Sicilian Summers

“The first day of August is the first day of winter,” or so they say in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. The adage goes back 1,000 years to the time when agriculture became the principle occupation in this mountain community.

Throughout the spring and summer, cuntadini, tenant farmers, nurtured their crops. By August, attention turned to the harvest and preservation of summer’s bounty. As each crop was gathered, this process of “winterizing” turned the landscape from green and lush to brown and empty.

Post-World War II land reforms broke up the feudal estates. The land, available on the open market, was purchased by the former cuntadini. Today, even though Polizzi no longer has an agrarian-based economy, many still tend pizzuddu ‘i terrenu, “a small piece of earth.”

The cornucopia of these farms, orchards and vegetable gardens is boundless. A portion of each crop is prepared fresh, but most is preserved for use during the rest of the year. History has taught the Polizzani to be frugal, and every gift of the Earth is put to use. Even wild berries and herbs of the forest are conserved as jams and liqueurs.

Each crop is picked at the peak of ripeness, for the distance between cropland and dinner table is a short walk. During one of my summer visits to Polizzi, I heard the morning shouts of a fruit grower on my street in the center of town. Selling his produce from a Lambretta, a three-wheeled motorcycle-truck, he’d sing out in Sicilian, “Pears! Peaches! They were fresh.”

I thought his choice of tense odd and puzzled over its meaning. A friend, Nino Gianfisco, explained.

“Every morning at first light,” Nino said, “the fruit grower goes into his orchard, picks the ripest pears and peaches, and loads the Lambretta. Then he takes breakfast coffee with his wife.” With a wry smile, Nino continued, “By the time he gets to town, it’s already 8 o’clock. The fruits were fresh at dawn, but by then there’s no guarantee.”

Polizzi has a mighty harvest of velvety, deep-red plum tomatoes, the type called San Marzano. Smoke billows from country sheds and city garages as huge pots of these tomatoes are cooked into sauce over wood fires. The sauce is then canned in recycled mineral water bottles.

The work is done by entire families. Small children, supervised by grandparents, wash the fruit, gleefully splashing their hands in the washtubs of cold water.

Women tend the caldrons, knowing exactly when and how much onion and salt to add. Young men carry the steaming pots across the sheds to milling machines that separate pulp from seeds and skins. Older men feed the small hoppers and refill the pots with the tomato sauce.

Stationed at other cooking fires in their cramped sheds, the most fastidious women of the household are in charge of bottle sterilization and canning, maintaining strict quality control. Over the course of two days, a large family can process 1,000 bottles of tomato sauce--enough to last the winter, with some carryover for the next.

During the tomato harvest, the hills around Polizzi are streaked with crimson, as women in straw hats keep vigil over plywood sheets covered in tomatoes. In one day, the Mediterranean sun will dry the tomatoes into a thick paste. Seeds are saved for next year’s planting.

Ripe cherry tomatoes still on the vine are hung in cool sheds, where they will remain fresh for months to come. All tomatoes that have not had enough time to ripen are eaten green in salad, pickled in vinegar or cooked into marmalade.

By this time of year, cucuzza, a long Sicilian squash, is beginning to go to seed. Some of these are candied into a sweet confection called cucuzzata; some are dried, primarily to be used as an important ingredient in cunigghiu, the traditional Christmas Eve dish of salt cod and vegetables.

In preparation for drying, the cucuzza is peeled and split. The seeds are removed and saved and the squash is well covered with sea salt. After a few days, a ring of thread is sewn through the end of each half, and they are suspended from bamboo poles and put in the sun to dry.

Small groups of old women gather in their gardens to accomplish this task. Sometimes, they are joined by their daughters or granddaughters.

If a young girl makes a stitch too close to the edge or ties a bad knot, the squash falls. The grandmothers smile and laugh, offering the same instructions given to them long ago. Their still-nimble fingers demonstrate the technique they’ve used for decades. From across the garden, the hanging squash look like primeval wind chimes in the late afternoon sun.

By late August, eggplant is in the produce spotlight. Spears of it are pickled in vinegar. Some is conserved as capunatina, a medley of eggplant, the previous season’s green olives, celery, some almonds and raisins, tomato sauce and a bit of red pepper and vinegar. Following an 18th century tradition, unsweetened cocoa powder is added to counter the piquant sweetness with its bitter flavor.

Of the four varieties of eggplant grown locally in Polizzi, most common is nostrali, “ours.” It is the same variety found in American markets, although slightly smaller.

Second in abundance is the tunisina (Tunisian) variety, long and thin, resembling an oversized Japanese eggplant. The Tunisian is a botanically older variety, close to the original type brought by Arab traders a millennium ago.

