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Sicily

It's hard to know where to start with the big island (Sicilia in Italian) where ancient and Byzantine Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans and Spaniards have left behind culinary delights, with plenty of aubergines, olives, pine nuts, anchovies, and especially capers.

Just to scratch the surface: pasta con le sarde or pasta alla Norma are popular starters; sweet-sour caponata goes with fish. The island makes great street food, from arancini to sfincione, and shows its sweet tooth in cassata, cannoli and frutta martorana.

The name is derived from the Sikels, one of the island's ancient pre-Greek tribes. Sicilian is one of the hardest to understand of Italy's regional languages; see Italian pronunciation for some helpful hints.

acciughe

anchovies

agghiotta

seafood stew

aglio

garlic

Ainuzzi

cow's cheese in the shape of animals

ammoglio

a Sicilian sauce

anchellini

bead-shaped pasta

arancia

orange

arancia rossa

blood orange

arancini

extra-special rice croquettes—or a sweet

Averna

Sicily's digestivo

biancomangiare

blancmange

bottarga

tuna or mullet roe

braciola

a chop, a thin steak, or involtini

buccellato

Sicilian fruitcake

busambrina

Sicilian bresaola

busiate

pasta rolled on an iron rod

cabbucio

Trapani’s pizza sandwich

cacio

semi-soft cheese

Caciocavallo

hanged sheep or cow's milk cheese

Caciucavaddu

Sicilian Caciocavallo

caldume

chopped innards cooked in hot broth

Canestrato

partially cooked cheese made in a basket

Cannoli

Sicilian ricotta pastries

caponata

Sweet sour eggplant (aubergine) salad

cappero

caper

caprino

goat cheese

carruba

carob or St John's bread

cartocci

doughnut twists filled with ricotta and chocolate bits

cassata

Sicily's famous cake

cassatedde

ricotta filled pastry moons

cazzilli

potato croquettes

ciarduna

crispy curled almond wafter shells

cime di rapa

brassica rapa

Cinisara and Modicana

black cattle of Sicily

cioccolato modicano

Sicily's Aztec chocolate

citrulidda

little cucumber

clementina

clementine

cobaita

sesame and honey sweet

cotoletta

cutlet

cuccia

boiled wheat sweet

cuddrurieddra

a sweet doughnut made with boiled potatoes

cuddura

bread rings and many other things

cunzato

'seasoned' Sicilian sandwich

cusciottu

leg

cuscus

couscous

cutugnata

quince preserve

fagioli

beans, beans, beans and more beans

farsumagru

rolled steak, stuffed and braised

fave

broad beans

fedde del cancelliere

'chancellor's bottom' sweets

femminello

aromatic lemons

fico d'India

prickly pear

finocchio

fennel

focaccia

flat bread, usually

fragola

strawberry (and some other things)

fravioli

sweet fried ravioli

frittole

boiled and pressed meat scraps

frutta di martorana

mini-marzipan fruits

gambero rosso

red prawns

gattò

cake (both savoury or sweet)

gelo

cold dessert

gnocculli

pasta from Trapani

gola

throat

granita

Italian ices

grano duro

durum wheat

involtini

roulades

lampuga

dolphinfish

lattume

tuna sperm

limone

lemon

macco/maccu

broad bean soup

mafalda

durum semolina bread with sesame seeds

maglie

medium length pasta

Maiorchino

a sporty Sicilian sheep cheese

mandarino

clementine (tangerine)

mandorle

almonds

manna

sweet sap of the Mediterranean ash tree

margherita

pizza with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil

Marsala

sweet (or dry) wine from western Sicily

masculina da magghia

traditionally caught Sicilian anchovies

melanzane

aubergine (eggplant)

melone

melon

miele

honey

milza

spleen

minni di virgine

virgin's breasts pastries

moscato

muscat wine

mostaccioli dolci

traditional Christmas biscuits of the south

mpanatigghi

a sweet with meat

mpanata

pie or hot cheese with bread

muffuletta

round sesame bread

mustazzoli

honey biscuits

neonata

spawn

nespola

loquat

Norma

Sicilian pasta dish

nucatoli

S-shaped biscuits filled with dried fruit and nuts

oliva

olive

olivette

a veal dish or sweets shaped like big olives

pachino

tasty tomatoes

pagnotta

white bread

pane

bread

pane caliatu

twice-baked bread

panelle

chick pea fritters

Panuzzu Affumicato

Smoked cow's milk cheese balls

passito

straw wine, wine from dried grapes

pecorino

sheep's milk cheese

peperonata

stewed bell peppers

peperoncino

chili peppers

pesca

peach

pesce spada

swordfish

pesto

more than one kind of sauce

Piacentino Ennese

sheep cheese flavoured with saffron

pidoni

mini calzoni

pigna

Easter (or Christmas) cake

pignolata

frosted fritters

pistacchio

pistachio

primo sale

'salted' fresh sheep cheese

Provola

cheese from Campania and Sicily

puttanesca

'whore-style sauce'

Ragusano

A DOP Sicilian cheese

reginelle

sesame biscuits

riccio

sea urchin

ricotta

soft whey cheese

ricotta salata

'salted' ricotta

Robiola

soft white cheese in many forms

rosolio

cordial

sale

salt

salsiccia alla pizzaiola

sausage with tomatoes

sarda

sardine or pilchard

scaccia

folded pizza

scagliozzi

fried slices of polenta

schiacciata

flat or fluffy breads

seppia

cuttlefish

sfincia

pastries for St Joe

sfincione

Sicilian thick pizza (or calzone)

spatola

silver scabbardfish (or a spatula)

stigghiola

lamb chitterlings

stoccafisso

stockfish, or wind-dried cod

suino nero

black pig

supprissato di Nicosia

dry pork sausage from Etna

susina

plum

tardivo di ciaculli

Sicilian mandarins

Tarocco dal Muso

slightly bell shaped oranges

tenerumi

shoots or tendrils

tiella

a word of many meanings

timballo

pasta or rice casserole

tonno

tuna

Tuma

a Sicilian cheese that travelled far

Turiddu

spicy Sicilian pasta dish

tutone

anise liqueur from Sicily

uva

grape

Vastedda

DOP sheep cheese (or bread) from Sicily

ventresca

tuna (or pork) belly

verdello

green lemons

zammù

anise flavoured drink

zeppole

'St Joseph's pastries'

zibibbo

muscat of Alexandria

ziti

pasta tubes

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls