It's Day 2 of our Sicilian Food Tour and today we are exploring the baroque city of Vittoria, just 20 minutes away from the quiet fishing town of Scoglitti. The two neighbouring areas are just 13 kms away and many Vittorians holiday in Scoglitti. Still, there is a rivalry between Scoglitti and Vittoria that runs deep. But how does Vittoria compare to Scoglitti? The day ends with a Michelin starred meal at Ragusa Ibla the stunning town that looks like a dream.
I am on day 3 of having no luggage and I have a personal reason to wanting to visit Vittoria - to shop. While I love the simple charm of Scoglitti, there are virtually no shops in which to buy clothes and the big city of sister Vittoria with its population of 70,000 has these aplenty.
But first, breakfast!
"We only eat every second day on this tour," quips Carm. She is joking of course, because there has been non stop food and this theme continues when we reach Vittoria and alight at Massaro bakery. I am glad that I skipped breakfast at the hotel in favour of a scacce making class and tasting. Long time readers may remember when Carm came over to my house to show me how to make Scacce, the Ragusane specialty. Described as something like a lasagne crossed with a pizza, it's a semolina dough layered with tomato and onion, ricotta, potato or in the case of today, baccalau as we are lucky enough to be visiting on a Friday. Different versions of scacce exist and vary according to the area and the ones that we are seeing today are Ragusane's layered scacce.
Alina and Massimo run Massaro Pastaficio bakery which he inherited from his father. Massaro had been running it for 53 years and it was his Massimo's mother's idea to make scacce 40 years ago. Since then Massimo has expanded the range of scacce - on Fridays you'll find baccalau and calamari scacce and on holidays like Good Friday you'll find lamb and pea scacce.
Everyone gets to try making scacce. The semolina based dough rises for 1 hour and is then rolled thin and then filled with tomato sauce or caramelised onions, caciocavallo cheese and local ricotta cheese that is delivered fresh each day. "More, more sauce," Massimo says because the beauty of scacce is the fantastic dough to sauce or filling ratio. They're wrapped up like a rectangular parcel and baked at 200C/400F for 20 minutes.
Then there's the Turkish Head scroll filled with spinach and ricotta. These were traditionally sold around Easter but nowadays are sold all year round. These start with the same dough as the scacce but are rolled even thinner and then filled with spinach and cheese or a variety of other fillings before being cut into three and then turned on their side and shaped into little turbans. The name comes from the distinctive shape that is said to resemble the turbans worn by the Saracens. My favourite is the spinach and raisins that is surprisingly sweet but somehow works (it is also a vegan pastry).
Carm asks us if there is anything we want to try so we also try the Casatella, a delicious star shaped baked version of the casateddi that we tried yesterday filled with sweetened ricotta and cinnamon. We also try the Mostarda, considered a poor man’s dessert pudding made with fresh pasta semolina, muscat grapes and topped with chopped almonds. It's mildly sweet and has a comforting pudding texture to it. There are also biscuits of this made in terracotta molds with more semolina added to them so that they have a thicker, denser texture.
"I live across the road and I open the doors and breathe in every morning," says our local Vittoria guide Giovanni.
Next is morning tea and coffee at Pasticceria Stracquadaneo where we will also have a cannoli demonstration. We sip crema cafes and espressos before Chef Mimmo shows us how to make the cannoli dough. Sicilian cannoli dough always has wine added to it for flavour and texture. Lard is also used to give the dough bubbles and crunch. The dough is rested for 2 hours and then rolled into a log and cut into 30g or 1oz portions. The same dough can also be used for crostoli/chiacharre.
The cannoli are filled with the lightest ricotta and dipped in nuts with candied orange. Tour participant Dan from Ohio also fulfils his dream of filling a cannoli with the cream. After this we get a break and I do some shopping for some clothes and I find what I need at Max and Co. because tonight we are going somewhere special and my travelling clothes will not do as my luggage still has not arrived.
But the food doesn't stop and then it's time for lunch. Aqua e Vino is one of Vittoria's best restaurants and is located in an elegant building. The doors are flung open in this 24C/75F day showing the view of the church.
Our lunch comes with white and red wine, the red from Chiaromont DOP from Tonda Iblea (mountains). There is only one DOCG in Italy and it is made in Vittoria.
Our first course is a pesci plate with tiny mini calamari or capputeddi, dusted in flour and deep fried - perfect for the white wine's minerality. There's also a Bacalau fish cake, an anchovy with chilli parsley, octopus salad and mussels and couscous.