A close third is the missinisa (Messina) type. Medium-size and more round than oval, this type is not the common aubergine color but violet and white. It has a more delicate, less bitter flavor than the other two.

The bianca is the rarest of Polizzi’s eggplants. Small, white and nearly round, it is the inspiration for the American English word, “egg-plant.” The other varieties require salt-leaching to draw out their bitter liquid. Fresh white eggplant, however, does not require this procedure.

During the 10 or so days of the eggplant onslaught, home cooks prepare course after course of the fruit for lunch and dinner, employing a prodigious repertoire of recipes. The true mark of a good cook is how interested she can keep her family at mealtime with daily repetition of the same ingredients. In this regard, the Polizzani cook achieves high marks indeed.

First among these is my friend Nino’s mother, Stefana. An invitation to lunch at the Gianfisco family country house is highly prized. The house built by Nino and his father, Turiddu Gianfisco, lies in the center of a massive property that includes a large kitchen garden; several stands of fruit, nut and olive trees; and a sizable vineyard.

On one part of the patio is a pergola roofed with bamboo matting, walled on one side with flowering vines against the hot afternoon sun. The table inside, large enough for 20, is often the setting for a gathering of family and friends. Lunch is the main meal of the day, and guests often volunteer to help Turiddu Gianfisco skin the peppers that have been roasted in the cinders of a hazelnut-wood fire.

In a different part of the patio, others stand near a large copper pot of water set on a wood fire where pasta will be cooked. They try to cajole Stefana Gianfisco into giving up her cooking secrets. “Pasta always tastes sweeter when it’s cooked outdoors on a wood fire,” is all she will say, with a shy smile. She holds on to her secrets.

The grand lunch begins with an antipasto of more than 10 dishes. Bowls of olives are placed at the edges of the table. Some are black, some oil-cured and some green, cured in brine flavored with lemon peel, bay leaves, wild fennel seeds and cloves. A platter of pungent, chewy salami and one of young, soft pecorino cheese pass to praise. We eat the roasted peppers with our fingers in one bite, using a piece of bread as a charger to catch the fruity olive oil drizzle.

In this season, four of the antipasto dishes are made with eggplant. A fresh capunatina is scooped up with bread, Moroccan-style. Thinly sliced violet-skinned eggplants are eaten hot off the grill. The tart flavor of raw, white eggplant marinated in lemon juice is offset by curls of aged pecorino scattered on top. Little eggplant balls fried in olive oil require a refreshing sip of dry white wine to neutralize the oily richness.

Stefana Gianfisco seems somewhat embarrassed by the compliments she always receives, but at the same time she knows we’re right; her food is great.

And whichever dish is lauded, Turiddu Gianfisco responds, “That’s from here.” Adding special emphasis by tapping his strong farmer’s finger on the table, he repeats, “From here.” Only the cheese is not from his domain. He flatly states, “That’s not from here.” Holding the moment just long enough to set up the punch line, he then gestures to a nearby hillside and says, “That’s from there.”

The first course is rigatoni in tomato sauce with pieces of fried eggplant cut to the size of the pasta. Stefana Gianfisco’s eggplant is fried in her own extra-virgin olive oil. Its sweet-pungent taste and mousse-y texture are a counterpoint in this hearty dish.

A large piece of pressed, salted ewes’ milk ricotta, ricotta salata, is passed around the table. We coarsely grate it over our pasta. The flakes fall into the bowl like gentle snow, melting slightly.

The second course takes Turiddu Gianfisco back to the wood fire, where he covers the grill with thinly cut mutton chops. Stefana Gianfisco joins him, and together they grill the chops, turning them often to prevent the surface from being charred and bitter.

The mutton chops are carried to the table mounded on a platter. For accompaniment, there is a just-picked mixed green salad. We delicately eat the chops off the bone, using our folding knives and fingers.

Almost as a footnote, Stefana Gianfisco sets down her final masterpiece of the day, eggplant palmigiana cut in small squares, “just to try.”

After a dessert of very fresh ripe fruit and a toast of wild strawberry liqueur, the entire company takes a post-prandial walk through the vineyard. Arm in arm, Stefana and Turiddu Gianfisco lead the strolling parade down a sunny dirt road. Soon we are wandering through the rows of vines crowned by their lush canopies. Turiddu and Nino Gianfisco casually sample grapes, beginning to think about the harvest and the wine-making work ahead.

In the center of the vineyard is an ancient hazelnut tree. A collection of battered outdoor chairs is nestled in its shade. We all settle in. Conversation meanders and our breathing slows like the balmy afternoon breeze. We fall into our naps, content and grateful for the gifts of this piece of Earth.

