Vegetarian Italian recipes

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Risotto al radicchio di TrevisoRed chicory risotto

From December to February the farms around Treviso, in the Veneto, harvest radicchio tardivo, the late red chicory with long, curled, wine-coloured leaves, and towns across the province hold festivals in its honour. Cooked into a risotto, it softens and turns from crimson to a deep purple-brown, and its bitterness mellows into something sweet and nutty against the creamy rice. Local cooks splash in red wine, which adds depth and colour; for an alcohol-free risotto use an extra ladle of stock and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar. Chef's tip: keep back a handful of raw strips to scatter on top for crunch and colour.

40 min

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Polenta di patatePotato and buckwheat polenta

Up in the valleys of Trentino, where maize was scarce and potatoes grew well, cooks stretched their buckwheat by cooking it with mashed potato into a soft, grey-gold polenta. It is a cold-weather dish of the Val di Non and Val di Sole, stirred in a heavy pot and finished with buttery onions and cubes of local cheese that melt into pockets. Earthy from the buckwheat and smooth from the potato, it is often served alongside mushrooms or a salad of bitter leaves. Chef's tip: use floury potatoes and mash them right in the pot, in their cooking water, to keep the polenta light.

50 min

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Canederli agli spinaciSpinach bread dumplings

Green canederli, Spinatknödel in German, are a fixture of the mountain huts and village inns of Trentino and South Tyrol, from the Val di Fiemme to the streets of Bolzano. Day-old bread is soaked in milk and bound with egg, chopped spinach and mountain cheese, then rolled into fist-sized balls and poached until light but firm. They arrive two to a bowl in steaming broth, or drained and dressed with melted butter and grated cheese. The best-known canederli are made with speck; this is the spinach and cheese version, served in vegetable stock. Chef's tip: poach one test dumpling first; if it starts to break up, work a spoonful more flour into the mix.

60 min

Italian Soups

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Strangolapreti trentiniSpinach and bread gnocchi

The name means priest-stranglers, and in Trento they like to say it dates from the Council of the 1500s, when visiting clergy ate these little green gnocchi so greedily they nearly choked. Thrifty and simple, they are made from stale bread soaked in milk and beaten with spinach or chard, egg and grated cheese, then poached and rolled in sage butter. Expect a soft, tender dumpling with a fresh green flavour, found on trattoria menus across Trentino in autumn and winter. Chef's tip: chop the spinach as finely as you can, almost to a purée, for smooth gnocchi that hold together.

50 min

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Cjarsons della CarniaSweet and savoury filled pasta

Each village in the Carnia mountains of Friuli keeps its own recipe for cjarsons, and families argue happily about whether chocolate, cinnamon or lemon balm belongs inside. The old story ties them to the cramârs, pedlars who walked over the Alps selling spices and brought exotic flavours home. Served at weddings, feast days and Sunday lunch, these half-moons hold a potato filling sweet with raisins and fragrant with mint and parsley, finished with brown butter, cinnamon sugar and grated smoked ricotta. The mix of salty, sweet and smoky is unlike any other pasta in Italy. Chef's tip: pinch the edges into a twisted rope; it seals well and looks the part.

120 min

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Frico con patatePotato and cheese skillet cake

Frico was born in the mountain pastures of Carnia, in the north of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where herders cooked cheese ends and potatoes together in an iron pan over the fire. Today it is the region's signature dish, served in Udine's osterie and at village festivals in wedges beside soft polenta. The outside sets into a crisp, brown cheese crust while the inside stays soft, stringy and rich with sweet onion. Chef's tip: mix a young Montasio, which melts, with a more aged one, which gives the crust its flavour and crunch.

