Tag: Lucia

Cuccìa al cioccolato: the Sicilian dessert for Saint Lucia – Italian Cuisine

The chocolate cuccìa is not among the best known Sicilian sweets, but it is worth discovering. Let's prepare it, as usual, on December 13th

There cuccìa it's a typical sweet of Sicily. Traditionally the 13 December, day of celebration Saint Lucia, patron saint of the city of Syracuse and many other towns on the island. It is certainly a less known specialty than the famous cannoli or cassata, but

The term cuccìa derives from the dialect word "crock”Which stands for grain in Sicilian and refers to the raw material used to prepare it according to the original recipe, wheat. This is combined with a ricotta cream or a chocolate cream, as in the version we propose here. And then add chocolate chips or pistachios or, again, cinnamon and zuccata (candied pumpkin).

Santa Lucia rhymes with cuccìa

It is certainly a less known specialty than the famous ones cannoli or to cassata being a dessert that is prepared on the day of Saint Lucia especially at home, even if there are many Sicilian pastry shops where you can taste the cuccìa.

To speed up the times of Preparation you can use the grain that is sold already cooked, it will take a maximum of half an hour to complete the recipe.

chocolate cuccìa typical Sicilian recipe spoon dessert ideas tips preparation Italian cuisine

Cuccìa with chocolate: the recipe

Ingredients

To prepare this typical Sicilian dessert you will need: 1 kg of cooked wheat, 500 ml of milk, 250 g of dark chocolate, 150 g of sugar, 00 flour, cinnamon, grated orange peel, candied fruit.

Method

The first thing to do to prepare the Sicilian cuccìa is to clean the cooked wheat thoroughly, passing it under water to remove any residues, drying it well and dressing it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to prevent it from sticking.

The second step is to prepare the chocolate cream. You start by heating the milk with the sugar in a saucepan and adding the chocolate pieces at a later time. When it has melted completely, add two tablespoons of 00 flour and continue to mix until the mixture is homogeneous and without lumps.

At this point, add the chocolate cream to the bowl with the cooked wheat and mix well, flavoring the spoon little by little with cinnamon, orange peel and candied fruit, depending on your taste.

The last step of the recipe involves letting the dessert rest in the refrigerator, perhaps in single-serving portions, for about two hours before bringing it to the table.

It is possible, of course, to eat the cuccìa even hot, depending on your taste!

Browse the tutorial with other tips for preparing the cuccìa

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Occhi di santa Lucia, how to prepare them with children – Italian Cuisine

They are greedy tarallini to be kneaded together in the family waiting for the night when the saint will bring sweets and gifts to children

If Christmas is everyone's party, Saint Lucia it is above all gods children. It is they who, in the night between 12 and 13 December, anxiously await the arrival of the saint who, according to legend, will pass from house to house on the back of a donkey, leaving treats and gifts to the little ones who have behaved well. Just like the tradition of Christmas Eve, the children who celebrate Saint Lucia, an anniversary felt in this way especially in the cities of northeastern Italy, prepare cookies, milk and a carrot for the donkey for the coming of the saint.

The eyes of Saint Lucia, greedy tarallini

In family, thanks to the afternoons of lockdown where ideas to entertain the children are never enough, the party can start as early as the afternoon of December 12, preparing all together young and old sweets called eyes of Saint Lucia. They are small taralli to the wine covered with a sugar glaze. The recipe comes from Puglia where, as in other regions of Southern Italy such as Sicily, Saint Lucia is celebrated with religious rites and processions and with the preparation of typical dishes. It includes a few simple ingredients that we all have at home: flour, oil, wine, eggs, powdered sugar, water. Younger children can participate in the preparation of the dough that is made with their hands, older children also in the phase in which the taralli are formed and in that of covering with the icing. It will be fun to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen kneading, baking and enjoying!

The recipe for the eyes of Saint Lucia

Ingredients

250 g of 00 flour, 50 g of oil, 50 g of white wine, 1 egg, 150 g of powdered sugar, 25 g of water.

Method

Mix the sifted flour with the oil, wine and egg. Get the children to help you mix the dough well and make it homogeneous. Work initially with a ladle and then with your hands. Now take small pieces of dough and form small strips of dough 1 or 2 centimeters thick. Cut the loaves into shorter pieces of about 8 centimeters which will then be closed in a circle, slightly overlapping the ends, to form the taralli. Once the taralli are complete, finishing the dough, arrange them on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees for twenty minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the icing by mixing the icing sugar and water with a whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cover the taralli with the icing when they have cooled down. Let the icing set and then you can enjoy your Santa Lucia eyes for a snack.

Additions

You can enrich the dough with anise or vanilla, or add lemon juice to the glaze for even more fragrant taralli.

Alternative cookies

The feast of Saint Lucia is also very much felt in Sweden. Here we use to prepare the Lussekatter or cats of Saint Lucia, biscuits that are characterized by the presence of saffron in the dough. If you want to try making them, find the recipe here.