*

Schiavelli is an actor and author.

*

Visitors to Sicily can rent rooms in the Gianfisco family country house.

For more information, telephone Nino Gianfisco at 011-39-0921-688-128 or e-mail him at gianfisco@tiscalinet.it

Eggplant and Olive Salad (Capunatina)

Active Work Time: 40 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour plus 1 hour cooling and 30 minutes chilling

Turnugustu, “turning taste,” is basic to the spirit of Sicilian cuisine. The flavors of this capunatina illustrate this spirit, turning from sweet to salty and from bitter to piquant all in one bite. Serve this with good crusty bread to scoop it up Moroccan style.

EGGPLANT

1 pound large green olives with pits

2 large eggplants, about 1 1/4 pounds each

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1/4 cup golden raisins

Coarse salt

Freshly ground pepper

* Smash each olive with flat side of knife or kitchen mallet to facilitate removal of pit. To eliminate strong salt flavor from olives, soak pieces in cold water for rest of preparation time, changing water 3 times.

* Peel eggplant. Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 1/2-inch slices lengthwise. Cut lengths into 1/2-inch pieces.

* Place oil and celery in large, heavy-bottomed pot. Saute over medium heat until celery is translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant. Coat it with oil and cook, stirring so it doesn’t burn or stick, about 5 minutes.

* Drain olives and add them to pot, mixing well. Stir in raisins. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook at low heat until eggplant is quite soft, almost a chunky paste, 40 to 60 minutes. Stir from time to time.

TOMATO SAUCE

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled plum tomatoes, drained

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic

Coarse salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 sprig fresh basil, chopped

Freshly ground pepper

* Place tomatoes in bowl and squeeze them into a puree with your hands. Place olive oil and garlic into small, heavy saucepan over medium heat. When garlic turns golden on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes, discard it.

* Stir tomatoes into oil until well-blended and “creamy.” Season with salt, then add sugar, basil and several grindings of pepper. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce has thickened a bit, about 10 minutes. If sauce is ready before eggplant, turn off heat and leave it on stove until needed.

ASSEMBLY

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/4 cup blanched slivered almonds

* When eggplant is ready, remove lid, turn up heat and boil away liquid that separates when mixture is pushed aside with wooden spoon.

* Reduce heat, add Tomato Sauce and cook uncovered until capunatina thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

* Remove pot from heat, add vinegar and red pepper flakes. Turn capunatina into serving bowl. Stir in cocoa powder and almonds.

* While it cools, stir from time to time. When it reaches room temperature, about 1 hour, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until slightly chilled, about 30 minutes. If capunatina has been made in advance, let come to room temperature 1 hour before serving.

12 servings. Each serving: 203 calories; 376 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 15 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 2.12 grams fiber.

Lemon-Pickled Eggplant (Mulanciani suttu Limuni)

Active Work Time and Total Preparation Time: 10 minutes plus 2 hours standing

This amazingly simple dish is bursting with flavor. Baby white eggplant is macerated in lemon juice and olive oil and served with thin slices of pecorino cheese. In Polizzi, it is served as a tangy component of a summer antipasto. Use the long white eggplant, not the round. Serve this with good crusty bread.

4 baby white eggplants, about 1/4 pound each

Coarse salt

Juice of 2 small lemons

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 ounces imported pecorino Romano cheese, sliced from a larger piece

* Peel eggplants and cut them from blossom to stem in thin slices, about 1/8-inch thick. Lightly salt each slice on both sides.

* Arrange slices on large platter in single, slightly overlapping layer. Sprinkle with lemon juice and then olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap, and let pickle in cool place, not the refrigerator, 2 hours. Turn eggplant once during this time and slightly shake platter to ensure even distribution of dressing.

* Just before serving, scatter surface of eggplant with very thin slices of pecorino, cut with a sharp knife or cheese slicer.

6 servings. Each serving: 145 calories; 228 mg sodium; 7 mg cholesterol; 12 grams fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 0.75 gram fiber.

Cantaloupe and Eggplant Caponata (Capunata ‘i Meluni e Mulanciani)

Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 25 minutes plus 2 hours standing

The extraordinary combination of flavors in this ancient dish tricks the palate into tasting the eggplant as if it is in the same family as the cantaloupe.

It is widely believed that cantaloupe melon originated in the Italian city for which it is named. Literally translated, the name means “singing wolf.” It is important that the melon be 3 days under-ripe. A perfectly ripe melon will disintegrate when cooked, and a too green one will have an unpleasant squash-like flavor.

The remarkably refreshing flavor of this caponata makes it a perfect summer’s antipasto or an accompaniment to simply grilled meat or fish. Serve it with good crusty bread.