35 min

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Presnitz triestinoSpiced fruit puff pastry spiral

Trieste's pastry shops, many of them founded in the Habsburg years, sell presnitz all year but above all at Easter, when it sits on the table next to the sweet Easter breads. Unlike the yeasted gubana from inland Friuli, it is made from flaky puff pastry rolled thin around a long rope of nuts, dried fruit, chocolate and spice, then coiled into a flat spiral and baked crisp. Slices shatter into buttery flakes around a dense, aromatic centre. The filling is traditionally soaked in rum; orange juice is a good alcohol-free swap. Chef's tip: use all-butter puff pastry and check the label, since some brands use non-vegetarian fats.

120 min

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Gubana friulanaNut and raisin pastry spiral

Gubana comes from Cividale del Friuli and the Natisone valleys on the Slovenian border, where it is baked for Easter, weddings and christenings and shared in slices from a coiled round loaf. A soft, sweet yeast dough is rolled around a dark filling of walnuts, raisins, pine nuts and candied peel, then curled up like a snail shell so each slice shows a spiral. Locals often splash a little grappa or plum brandy over each slice and the filling is usually laced with it too; orange juice works in its place for an alcohol-free gubana. Chef's tip: bake it a day ahead, wrapped well, as the filling grows moister and spicier overnight.

180 min

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Jota triestinaBean and sauerkraut soup

Jota is the soup of Trieste, the port city where Italian, Slovenian and Austrian cooking meet, and it is ladled out all winter in the city's old buffet restaurants and in the Karst villages behind it. Borlotti beans, potatoes and sour sauerkraut cook down into a thick, tangy soup that warms you through when the bora wind blows. The traditional version is cooked with pork ribs or rind; here smoked paprika, caraway and garlic give the smoky depth, so it is fully vegan. Chef's tip: make it a day ahead; like most bean soups, jota tastes better reheated.

120 min

Italian Soups

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SchlutzkrapfenSpinach and quark half-moon pasta

Schlutzkrapfen come from the farmhouse kitchens of South Tyrol, around Bressanone and the Val Pusteria, and are a fixture of autumn menus once the first snow dusts the Dolomites. A firm dough of rye and wheat flour wraps a soft filling of spinach and fresh quark, folded into half-moons and served in foaming brown butter with chives and cheese. The rye gives them an earthy, slightly sour bite that sets them apart from Italian ravioli further south. Chef's tip: roll the dough thinner than you think and keep the unused part covered, as rye dough dries out quickly.

90 min

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PanettoneChristmas fruit bread

Every December Milan's bakeries stack panettone to the ceiling, and Milanese families trade them as gifts before eating thick slices with coffee on Christmas morning. Legends about its birth at the Sforza court abound, but what matters is the texture: a tall dome with a crumb that pulls apart in long, feathery strands, scented with orange, lemon and vanilla and dotted with raisins and candied peel. Bakers use a natural starter that takes days; this home version uses a small amount of yeast and two long rises over a day. Chef's tip: keep the dough between 24 and 27 °C throughout, such as in an oven with only the light switched on.

1440 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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Pane nero di segaleDark rye bread

In the villages of the Valle d'Aosta, rye was the grain that would grow at altitude, and each autumn families took turns at the communal wood-fired oven to bake enough dark loaves to last until spring. Every October the valley still lights those old ovens for a bread festival, and the round, flour-crackled pan ner is sold at markets from Aosta to Gressan. The crumb is dense, moist and slightly sour, with a thick crust; it is eaten with butter, mountain cheese or a bowl of soup. Chef's tip: wait until the loaf is completely cold before slicing, as rye keeps setting as it cools.

240 min

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Tegole valdostaneAlmond hazelnut biscuits

Walk the arcaded streets of old Aosta and the pastry shops have stacks of tegole in the window, thin as paper and curved like the stone roof slabs of the valley's chalets. They are offered with an after-dinner coffee or packed in tins as a present from the mountains. Ground almonds and hazelnuts give them a toasty, buttery crunch that shatters at the first bite. Most recipes include a spoon of wheat flour; this one uses potato starch, so the biscuits are gluten free. Chef's tip: bake a test biscuit first; if it spreads too much, chill the batter for 15 minutes.

