9 July 2013

SICILY – homeland of the family who built an entire restaurant around the concept of Cicchetti, the snack food Venetian gondoliers wolf after a long day in the backwaters.

As if to make amends to the old country, the Distefanos’ slick eaterie in the House of Fraser is devoting July to a monthlong celebration of Sicilian food. It’s the second instalment of the regional feature menu, ‘Giro d’Italia’ (journey through Italy), created for them by celeb chef Aldo Zilli. The plan is each month a different region.

June featured the Abruzzo (Aldo’s territory) while August visits the cuisine of Naples and the Campania (resident chef Giovanni’s native land). I expect by December they’ll have discovered a dishwasher from Friuli with a stash of Mamma’s favourite recipes.

It’s hard to believe there’ll be a better line-up of dishes than that from the land of lemons, olives and Etna. Authentic, seasonal ingredients, products of a rich volcanic soil and powerful sun, have been flown and treated with great finesse.

This being Cicchetti, always eclectic (and rarely even faithful to the City of Water), we started with a plate of the most divine salamis and oozingly gorgeous burata that had no Sicilian lineage (unlike San Carlo Group boss Carlo Distefano, who was born there).

The Sicilian menu was, as follows (with prices):

Pituni alla messinese (£6.95)

Fried stuffed pizza with sausage & strong Sicilian cheese

Carpaccio di polipo al pistacchio (£7.95)

Octopus carpaccio with pistachio and Sicilian spicy orange dressing

Calamari ripieni all norma (£6.95)

Stuffed calamari with salted ricotta, pine nuts, capers & anchovies in  Sicilian roasted tomato sauce.

Bucatini al finocchio selvatino e sarde (£8.95)

Wild fennel & sardines with bucatini pasta

Braciole di maiale nero dell’Etna (£9.95)

Paillard of black pig from Etna cooked on lava stone with aubergine & mint

Pesce spada al salmoriglio (£9.95)

BBQ swordfish Trapani-style

Pesche dell’isola, al marsala (£4.95)

Sicilian peaches with almonds, marsala wine & homemade ice cream

Stand-out dishes were the bucatini pasta with sardines and the Trapani style swordfish in its rich lathering of salmoriglio – lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper.

The dense, intensely favoured swordfish easily handled a peppery, juicy version of Siciliy’s trademark red, Nero D’Avola, but the real find was our earlier white, Colomba Platino, an elegant floral concoction with ripe banana and melon coming through on the palate. The red is £26.85 a bottle, the white £29.95.

Available seven days a week during July only, this taste of Sicily is just lovely. And it even matches our current weather (as I write).

For dinner reservations call San Carlo Cicchetti on 0161 839 2233. sancarlocicchetti.co.uk.

Pictures of the dishes by Carl Sukonik.