Region: South Mainland/Islands (Sicily)

Menu: Rigatoni with Eggplant in a Creamy Curry Sauce, Salad of Assorted Lettuces with Capers and Tarragon, Peach “Soup” with Marsala

Recommended Wine: Sicilian Rosso del Conte

            Sicily has been known for the quality of its wheat since antiquity. Good agricultural land drew colonists from the Greek city-states, and it was one of the main granaries of the Roman Empire. The hard durum wheat grown there makes particularly good dried pasta, which is prepared in a huge number of different ways. One popular recipe uses sardines for pasta con sarde. A recipe with perhaps more universal appeal is pasta alla Norma, with tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini, and named after a famous opera. This particular variation is enhanced with curry powder and enriched with half-and-half.

            The flavor was good, but using a zucchini the size of my lower arm from fingertips to elbow was not the best choice. When they get that big, zucchini tend to get tough. This one had a distinctly woody texture and peel that was a bit hard to cut through. But as long as I ate around the zucchini, the pasta, eggplant, and creamy tomato-curry sauce was worked well together. I wouldn’t have thought of putting curry in a pasta dish, but it turned out to be a good combination.

            Capers grow wild all around the Mediterranean. The buds, preserved in salt or pickled in brine, have a strong, olive-like flavor. As long as they are used in small amounts, capers are an interesting enhancement for meat, fish, and vegetables. A few of them chopped up added a salty bite to the salad dressing. They have been popular since the days of Ancient Rome, when strong, salty flavors were particularly appreciated.

            Peaches originated in China and spread west from there. By the time of the Roman Empire, they had reached the Mediterranean. Sweet, juicy, and perishable, they were often viewed as somewhat luxurious compared to fruits that could be effectively dried or cellared. Heavily associated with summer, fresh peaches are difficult to ship even today, at least when fully ripe. As a result, out-of-season specimens are often picked underripe and tend to be pricey. This recipe avoids those problems by using frozen peaches, which are usually the best choice during the rest of the year.

            In an interesting twist on tradition, here the peaches are used to make a dessert “soup,” with a bit of sugar and marsala. Personally, I didn’t like the flavor or texture. The peaches clashed with the marsala, and pureed soups in general are not my favorite. Replacing the marsala with a bit of lemon juice helped with the flavor, but didn’t solve the texture issues. Sometimes a new idea works, but sometimes it’s better to stick with tradition.