35 min

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Polenta conciaPolenta with fontina

High in the Valle d'Aosta, polenta concia is what comes out of the kitchen of a mountain refuge after a cold day on the slopes above Cogne or Courmayeur. Soft yellow polenta is layered in a hot dish with cubes of fontina, the valley's own alpine cheese, then drowned in sizzling brown butter until the cheese melts into long, stretchy strings. It is rich, savoury and very filling, best eaten from the dish with a green salad alongside. Chef's tip: cube the fontina while the polenta cooks and keep it at room temperature, so it melts at once instead of staying in cold lumps.

45 min

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Grissini torinesiHand-stretched breadsticks

Turin claims grissini as its own: the story goes that a court baker stretched bread into thin, dry sticks in the 1600s for a sickly young Savoy duke who could not digest soft loaves. Today a bundle of long, knobbly grissini stirati sits on nearly every Piedmontese restaurant table, ready to snap with antipasti. Made by hand they are lighter and more uneven than the boxed kind, golden and brittle with a faint taste of olive oil. Children love making them. Chef's tip: stretch each strip by holding both ends and letting it swing as you pull, which gives that rustic, slightly twisted look.

120 min

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BonetChocolate amaretti pudding

Bonet closes the long holiday lunches of the Langhe and Monferrato, turned out of its tin glossy with caramel and cut into thick slices. The name is dialect for a cap, after the round copper mould it was once baked in. Crushed amaretti give the custard a soft almond grain, and cocoa makes it taste like a set chocolate pudding with a bitter edge. Most cooks add a splash of rum or marsala; this recipe offers a coffee-and-vanilla version for an alcohol-free bonet. Chef's tip: bake it the day before; after a night in the fridge it slices cleanly and the caramel turns to a thin sauce.

90 min

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Peperoni ripieni alla piemonteseStuffed roasted peppers

Late summer in Turin means the fat, square peppers of Carmagnola piled high at Porta Palazzo market, and this is what Piedmontese cooks do with them. Halved and filled with peeled tomato and slivers of garlic, they roast until the skins blister and the juices turn sweet and jammy, then come to the table lukewarm as an antipasto. The old recipe hides an anchovy fillet in each half; here capers and black olives bring the same salty edge, so the dish is vegan. Chef's tip: keep the stalk on when you halve the peppers, as it helps each half hold its shape and its juices.

55 min

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Tajarin al burro e salviaEgg ribbon pasta in sage butter

In the hill villages around Alba, in Piedmont's Langhe, tajarin are the pasta of Sunday lunch: hair-thin strands made with so many egg yolks that the dough turns deep orange. Through October and November, when the white truffle fair fills Alba, restaurants toss them in plain butter and shave truffle over the top at the table. The rest of the year sage butter does the job, and the pasta stays the star: silky, rich and springy against the teeth. Chef's tip: cut the strands by hand from a loosely rolled sheet rather than through a machine cutter; slightly uneven tajarin hold the butter better.

60 min

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Torta sbrisolonaCrumbly almond cake

Nobody slices a sbrisolona. In Mantua, in the south-east of Lombardy, the round, golden cake is set whole in the middle of the table after dinner and cracked into rough pieces with a fist, and everyone grabs a shard. Coarse cornmeal and chopped almonds make it gritty, buttery and crunchy, closer to a giant biscuit than a sponge. It began as a farmhouse sweet made with lard; this version uses only butter. Chef's tip: keep your hands cool and stop rubbing in while the mixture still looks like coarse crumbs and small clumps.