After this are two pasta courses: a grouper ravioli filled with shrimp clams mussels in a tomato sauce. But my favourite is the paccheri Norma with soft, melting eggplant cubes and a delightful tomato based sauce. The pasta has the perfect al dente texture.
And for dessert, a Bianca mangiare that translates to "eat white". It is a Sicilian almond milk pudding thickened with cornstarch. Others order the panna cotta with caramel sauce or the semifreddo and everyone shares and tries all of them.
That evening we depart at 6pm for the stunning town of Ragusa Ibla. It is Golden Hour as the bus approaches the town and the warmth of the evening lights is reflected in the buildings. The town of Ragusa Ibla is called the City of Nobles and is named after the Hyblaen mountains. Ragusa is divided into two areas, the lower old town is Ragusa Ibla while the other area is Ragusa Superiore. The buildings that spans the space of almost a block used to be palaces for the nobles.
The old town is a wonderful place to take a stroll. There are plenty of shops to visit selling testa de moro, ceramics, art and souveniers. There are anything from casual cafes selling pomegranate and orange juice, wine or snacky foods as well as places to have olive oil tasting and Michelin starred restaurants and boutique hotels, some with view of the Duomo. We take a stroll around the cobblestone lined streets reaching the Duomo di San Giorgio.
Tonight our dinner is at Michelin starred restaurant Locanda Don Serafino with chef Vincenzo Candiano. The restaurant, while Michelin starred, does not impose a dress code and accepts pets as long as they are given notice. Still everyone is dressed up for the dinner and I'm glad that I have my new dress and shoes.
We are having the tasting menu which is €150 per person and consists of 5 courses. It's a mix of seafood and meat and is the most comprehensive option. We start with bread baked in-house and served with extra virgin olive oil that is presented to us with glove gloved service and cut at the time. Then out comes three amuse bouches.
On a crispy cheese "fish" pastry is a dab of ricotta cheese, bottarga and lemon cream, a crispy, salty cannoli. There's also an ice cream stuffed bell pepper filled with potato, onion and glazed in two colours of bell pepper caciocavolo cheese from Ragusa and salted ricotta cheese. Every bite is delicious and textural from the crunchy, crispy fish to the delicious "ice cream" with the soft, toothsome bite.
The red mullet is cooked at a low temperature served with sand vinaigrette, water of sea succulent, lime olive oil and carrots grown in a small town nearby.
The next course is a beef course where the beef tenderloin is shaped into little meatballs of roasted beef, tomato spiral, cheese and a cheese crisp finished with hot olive oil and garlic. This is a wonderful course that you simply do not want to end as it delivers in both flavour and texture.
Next is a light pasta course made with house made black spaghetti with squid ink with roe at the bottom with a canella cheese with a srig of wild fennel. It is finished at the table with roe and fresh sea urchin. Every bite of this is divine although by now I am getting very full. I have the words of Carm "Don't eat the bread!" ringing in my ears.
The last savoury course is the richest and is served with mustard sauce and mustard seeds. There are three sides: apricot chutney, chickpea and paprika powder and cremini mushrooms. The lamb is so perfectly pink in the centre and I really love this witwh the chickpea hummus style spread.
The sorbet course isn't just a sorbet course. it is a peach bellini sorbet with a citrus ganache pearl inside.
The main dessert is their homage or take on a traditional Savoia chocolate cake, a traditional Sicilian chocolate and hazelnut cake with a brandy snap like decoration. It's rich, smooth and served wtih a quennelle of ice cream that gives it a refreshing quality.
To end off our meal are the petit fours. There are four: a raspberry and mascarpone cheese tart, peanut cream choux, salted caramel macarons, and a surprise chocolate with orange cream.
At the beginning of the night, everyone was demure and mindful, in these surroundings, a polite hush came over the table but by the end of the night, we have fun with our waiter Daniel who playfully scolds us when we do something funny. "Madam!" is a constant refrain before bursting out into a wide smile. We giggle at everything including the slanting Coke glasses. He tells Carm, "Thank you for allowing me to be me."
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been to Sicily? And have you ever lost your luggage? How long did it take to get to you?
NQN and Mr NQN travelled to Europe as guests of Vietnam Airlines and NQN was a guest of Sicilian Food Tours but all opinions remain her own.
Sicilian Food Tours
To book the Sicilian Food Tour follow this link. If you use the code NQN when booking (please write it in the date field) then you’ll get a bottle of Cerasuolo Wine from Vittoria, the only DOCG wine of Sicily. This cherry red wine variety is a blend of Sicily’s famous Nero D’Avola & Frappato worth $80AUD.
Vietnam Airlines
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