Some news from Central Sicily
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Ciao a tutti,
It's been a while since our last newsletter and a lot has happened this past year. It felt very good to be opening the doors of our courtyard again: from our winter program Cook the Farm 2022 to the exciting workshops and culinary stays we hosted during the year, it’s been a whirlwind of cooking, and well, feasting!
This is why we would love to thank the wonderful guests who visited us this year:
Grazie Mille
for your enthusiastic energy to be traveling again, it made for such great experiences here at Case Vecchie. Cooking, eating and sharing a laugh with you all made this season truly fabulous.
This new and positive energy we felt throughout the past months is also the result of some new brilliant staff members who have joined the ATL team. You may know some of them from our social media pages but we thought it would be nice for you to virtually meet them here too. |
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Kyle Pierce
A Seattle born chef who spent the last 6 years leading the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy in Rome. Inspired by Sicilian traditions and season garden grown produce, Kyle fell right into place creating fresh and delicious menus as our head chef. One of Kyle’s favorite things to do is to cook outdoors, ideally over an open fire. He’s been cooking arm in arm with Fabrizia and our indispensable kitchen crew composed of Giovanna, Enza, Debora, Giusy & Soccorsa.
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Chiara Leto
The addition to the team who has inspired both our guests and staff's creative sides. A natural artist, Chiara has been leading afternoon workshops to show how design and color can be made using food scraps and foraging our landscape. She grew up in the countryside just outside of Rome, but has spent the last fifteen years traveling around the world having lived in Australia, Portugal, UK, Indonesia and now in Sicily, together with her life partner Kyle, our in-house chef.
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Francesca Farris
Our new behind the scenes coordinator. Half Texan half Sardinian, southern hospitality + Italian hospitality has found its way to Sicily. With a background in food anthropology and agriculture, she has worked on livestock farms, at a wood fired sourdough bakery, and even ran her own home micro-bakery selling cakes on her Instagram page. Before joining us in August, she spent the last year living in Sardinia archiving recipes and stories from her relatives and apprenticing with a Sardinian shepherd & cheesemaker.
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Our new members have been professionally trained by our loving team. Ana, who's still running hospitality at Case Vecchie, Henna, our winter Cook the Farm Director, and Adriana, our remote social media queen in Margate, UK. |
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Did you know we also host
Group Lunch Lessons?
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Although we deeply believe that Case Vecchie is a place that deserves time, we understand if you aren’t able to spend the night with us. So if you've always wanted to cook in our kitchen but you're only passing through Central Sicily, join us for a hands-on cooking lesson followed by a leisurely lunch in the typical Sicilian family style. Each lesson covers four courses of family recipes with fresh and seasonal ingredients from the estate and wines from Tasca d’Almerita. It's a great activity for group trips!
→ Email us for more information |
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Zucca in Agrodolce
Are you looking for some inspiration on how to cook the star of the season? We may have something for you, especially now that we are getting closer to the holidays. Let us know if you're going to make it, we'd love to see the results!
Sweet and Sour Pumpkin
Ingredients
(serves 6-8)
1 kg (2.2. lbs) pumpkin, sliced into 1 cm pieces
1 large red onion, finely sliced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
80 g (1⁄4 cup) honey
180 ml (3⁄4 cup) red wine vinegar (quantities depend on the strength of vinegar)
A bunch of fresh mint
Salt
Pepper
Method
Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add some oil. In batches, cook the pumpkin slices fitting them comfortably in the pan. Let them cook for at least 5 minutes on each side, until golden on the outside and soft. Add more oil to the pan if needed. Once cooked, remove from the pan, season each batch with salt and pepper on both sides and place the pumpkin on a baking dish, covered with a lid to keep warm. After cooking the squash, in the same pan, drizzle with olive oil and sauté the onions seasoning it with salt and pepper. Be patient, and let it caramelise slowly with the lid on. Once the onions are translucent and soft add the vinegar and honey. Put the lid back on and let it simmer for approximately 5 minutes, until caramelized. Make sure all the juices don't evaporate!
Pour the onion mixture over the cooked pumpkin, including the juices and mix. Roughly chop the mint, sprinkle it on top and mix in. Cover with a lid while hot and allow all the flavours to combine for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 8 hours - it's perfect if you want to prepare it in advance. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm. If you have some pomegranate seeds you can add them on top for an extra sour kick!
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