60 min

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Pizzoccheri della ValtellinaBuckwheat pasta with cabbage and cheese

Pizzoccheri belong to the Valtellina, the steep valley of Lombardy near the Swiss border, and above all to the village of Teglio, where a local academy guards the recipe. Short, rough ribbons of grey-brown buckwheat pasta boil in one pot with potatoes and savoy cabbage, then go into a dish in layers with Valtellina Casera cheese and garlicky sage butter. It is a winter dish for ski huts and family kitchens: earthy, nutty and gloriously heavy. Chef's tip: buckwheat pasta breaks easily, so cut the ribbons short and fold the layers gently with two forks.

50 min

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CantucciTwice-baked almond biscuits

Cantucci, also called biscotti di Prato, are the hard almond biscuits of Prato, near Florence, where bakeries have sold them since the 1800s. The dough is shaped into logs, baked, sliced on the diagonal and baked again until crisp and golden, so they keep for weeks. In Tuscany they end a meal dipped in a small glass of Vin Santo; with coffee works just as well. The traditional recipe has no butter or oil, only eggs, sugar, flour and whole almonds. Chef's tip: slice the logs while still warm with a serrated knife and a firm sawing motion; once cold, they crumble.

60 min

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Vegetable pizza

Eight small pizzas on a soft yogurt dough made with half wholewheat flour, spread with hot pizza gravy and loaded with capsicum, pineapple, onion, mushrooms, olives, sweetcorn, chilli flakes and both mozzarella and cheddar. The bases can be baked ahead and topped when the guests arrive. Cut into quarters and serve hot.

125 min

Italian Pizza

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TaralliFennel and olive oil rings

Taralli are the crunchy rings found on every table in Puglia: with a glass of wine before dinner, in bags on the beach, or dunked in coffee. They are made with olive oil and dry white wine, no yeast or butter, and boiled briefly before baking, which gives them their shiny skin and fine, crumbly bite. Fennel seed is the classic flavour; black pepper or chilli are common too. They keep for weeks in a tin. Chef's tip: lift them out of the water the moment they float; longer boiling makes them hard and glassy instead of crumbly.

75 min

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Pumpkin tortelliPumpkin-filled pasta

Tortelli di zucca are the Christmas Eve dish of Mantua, in Lombardy, where the dense orange pumpkins of the Po plain are roasted and mashed with crushed amaretti biscuits, spicy fruit mostarda and hard cheese. The filling is sweet, salty and a little hot all at once, a taste that goes back to the Renaissance Gonzaga court. They are served simply, with melted butter, sage and more cheese. Chef's tip: roast the pumpkin rather than boil it, and make the filling the day before; a dry, rested filling is easy to pipe and the flavours blend.

120 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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PiadinaGriddled flatbread

Piadina is Romagna's everyday bread, cooked on a hot griddle (traditionally a terracotta testo) in chalet-style kiosks from Rimini to Ravenna and eaten folded around soft squacquerone cheese and rocket, or with grilled vegetables. It needs no yeast and is ready in half an hour, which is why families make it at home for quick suppers. The old recipe uses lard; olive oil gives a lighter, vegetarian result. Chef's tip: let the griddle get properly hot and cook the piadina dry, without oil; you want brown freckles and a few blisters, not a fried bread.

30 min

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Trofie al pesto genoveseTwisted pasta with basil pesto

In Genoa and along the Ligurian coast, pesto is pounded from small-leaved basil, pine nuts, garlic, hard cheese and local olive oil, and served on trofie, short twisted pasta, cooked in the same pot as diced potato and green beans. The starch from the potato helps the pesto cling, and the beans add sweetness. It is the dish of a summer lunch in the Cinque Terre. Chef's tip: never heat the pesto; loosen it with a spoon of pasta water in a bowl and toss the pasta off the heat so the basil stays bright green.

25 min

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FarinataChickpea flour pancake

Farinata is a thin, golden chickpea-flour pancake sold by the slice from wood-fired ovens in the sciamadde (old bakeries) of Genoa's port district, where people eat it hot, on paper, with black pepper. It is just chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt, with a crisp top and edges and a soft, custardy middle. In Nice it is called socca, in Livorno cecina. Start the batter 4 hours ahead (or the night before): resting is essential. Chef's tip: heat the oiled tin in the oven before pouring in the batter; the sizzle sets the base at once and gives crisp, lacy edges.

