Biscuits straight from the sky
Erice is halfway to the sky. On many serpentines you reach the medieval village in the west of Sicily. The view from the 750 meter high mountain is spectacular: Mighty mountains, the sea with the three Egadi islands, the port city of Trapani? With a little luck you can even see the African coast. But what you always see everywhere are almond trees. Because Sicily is the island of almonds. As early as February, when it's cold, the trees are beautifully blooming, and you feel like you were in the first spring rush.
Art at the biscuit: almond biscuits
In Agrigento the famous almond blossom festival is celebrated. The Sicilian people used to process and export the fruits of the trees to marzipan in the Middle Ages. You know you love sweets? must be due to the Arab influence. Almost 200 years, the Arabs have made on the island wide. Now it is the tourists. In the summer, groups in the narrow streets become entangled, and Sicilians are also seeking refuge from the heat. They eat a gelato or buy the famous almond biscuits from Giacoma Pirro or her aunt Maria Grammatico.
Both women have their own shop, the products are the same. Those who suffer from weak decision making have a hard time in the small shop of Giacoma Pirro. Should it be 250 grams of "Lingue di suocera" (mother-in-law tongues), fine long-crust pastry? Or rather "Belli e Brutti", biscuit lumps based on almonds, not pretty to look at, but extremely delicious? Or "sospiri" (sigh), powdered almond balls? Tourists also like to be packed with the classic, shiny marzipan fruits. But two of the bananas or prickly pears in the afternoon, and you can forget the dinner. , , On large bowls are the handcrafted calorie bombs lovingly draped and well lit? Art at the biscuit.
Giacoma, 38-year-old boss and mother of three daughters, loves her creations. Eating a lot of it, even at breakfast, trying out new recipes, working in the summer often from morning to night. Her hands are quite big for the petite body. Has she gotten bad teeth over the years? the revenge of passion. During peak season, up to 15 people, mostly women, work for her. The boss, who has hardly seen anything but the world apart from Rome, has a decided but not authoritarian attitude.
The business is going well, she and her aunt are exporting to America and Japan. They buy the almonds in the south of the island, directly from the farmers. In winter, when the pasticceria closes for a few months, Giacoma becomes restless, missing the soft mass between her fingers. Where do the recipes come from? This is a crazy story, almost a novel substance. Giacoma laughs. We are sitting in the bakery, in front of us on the table are thick rolls of marzipan.
"My mother and my aunt lost their father early, my grandmother was overwhelmed with six children, so the two girls came to the monastery of San Carlo in Erice, which also took orphans." The nuns, says Giacoma, have made and sold almond biscuits. However, they wanted to keep their recipes to themselves. The girls had to knead the dough and form biscuits, but were not allowed to lift their heads? they should not see which ingredients were used in which amount. "My aunt did spy, but when she left the convent in 1962, she knew all the recipes."
Two years later, Maria Grammatico opened her own shop in Erice. Since she was unmarried, she was repeatedly referred to by evil tongues as a "prostitute"? insulted. But the almond entrepreneur was not deterred. And the shop, in which Giacoma's mother also worked, made a profit. "She stole the recipes from the nuns," Giacoma says happily, "and passed them on to me." Today the monastery is closed. Maria, now 66, is still in her shop from morning to night. She has no children, but Giacoma, who loves her all over and noisily chops off when the two women see each other. For lunch. To talk ? about God, biscuits and the world.
As a child, Giacoma occasionally heard of the monastic tales. Of the relentless sisters, the monotonous monastery food, the secret recipes. That was her imagination, of course. But also justified their pronounced pragmatism. "My aunt and mother had to get up early, so it was natural for me as a child to work for Maria," says Giacoma. When she was nine, did she stand behind the counter after school? on tiptoe? and served customers. "That gave me self-confidence, before that I was pretty shy." At the age of 14 she left school.Her parents did not want the daughter to attend secondary school in Trapani, 15 kilometers away, too far for a young girl. , , Giacoma got books on literature and history and continued reading after work at home. Did she meet her husband when he bought almond biscuits in the shop? he too is a marzipan maniac. She married at 18, got three daughters, opened her own pasticceria in Erice in 1995. As she lives in Trapani with her family, she drives up the switchbacks every day to her bakery on the mountain.
