polipo e ceci – octopus and chickpeas

This recipe came to me in a flash of inspiration one Saturday morning, and although I have since discovered that the octopus-legume combination is appreciated elsewhere in Italy, I still feel some smug satisfaction for having “invented” the recipe before finding out that actually I hadn’t. I say “recipe” because that’s what it is, but only in the same way that “ham sandwich” is a recipe. Unlike a ham sandwich, it does involve cooking, albeit Continue Reading →

street food and markets, palermo

The idea was to pop to Palermo for the morning and do the rounds of its three historic markets: Ballarò, il Capo and la Vucciria, eating my way through them, as I sampled the city’s renowned street food. And so it was, half asleep, that I tumbled out of the train after a three-hour journey, to the vibrant buzz of one of my favourite cities. This is Sicily at its most extreme, with breath-taking churches Continue Reading →

insalata di polipo – octopus salad

Before coming to Italy I’d only ever eaten octopus once, in Rhodes. I can still visualize the plate in front of me to this day. It is a source of constant amazement, not to mention concern, to my wife that I can recall not only dishes, but entire meals I ate years ago. Anyway, in this case I feel justified, since the Rhodian octopus was one of those defining moments in my love story with Continue Reading →