Sicily

The Stoic One, Luca and I are in Sicily for a while. We are in a small village at the base of Etna. I was worried for a while that Etna would blow her top and we would be turned into mummified Pompeii people. So far, so good.

The produce here is fantastic. There is a fruit and vegetable stand on every corner, literally.

Today, we walked to a small Osteria near us. We had a dish called Scacciata. It is basically a Sicilian torte with layers of cheese and vegetables. Here is what it looks like uncut. It has a heavy, kind of dry crust over it...it's more like a bread dough crust than a sweet crust.

Here is what is looks like cut inside.

All vegetables, very good.

The artichokes here are sublime as you can imagine. They are put over the coals of a barbecue and then roasted. The roasting gives them the most fantastic smoky flavor inside.

When I first saw them I thought they were fried in oil, but I asked, and they assured me they were roasted. Excellent.

This was the pasta dish I ordered. Hand made pasta with thinly sliced and roasted zucchini and mint. Really, really, good.

Fresh strawberries with some brandy over them for dessert. Excellent meal. Bon appetito!