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the arancine #DaTaste immediately (waiting for Santa Lucia) – Italian Cuisine

Increase of the delivery and take-away service also for street food items: in view of the feast of Saint Lucia, here are the arancine – strictly feminine. To order and try in the Sicilian capital

A small gesture is enough to support, in this difficult moment, restaurants, pizzerias, bars and gastronomic shops in your city: home delivery and take-away are two lifesaving anchors for a sector severely affected by forced closures and restrictions imposed by ministerial decrees. Words, but above all habits, have now entered the daily life of all of us. In Sicily, for example, several appeals have been launched on social networks, in particular Facebook, for the food delivery in support of companies; and during the lockdown the project was born as well #iocomprosiciliano, which today has turned into the largest marketplace for quality products on the island.

Street food

Delivery and take away are proving to be important tools to concretely help the world of catering and the closely connected one of agri-food. And if pizza is confirmed at the top of the list of the most ordered and desired foods by Italians, in Palermo nobody seems to want to give up the goodness, and the consoling power, of street food. Timeless street food icons such as sfincioni, panelle, crocchè and arancine they never go out of style. Greedy cuddles, which adults and children like, for dinners on these evenings spent within the walls of the house or for lunch in the office for those who are not smart working. In view of December 13, the day in which Santa Lucia is celebrated, but also the arancine in Palermo, we recommend three unmissable places where you can taste them immediately.

Vabres Bar

A historic restaurant, run by the Vabres family for 50 years. The arancine are excellent, considered by the real people of Palermo to be among the best in the city, available in five different flavors. There are the classic “accarne” with veal ragout, peas and tomato sauce, and “abburro” with ham and mozzarella. And then also bacon and provolone, sausage, spinach, all of daily production and offered at the unbeatable price of € 1.50 each. Fried calzones and take-away coffee are also very popular. The young Alessio Vabres was the first to offer specialty coffees in Palermo. The restaurant is open every day from 6:30 to 20:30 for take-away, while the delivery service is entrusted to Glovo. Following the latest restrictions, the Vabres family redesigned the spaces by creating two separate sorting areas, one where you order and the other where you pay, in order to comply with the rules on spacing and at the same time speed up the purchase. The display counters, with the sweet and savory pieces, have been moved to the entrance of the bar so that customers do not have to go inside, a space that is reserved only for employees.

Bar Vabres, via Michele Cipolla 83, Palermo.

Light green

One of the "greenest" restaurants in Palermo, particularly popular with vegetarians and vegans, but not only. Verdechiaro was born from the desire of chef Nello Occhipinti to raise awareness among his customers on the importance of healthy and sustainable cuisine, preferring organic and local products. This year Nello, together with his wife Daniela Assennato and daughter Alice, inaugurated the new location of the restaurant in the elegant Libertà residential area. Among the proposals on the menu, in addition to first courses, second courses and pizzas, there is also an entire menu designed for vegans. From Verdechiaro on Friday is instead the day dedicated to arancine. Prepared with husked brown rice and selected condiments of the highest quality, they are available in various flavors that change weekly, among the most succulent we point out: soy ragù, cinisara ragù (native Sicilian bovine breed), spinach, lemon zest and tofu cream , five cheeses and cooked ham from the Il Chiaramontano artisan cured meat factory and pumpkin, celeriac and chicory. All the arancine (price € 2.50 each) can be ordered for take-away, by calling the telephone number 091/2525291, or through the SocialFood.it home delivery service (the most used and loved food delivery by Palermo) .

Verdechiaro, via Giuseppe Alessi 40/42, Palermo.

KePalle

Since its opening, this original format, conceived by the entrepreneur Danilo Li Muli, has immediately received the approval of many Palermitans and tourists. KePalle is the first street food restaurant dedicated to the queen of Sicilian rotisserie and today it is present in the city with three points of sale. The arancine are fried on the spot and are always hot and crunchy. Great care is taken both in the preparation, continuous control of the temperature and clarity of the oil, and in the choice of ingredients, only Carnaroli rice and products mainly from Sicilian suppliers. As for the tastes, you are spoiled for choice: from the classic ones with butter and meat to the gourmet ones such as swordfish, mint and aubergine, up to vegan and vegetarian or "local" alla norma or sfincione. For those who do not want to fry, there are baked arancine, while for pasta lovers, the arancina with Sicilian anelletti is a must. Finally, for the sweet tooth, the sweet arancina. The latest novelty of KePalle is the Apericasa, or a gourmet box, at the introductory price of € 6.50, with mixed arancinette, pasta arancinette, fried calzoncino, sandwich with panelle, sandwich with spleen, fried cheese, inside. crouton and french fries. Takeaway or delivery on www.socialfood.it/palermo/ke-palle

KePalle – Arancine d’utore, via Terrasanta 111B – via Maqueda 270 – via E. Amari 154, Palermo.