"Good Thursday soup." Eaten on the day before Good Friday, this traditional Sicilian soup was eaten with the whole family present, to "prepare the mind" for the following day. It is made mainly with vegetables and herbs such as fennel, parsley, with tomato paste and thickened with fava beans and spaghetti, flavoured with lard.
"Little ones". Hand made pasta found in Basilicata, rolled into cylinders around a slim metal stick, sometimes served with cima di cola or cabbage greens.
"Saint Agatha's breasts." This refers to almond biscuits (US: cookies) and breads shaped like breasts and with a cherry on top and stuffed with zuccata, available on the feast of the unfortunate Saint Agatha, on 5th February each year. Saint Agatha suffered the fate of having her breast cut off, and is frequently pictured holding her breast on a platter. In fact she was rescued from this martyrdom by Saint Peter, but only survived to be roasted alive over coals.
"Virgins' breasts." Suggestively shaped buns made with semolina (US: cream of wheat) and filled with crème pâtissière in Palermo in Sicily. These buns are also called panotti to protect the delicacies of the nun's by whom they are traditionally made.
A name in Puglia for the big-scale atherine, a type of atherine similar to the sand smelt. A marine fish, usually deep-fried, it is a small, silvery fish similar to the argentine. When tiny it is treated in the same way as whitebait. This fish grows up to 12 cm.
"Little ones". Hand made pasta found in Basilicata, rolled into cylinders around a slim metal stick, sometimes served with cima di cola or cabbage greens.
"Little ones". Hand made pasta found in Basilicata, rolled into cylinders around a slim metal stick, sometimes served with cima di cola or cabbage greens.
Meringue. A dessert or cake made with egg whites beaten with sugar until stiff, and then baked very slowly either to make small individual pastries or on top of a flan containing fruit or in a cake. The result can be stunning - stiff and crisp on the outside, dissolving into a wonderful chewy, almost toffee-like finish. On the other hand, it can be dry and without texture, disappearing in a dusty puff in your mouth.
