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Antipasti (starters) are usually in a mouth-watering display to be served at room temperature, and could easily constitute a meal on their own. You may find sarde alla beccaficco, fresh sardines stuffed with capers and breadcrumbs and lightly fried (the name alludes to the serving manner, as the fish is arranged to resemble a prized game bird, the garden warbler). The eggplant (melanzana) is omnipresent, mostly the light mauve bulbous type. Lightly salted and left so the bitter juices drain away, it has a deep, rich taste enhanced by light frying, before serving with a splash of tomato purée and oregano. In combination with celery and capers it also features in the rich caponata stew. Alla parmigianasees it layered with tomato and melted parmesan cheese. Mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and an infinity of olives are usually on offer as well.
Primo piatto or first courseinevitably means pasta, thought to have been invented in Sicily, if not brought in by the Arabs. In any case, a 12th-century account of the island by the geographer al-Idrisi made mention of busy pasta factories near Palermo where vermicelli and macaroni were produced for exportation to both Muslim provinces and Christian countries. Noteworthy present-day dishes include pasta alla Norma (a reference to the opera by Vincenzo Bellini, who hailed from Catania), the sauce a delicious combination of stewed eggplant and tomato. In the Trapani area you’ll come across pasta with pesto trapanese, a fragrant cold sauce of fresh tomatoes with crushed garlic, almonds, parmesan cheese and basil, or pasta con le sarde, topped with fresh sardines combined with tangy wild fennel and pine nuts, not to mention cuscus, the dish of north African origin of steamed semolina served with a spicy fish-based sauce. In contrast the Nebrodi mountain villages specialise in fresh maccheroni, long hollow tubes smothered in a rich meat sauce (sugo), while the Monti Iblei district offers home-made ravioli di ricotta flavoured with a pungent tomato and pork sauce and cavatelle, generous fresh pasta coils.