40 min

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Focaccia di ReccoThin cheese-filled flatbread

Focaccia di Recco has nothing to do with the thick, bubbly focaccia most people know: it is two sheets of unleavened dough stretched almost transparent, with blobs of soft, tangy cheese in between, baked in a blisteringly hot oven for a few minutes. It comes from the seaside town of Recco, east of Genoa, where bakeries sell it in the morning and families eat it as a first course. At home, use stracchino or crescenza, the creamy fresh cheeses closest to Ligurian prescinseua. Chef's tip: stretch the dough over the backs of your hands like a pizzaiolo; rolling alone never gets it thin enough.

37 min

Italian Breads & Parathas

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Onion focaccia

A soft, dimpled focaccia topped with thinly sliced red onion, crumbled paneer and mozzarella, torn basil, chilli flakes and crunchy sea salt, all drizzled with olive oil. It's crisp underneath and airy inside. Cut it into pieces and serve hot alongside barbecue dishes and salads.

145 min

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Risotto alla milaneseSaffron risotto

Risotto alla milanese is the saffron risotto of Milan, served on its own as a first course or beside ossobuco on Sunday tables, and a legend says it was first made in 1574 by a glass-painter's apprentice working on the Duomo who coloured rice with saffron. Milanese cooks use beef marrow and meat broth; here a well-flavoured vegetable stock keeps it vegetarian, with butter and hard cheese for richness. It should be all'onda: loose enough to ripple like a wave when you shake the plate. Chef's tip: keep the stock at a bare simmer beside the rice; cold stock stops the cooking and makes the grains chalky.

40 min

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Mushroom risotto

Risotto ai funghi is what Piedmont and Lombardy cook in October, when foragers bring porcini down from the Alpine foothills and markets in Alba, Turin and Bergamo sell baskets of wild mushrooms. At home, a handful of dried porcini and their soaking liquid give that deep, woodsy flavour to ordinary chestnut mushrooms. It is a first course in Italy and a full supper anywhere else. Chef's tip: brown the fresh mushrooms in a separate hot pan and fold half in at the end; they stay meaty instead of turning soft and grey.

45 min

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Risi e bisiRice and peas

Risi e bisi was once served to the Doge of Venice every 25 April, the feast of Saint Mark, when the first tender peas arrived from the lagoon islands. It sits between a soup and a risotto: thicker than a minestra, looser than risotto, eaten with a spoon. Venetians make a quick broth from the empty pods, which gives a sweet, grassy flavour no stock cube can match; pancetta often goes in, but this version keeps it vegetarian with parsley and butter. Chef's tip: when podding fresh peas, keep the pods; simmered for 20 minutes they make the whole dish taste of spring.

40 min

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Polenta with mushroomsPolenta with garlic mushrooms

In the Veneto and the mountain valleys of the north-east, polenta is the old daily staple, poured steaming onto a wooden board in the middle of the table. Its classic autumn partner is funghi trifolati: mushrooms sautéed with garlic, parsley and a splash of white wine until glossy and deeply savoury. Soft polenta is spooned into bowls with the mushrooms on top, a warming supper for a cold night. Chef's tip: whisk the cornmeal into the water in a thin stream; if it goes in all at once, it lumps and no amount of stirring will fix it.

40 min

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Potato gnocchiPotato gnocchi with sage butter

Potato gnocchi are made all over Italy, from Friuli to Rome, where trattorie still serve them on Thursdays ('giovedì gnocchi'). They are just floury potatoes and flour (an egg yolk is optional and makes them easier to handle) rolled into little pillows that cook in two minutes. Good gnocchi are light and tender, never chewy. Serve them with sage butter, as here, or a simple tomato sauce for children. Chef's tip: bake the potatoes in their skins instead of boiling; drier potatoes need less flour, and less flour means lighter gnocchi.