1 (2 1/2-pound) slightly unripe cantaloupe

1 or 2 eggplants, about 1 1/2 pounds total

Coarse salt

Water

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

* Halve cantaloupe and scoop out and discard seeds. Slice it into 1-inch wedges, remove skin and cut flesh into pieces about 1 1/2 inches long. Place pieces on a platter, uncovered, until needed.

* Peel eggplant and cut it into 1-inch square pieces. Place pieces in bowl, liberally salting each layer. Cover with cold water. Place a plate over eggplant to hold it under water. Let it soak, to leach out any bitterness, 1 1/2 hours.

* When eggplant has completed soaking, drain in colander. Rinse under cold running water to remove excess salt. Pat pieces dry with paper towels.

* Pour 3/4 cup oil into medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, saute eggplant until cooked yet firm, about 10 minutes, turning it with a spatula to prevent burning.

* Remove eggplant with slotted spoon and place it on paper towels to absorb grease. Thoroughly clean skillet.

* Mix together sugar and vinegar. Reserve until needed.

* Return skillet to stove and add remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Turn heat to high and when oil is nearly smoking, add melon. Saute until it gains a bit of color and begins to expel its orange liquid, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add eggplant. Gently turn melon and eggplant with spatula. After about a minute, when eggplant is hot, pour in vinegar in an even stream. Turn again. Let vinegar bubble until its aroma rises, about 1 minute. Transfer caponata to serving platter to cool. Sprinkle with grindings of pepper. Serve at room temperature.

6 servings. Each serving: 169 calories; 67 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.67 grams fiber.

Rigatoni With Tomato Sauce and Eggplant (Cavatuna ca Sarsa e Mulanciani)

Active Work Time: 45 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour plus 2 hours standing

There are many Sicilian versions of pasta with tomato sauce and eggplant. This one is unique in that the eggplant is cut to the same size as the rigatoni, so each bite bursts with flavor.

EGGPLANT

2 large eggplants, about 1 1/2 pounds each

Coarse salt

1 1/2 cups olive oil, for frying

* Peel eggplant. Cut it lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices. Salt slices on both sides and arrange them in 2 stacks of equal height in large shallow bowl. Place an upside-down plate on top. Press eggplant under a light weight, such as a can of tomatoes or a salt box, for 2 hours to express bitter liquid.

* Rinse eggplant of excess salt under a trickle of cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels and layer slices on platter with 2 sheets of paper towels between each layer.

* Heat oil in heavy 9-inch skillet over medium heat until very hot. Fry eggplant in batches until rich golden in color and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes each side. Drain excess grease on paper towels.

* When eggplant has cooled to room temperature, cut into 2 1/4-inch strips. Spread strips on paper towels to further absorb grease until needed.

TOMATO SAUCE

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled Italian plum tomatoes

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can whole peeled Italian plum tomatoes

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon tomato paste dissolved in 1/3 cup water

Freshly ground pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon dried basil

* Place food mill fitted with smallest-holed disk over bowl. Pour tomatoes and their liquid into mill. Puree to remove seeds, which can make sauce bitter. Scrape pulp from bottom of mill into bowl.

* Place onion and oil in heavy medium pot over medium heat and saute onion until it turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in dissolved tomato paste. Let it thicken about 1 minute and add tomatoes. (tomato puree? kg) Season with pepper to taste and add sugar and basil. (Do not salt sauce as there is enough salt in the eggplant and ricotta salata.) Reduce heat to low and simmer sauce, uncovered, stirring from time to time, until sauce thickens, 40 minutes. Do not let it boil.

ASSEMBLY

1 pound rigatoni

Salt

1 1/4 cups coarsely grated ricotta salata or myzithra

Freshly ground pepper

* When sauce has completed its cooking time, cook pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water until al dente, about 10 minutes.

* About 5 minutes after pasta begins cooking, place eggplant pieces in sauce to get hot. When pasta is cooked, drain thoroughly and place in warmed serving bowl. Toss with sauce and eggplant, and with ricotta salata. Serve very hot with additional freshly ground pepper to taste.

6 servings. Each serving: 513 calories; 404 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 83 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams protein; 3.82 grams fiber.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

How to Buy Eggplant

Choose eggplant with bright green stems and calyx. If this part is brown, it is a sure indication that the fruit has been off the plant too long and may be bitter or even rotten inside. The skin should be smooth and tight, and the eggplant itself should be heavy for its size.

According to Sicilian folk wisdom, the way to choose eggplant with the fewest seeds is by the shape of the mark at the blossom end. If this mark is a line or a narrow oval, there will be fewer seeds than if it is a circle.