The tradition lives on
Next to her in the car sits her 18-year-old daughter named after Aunt Maria. She is also interested in the recipes of the strict brides of God. At sixteen, she did not want to go to school any more, but rather knead dough. Giacoma was against, Maria should learn something, after all, she herself had not had this opportunity. Mary, however, was stubborn like a donkey and could not be dissuaded from the marzipan. So she, too, got her place in the bakery? and the almond passion is already in the third generation. Must probably be in the genes.
Travel Information: Sicily
STAY Hotel E limo: Small, elegant hotel in Erice, spectacular terrace; Double room from 110 Euro (Via Vittorio Emanuele, 23, Tel. 00 39/09 23 86 93 77, Fax 09 23 86 92 52, Hotel E limo Azienda A grituristica Duca di Castelmonte: Splendid agriturismo at Trapani garden, swimming pool and animals delight children. Very good kitchen with lots of vegetables; Low season: 38 Euro per person with breakfast, half board 55 Euro. High season: 45 to 65 euros (Via Salvatore Motisi, 3, Xitta, Tel. 00 39/09 23 52 61 39, Fax 09 23 88 31 40, Duca di Castelmonte
EAT Elimo Hotel Ristorante: Good antipasti buffet, imaginative dishes (Erice, see accommodation). Hotel Moderno Erice. Good local cuisine, excellent fish (Erice, Via Vittorio Emanuele, 63, Tel. 00 39/09 23 86 93 00).
SHOPPING Erice: Antica pasticceria del convento. This is the name of the business of Giacoma Pirro (Via Guarnotta, 1). La Pasticceria di Maria G rammatico belongs to her aunt (Via Vittorio Emanuele, 14, Amria Grammatico Trapani: Colicchia. Everybody knows in the city. Almond biscuits, marzipan fruits and in summer? Granita? (Water ice), almond flavored (Via delle Arti, 6/8, Via Carosio, 30/32). Bar 900 Filingeri: Large selection of marzipan fruits and biscuits. There are drinks at the bar (Via G. B. Fardella, 84).
Recipe: marzipan
marzipan fruits
for 700 g marzipan paste 400 g peeled almonds, 300 g finest sugar, 1 packet of bourbon vanilla sugar, possibly some powdered sugar? Chop almonds, a few tablespoons of sugar and vanilla sugar in small portions in a lightning chopper. ? Add almond-sugar mixture and the remaining sugar to a mixing bowl and use the dough hooks of the hand mixer to make a crumbly mass. If the dough does not hold together, you may need to add a few tablespoons of water. ? Knead the marzipan vigorously on a worktop with your hands. If it is very sticky, add some more powdered sugar. ? Wrap the marzipan in cling film and refrigerate. Tip: Use only whole almonds, grind fresh and process immediately. Premilled almond flour dries quickly and loses part of the aroma.
Recipe: Sospiri ("sigh" biscuits)
about 75 pieces 1 recipe "marzipan" (see above), 1? 2 organic lemon, 1 tsp liquid honey, 2 egg whites (from small eggs); Powdered sugar for dusting? Once prepare the recipe "marzipan" as described above. ? Rinse the lemon hot, dab it dry and finely grate the skin. ? First knead the lemon peel, honey and egg white with the dough hooks of the hand mixer, then with your hands under the marzipan mixture. ? Preheat oven to 160 degrees, convection 140 degrees, gas level 2. ? Roll marzipan with hands to cherry-sized balls and place 3 cm apart on baking sheets lined with baking paper. If necessary, push the balls slightly flat with your fingers. ? Bake the marzipan balls in the oven for about 20 minutes. The sospiri should not turn brown. Remove, allow to cool briefly and dust with icing sugar. Approx. 50 kcal per piece, E 1 g, F 3 g, KH 5 g. Tips: ? If the dough is very sticky, just put it in the fridge overnight. It then becomes firmer and easier to roll to balls. ? Allow Sospiri to cool and then remove from baking paper. They are soft inside and break quickly when they are still warm.