100 min

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Panna cotta

Panna cotta means 'cooked cream' and comes from the dairy country of the Langhe in Piedmont, where it is served after Sunday lunch, often with caramel or a few berries. Classic recipes set it with gelatine, which is made from animals; this version uses agar, a seaweed setting agent, so it is properly vegetarian. Agar sets firmer and faster, so the amount is small and it must be boiled to work. The result is creamy, just set and wobbles when you shake the plate. Chef's tip: boil the agar in the milk for a full 2 minutes before adding the cream; if it only warms, it will not set.

20 min

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SfogliatelleFlaky shell-shaped pastries

Sfogliatella riccia is the most famous pastry of Naples, sold warm from bakeries on Via Toledo and eaten for breakfast with an espresso: dozens of paper-thin layers fanned into a shell that shatters when you bite, around a filling of semolina, ricotta, candied orange and cinnamon. It is a project for a weekend, as the dough needs to be rolled very thin, wound into a tight log and chilled overnight. Neapolitan bakers use lard; this version uses a mix of butter and vegetable shortening. Chef's tip: a pasta machine is your best friend; roll the dough to the thinnest or second-thinnest setting so the layers separate into crisp leaves.

240 min

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CannoliFried shells with sweet ricotta

Cannoli were once a Carnival treat in Palermo; now Sicilian pastry shops fill them all year, piping the sweet sheep's-milk ricotta cream into the crisp, bubbly shells only when you order, so they never go soft. The ends are dipped in chopped pistachios, candied orange or chocolate chips. Traditional shells are fried with lard; this version uses butter in the dough and sunflower oil to fry. You need metal cannoli tubes. Chef's tip: drain the ricotta overnight and push it through a sieve; it makes a silky cream that holds its shape instead of a runny, grainy filling.

90 min

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Granita al limoneLemon ice

On summer mornings in Sicily, especially around Catania and Messina, breakfast is granita: a cup of soft, spoonable lemon ice with a warm brioche on the side for dipping. Sicilian granita is finer and creamier than a slushy, because it is stirred as it freezes. All you need is lemons, sugar and water, plus a fork and a freezer. It takes about four hours of occasional scraping. Chef's tip: steep the zest in the warm syrup for 20 minutes; the oils in the peel give a much fuller lemon flavour than juice alone.

240 min

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Cacio e pepe

Cacio e pepe is a Roman trattoria standard: just pasta, sheep's cheese and a lot of cracked black pepper, turned into a glossy cream with starchy cooking water. Romans order it as a primo at lunch, especially in the old osterie of Testaccio and Trastevere, and it was born as shepherds' food because dry pecorino and peppercorns kept for weeks. Tonnarelli (square egg-free spaghetti) is the classic shape; in southern Tuscany the same sauce coats pici, fat hand-rolled noodles, and the variation is in the last step. Chef's tip: toast the cracked pepper in the dry pan first, then splash in pasta water; it turns the pepper fragrant rather than harsh and starts the sauce base.

20 min

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SupplìFried rice croquettes

In Rome supplì are bought from pizza-by-the-slice shops and friggitorie and eaten standing up, wrapped in paper, before the pizza arrives. Unlike Sicilian arancini they are oval and the rice is cooked in tomato sauce, so the inside is orange-red; when you bite one in half, the mozzarella stretches into a long 'telephone cord', which is where the nickname al telefono comes from. Roman bars usually add meat ragù; this version keeps it vegetarian with a basil-scented tomato rice. Chef's tip: cook the rice a day ahead and chill it in a thin layer; cold, firm rice shapes neatly and does not split in the oil.

