ON THE ROAD today: why not use that guidebook we bought a week or so ago, Osterie d'Italia, the Slow Food guide to restaurants in Italy? So after a long morning in the Archaeological Museum in Siracusa we drove back to Noto, theoretically to see the wonderful Baroque city, in fact to have lunch. And there we had
Antipasto rustico: the usual plate of eggplant, salami, cheese, olives, fennel, peppers, potato croquette — but oh my these were good: the eggplant dusted with pepper, the croquette soft as a baby's cheek, the salami and fennel unusually piquant, the olive oil deep and flavorful.
Then Lindsey had spaghetti con vongole and I went on to tunino achipudata, tuna steak cooked a bit too long to my taste, covered with sweated red and yellow peppers, onions, tomatoes.
Chardonnay, 2008
THEN IT WAS BACKto Siracusa to see a puppet show; and then we drove to Catania for dinner and to spend the night. Dinner at, why not, another Slow Osteria, where we sat comfortably at a table in the street under a nearly full moon and had a nice slow meal:
I started with a delicious timbale of sardines, the fillets lining a cup in which tomatoes, onions, and peppers were combined with, I think, some fish paté. Lindsey contented herself with grilled swordfish and a potato salad: simply cut-up potatoes, steamed until done al dente, dressed with oil and vinegar.
I had the house baccalà, hot hot hot in an individual cassolette, again mixed with peppers, tomatoes, onions, and capers. For dessert, an almond mousse with a very little bit of chocolate sauce, because that was what I stipulated.
Grillo, Dinare del Duco, 2008 •Trattoria del Crocifisso da Baglieri, via Principe Umberto 46-48, Noto; tel. 0931 571151 •Metro, via del Crociferi 76, Catania; tel. 095 322098
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