Eat Drink Shop- Palermo

My favorite painting of the Vucceria market by Renato Guttuso
This week in Palermo has been full of eating drinking and shopping!swordfish is a speciality in Palermo, guess so if they come this big!

It is the perfect season to be here.

We were able to participate in the first pressing of olive oil
with Gabriella at Becchina in Castelvetrano,where we had a cooking class, tour and olive oil tasting.

The color of new oil at Becchina

olives for sale in the Capo market for curing

We braved the flea market and were rewarded with treasures,
next time really should drive down to take things home.

huge glasses of house white before shopping

We also had another cooking day and tour of the Capo market with my friend Vincenzo.

Vincenzo ordering us a tasting of Sicilian Pizza ” sfincione”

The market is a real treat, I adore trying new street food.

This time I enjoyed the spleen sandwiches, must have been the extra cheese on top,
but what I really loved was the mystery meat in the basket.

As soon as I spoke to friends about touring the market they asked if I saw the man with the basket.

Apparently both Tony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmerman
have both been here and eaten from the “basket”.

No one is allowed to see what is inside, he reaches in leaving the pot covered with a towel and brings out a handful of the “meat”.

It is fabulous whatever it is. I imagine cooked in lard as the spleen is for the sandwich.
Every thing tastes better cooked in pork fat doesn’t it?

The “other- other meat” is the milza or spleen sandwich, also heated up in lard

here he is squeezing off the excess lard before serving us

Fichi di india are in season and come in crazy shades

Hard to believe but we didn’t have gelato! But we did have the fabulous Torta di Sette Veli from Spinnato bakery.
Knowing that it was Luca Mannori who created it when he won the Pastry competion, made it all the more fun to taste it.

This week was filled with the blend of flavors from a multi-ethnical heritage.
When in Trapani we tried a fish couscous
and saw salt being harvested from the salt pans.

In Marsala we had a tasting at the famous Florio cantina’s, which have recently been restored.

A week isn’t enough to discover all Palermo and the area has to offer, must return again and soon!

 

tiles for sale at the Santa Rosalia shrine
(which was closed,as some boulders had fallen inside the chapel) 

huge ficus trees in park near my little B&B AGAVE
with Massimo and Evelina 

Salvatore, my first gelato this trip, cinnamon and chocolate gelato served in a brioche
the cinnamon was incredible.
Located in the Piazza near my B&B.