75 min

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Carciofi alla romanaBraised artichokes with mint

Every spring, from February to April, Roman market stalls pile up round, thornless romanesco artichokes (cimaroli), and trattorie serve them alla romana: stuffed with wild mint, parsley and garlic and braised stem-up in oil and water until meltingly soft. They are eaten warm or at room temperature as a contorno, often next to their crisp cousins, carciofi alla giudia. Any large globe artichoke works at home. Chef's tip: braise them upside down, stems in the air and tightly packed, so the hearts sit in the liquid and the stems steam to the same tenderness.

50 min

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Parmigiana di melanzaneBaked aubergine with tomato and mozzarella

Parmigiana di melanzane is Campania's big summer bake, made when aubergines are cheap and glossy and served for Sunday lunch or carried in a tin to the beach. Fried slices of aubergine are layered with a quick basil tomato sauce, fior di latte and grated hard cheese, then baked until the edges bubble and darken. It is better warm than piping hot, and better still the next day, cut into neat squares. Chef's tip: salt the slices and press them for 30 minutes before frying; they drink less oil and the layers stay distinct instead of watery.

90 min

Italian Vegetarian

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Pasta e patatePasta with potatoes

Pasta e patate is Neapolitan home cooking at its most thrifty: potatoes and mixed broken pasta (pasta mista, the odds and ends from many packets) cooked together in one pot like a risotto, until the potato breaks down and the starch makes everything creamy. Naples families eat it on weekday evenings in winter, and many stir in cubes of smoked provola at the end so it goes stringy (pasta patate e provola). Children love it. Chef's tip: cut half the potato small and half larger; the small pieces melt into the sauce while the larger ones keep their shape.

40 min

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Pasta e fagioliBean and pasta soup

In Naples pasta e fagioli (pasta e fasule in dialect) is thick enough to stand a spoon in, made with cannellini or borlotti beans, a few cherry tomatoes, garlic and broken pasta cooked straight in the bean broth. It is a cheap, filling Friday-night meal in many Neapolitan homes, and the bean starch, not cream or cheese, makes it velvety; this version stays vegan. Chef's tip: blend a ladle of the beans before the pasta goes in; it thickens the soup naturally so the pasta is coated, not swimming.

45 min

Italian Soups

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Pizza frittaFried pizza parcels

Pizza fritta is the street-food pizza of Naples: a disc of pizza dough folded over a filling and fried in hot oil until puffed and blistered, sold from kiosks in the Spanish Quarter and around Via dei Tribunali. It became popular after the war, when wood ovens were scarce and a pan of oil was all many cooks had. The classic filling has ricotta, smoked provola, tomato and pepper; pork crackling (cicoli) is often added, but not here. Chef's tip: seal the edge by pressing with your fingertips, not a fork, and leave a 2 cm border; a well-sealed parcel puffs like a pillow instead of bursting.

50 min

Italian Pizza

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Arancini with mushrooms and peasMushroom and pea rice balls

Arancini are the pride of Sicilian rosticcerie, eaten mid-morning or as a snack on the ferry across the Strait of Messina; in Palermo they are round and called arancine, in Catania they are cone-shaped. The rice is cooked with saffron, cooled, then wrapped around a filling and fried until the crust is crackling gold. The best-known filling is meat ragù; this vegetarian version uses a thick tomato ragù of mushrooms and peas with a cube of caciocavallo or mozzarella, which is also found in Sicilian bars. Chef's tip: let the filling cool completely and keep it thick; a wet filling seeps through the rice and makes the balls split.

120 min

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CaponataSweet and sour aubergine stew

Caponata is the agrodolce dish of Sicily: cubes of fried aubergine, crisp celery, green olives and capers in a glossy tomato sauce sharpened with vinegar and softened with a little sugar. Palermo families keep a bowl in the fridge through late summer and eat it at room temperature as an antipasto, a side or on bread, and many say it is best on the second day. The sweet-sour balance shows the Arab influence on Sicilian cooking. Chef's tip: blanch the celery for 2 minutes before frying; it keeps a pleasant crunch without tasting raw.

45 min