rich in protein, fiber and low in fat.
Variations and alternatives to prepare the Sicilian canazzo recipe
If you love vegetables in every season, you can also prepare a winter version of this dish using broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes and cabbage. The choice is yours whether or not to add the tomato.
(image source: cucchiao.it )
