Doesn't the arrival of May make you want fresh and appetizing salads ? Well, because typical Sicilian salads happen to be a godsend when the heat is raging, but also a great way to better appreciate some of the most loved typical Sicilian products , from oranges to capers . But we don't anticipate anything. Rather, we invite you to take a look below, to discover 5 Sicilian salad recipes not to be missed.
Pantesca salad, original recipe
Rosario Cappadona , CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Among the grandmother's recipes, the Pantelleria salad stands out, a gem in the panorama of Sicilian cuisine that is worth knowing. The absolute protagonists of this dish are potatoes, cherry tomatoes, red onion and black olives . Few but good, so it is advisable to focus on quality. Let's see how to prepare the classic Sicilian salad with potatoes .
Ingredients
- ½ kg of potatoes
- 200 g of cherry tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 1 handful of salted capers
- 1 glass of red vinegar
- 10 black olives
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Dried oregano
- Fresh basil
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
Boil the potatoes, whole and in their skins, in a saucepan in boiling water. Once tender, drain them, let them cool and peel them, then cut them into pieces. Finely slice the onion and soak it in the vinegar for at least 30 minutes. Rinse the capers well. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half after washing them. Transfer everything into a bowl and season with oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Don't underestimate the Pantelleria salad with tuna either.
Aeolian salad
Another Sicilian summer salad , the Aeolian is a typical recipe of Lipari, one of the Aeolian Islands. Here, both the cucunci and the capers of Salina are the masters. As for tuna in oil , we strongly advise you to use a quality one. The mix of ingredients of the Aeolian salad is capable of giving taste and satisfaction to what can also be enjoyed as a single dish.
Ingredients
- 8 tomatoes
- 4 slices of stale or toasted homemade bread
- 2 boiled potatoes
- 1 onion
- Black or green olives to taste
- 1 saline caper
- 1 tablespoon of cucunci
- 200 g of tuna in oil
- Basil
- Salt and pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Preparation
The first operation here is to soak the stale bread in a bowl with water and oil. Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Let it rest while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Boil the potatoes, then peel and cut them into cubes. Slice the onion. Combine these ingredients with the bread and add olives, capers, cucunci and tuna. Season with salt and pepper and complete with oil and basil.
Sicilian salad with tomatoes and ricotta salata
Less known than the previous ones, the Sicilian salad with tomatoes and ricotta salata is a real gem. Its ingredients can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but it is so tasty that it has nothing to envy to much more elaborate Sicilian recipes . The undisputed protagonist here is ricotta salata , the inevitable presence of pasta alla Norma.
Read also: Pasta alla Norma, origin and original recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g of tomatoes
- 1 red onion (from Tropea)
- Fresh basil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Salted ricotta to taste
Preparation
Peel the onion and cut it into slices. Wash and dry the tomatoes and cut them into slices. Transfer them to a salad bowl and dress them with the onion, plenty of oil, salt, pepper and the basil. Mix and grate over plenty of ricotta salata.
Sicilian orange salad
It's not summery but it's certainly fresh and appetizing. We are talking about the Palermitan orange salad , which is made, of course, throughout the island. It requires few ingredients but here too the focus is on quality, with rigorously Sicilian oranges and excellent olive oil , perhaps from one of the local producers.
Ingredients
- 6 oranges
- 2 fennel
- 1 red onion
- 1 handful of black olives
- Salt and pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh mint
Preparation
Peel the oranges and slice them. Cut the fennel into thin slices. Add the olives and the finely chopped onion. Season with plenty of olive oil, salt and pepper and complete with a few fresh mint leaves. Let it rest for half an hour before enjoying it. A variation on the theme is the Sicilian salad of oranges and anchovies (or herring).
Sicilian lemon salad
Let's stay on the citrus theme with a refreshing lemon salad, citrus fruits in which the island is unbeatable. Dish coming from poor cuisine , the peasant one, is actually rich in taste, and lends itself to being served on more than one occasion, always being appreciated. If you prefer a richer version, add some stale bread cut into chunks.
Ingredients
- 4 lemons
- 1/2 glass of water
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Fresh or dried chilli
- Chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Wash the lemons well and cut them into thin slices to obtain small wedges. Pour water, salt, oil, chilli pepper and parsley into a bowl. Mix well and vigorously to create an emulsion. Season the lemons and let them flavor for a quarter of an hour, then serve.
