First night in Palermo
We did end up taking a power nap before setting out in search of dinner. The weather forecast promised rain, but it held off for the duration of the evening. A walk around the area south of the hotel, along and just off the main drag ( Via della Liberta) shows a range of retail shops from lowly non descriptive dress shops to high end fashion brands like Dolce and Gabbana. Along the adjacent side streets were small cafes, restaurants, trattoria, pizza places etc. Missing were the obvious monuments to American kitsch like Starbucks, Burger King, etc
We opted for dinner at a local joint DaDiego, reached by a narrow set of steps descending into a basement that revealed a fairly large restaurant which seemed to be occupied by mostly locals.
While this is usually a good sign, this was not the case tonight.
Around us diners were indulging in large plates of pasta and pizza so we were hoping for the best.
Deciding the pizzas were a little to large to tackle we started with a Caprese Salad- buffalo mozzarella and tomato slices sprinkled with basil and usually dressed with olive oil and a dash of balsamic. This one was missing the dressings, the mozzarella regular cow rather than buffalo. Disappointing but forgivable.
Next course for Susanna was tagliatelle with swordfish, sardines and shrimp and for me a risotto of shrimp and courgette ( zucchini). Susanna’s was tasty, although a little too “al dente”. Another 30 seconds of cooking would have made it perfect.
My dish, on the other hand was the biggest hack job ever. What could have been great came out as a Gordon Ramsay nightmare. The rice did not have the bite of a real Arborio, more like a medium grain sushi rice, the stock used was flavourless and the zucchini and shrimp completely under seasoned. It lacked the finishing touches of incorporating butter and grated parma cheese that one normally expects. I personally would have pan fried the shrimp and zucchini in garlic oil, browning the latter prior to incorporating them.
I debated asking to see the chef but decided that things might get testy so I ate enough to satisfy my immediate hunger and we left.
There is an art to making this dish which was clearly lost on this kitchen. If you don’t add the stock hot and stir it in a timely manner you tend to over boil the mixture and the result is a starchy gluey mess with little texture.
That is an oversimplified description for the sake of brevity, but Risotto is an act of love and patience which takes some mastering.
Morale of the story - don’t order out things you can cook at home! Lesson learned.
Tomorrow we plan to venture further south into the main heart of the city, the Four Corners. This is a pedestrian area with adjacent fresh markets. I’m hoping we are rested enough and brave enough to try the specialty dishes made of tripe, snouts and various other normally discarded bits of the the cow, which are a local delicacy here. Perhaps followed by a sampling of cuttlefish or octopus and then a cannoli or three for desert.
We don’t join our tour group till Saturday night so we’ll try to see the things they don’t cover on the tour, such as the interior of the main Cathedral and the Opera House. Two full days are probably barely sufficient for a brief taste of what the city offers but, I’ll strap on my Birkenstock’s and do my best.
In total, we have 9 days to cover the island- just enough for a good overview.
I fell asleep at 10:30 pm tonight but awoke at 1:30am. Susanna caught a few Zzzz’s on the plane and seems to be adjusting better to the time change as she seems to be in a deep sleep. Hopefully a few pages of a boring book will get me back to sleep in a hurry so I’m up and energized by 8am, ready to face a long and interesting day.
We opted for dinner at a local joint DaDiego, reached by a narrow set of steps descending into a basement that revealed a fairly large restaurant which seemed to be occupied by mostly locals.
While this is usually a good sign, this was not the case tonight.
Around us diners were indulging in large plates of pasta and pizza so we were hoping for the best.
Deciding the pizzas were a little to large to tackle we started with a Caprese Salad- buffalo mozzarella and tomato slices sprinkled with basil and usually dressed with olive oil and a dash of balsamic. This one was missing the dressings, the mozzarella regular cow rather than buffalo. Disappointing but forgivable.
Next course for Susanna was tagliatelle with swordfish, sardines and shrimp and for me a risotto of shrimp and courgette ( zucchini). Susanna’s was tasty, although a little too “al dente”. Another 30 seconds of cooking would have made it perfect.
My dish, on the other hand was the biggest hack job ever. What could have been great came out as a Gordon Ramsay nightmare. The rice did not have the bite of a real Arborio, more like a medium grain sushi rice, the stock used was flavourless and the zucchini and shrimp completely under seasoned. It lacked the finishing touches of incorporating butter and grated parma cheese that one normally expects. I personally would have pan fried the shrimp and zucchini in garlic oil, browning the latter prior to incorporating them.
I debated asking to see the chef but decided that things might get testy so I ate enough to satisfy my immediate hunger and we left.
There is an art to making this dish which was clearly lost on this kitchen. If you don’t add the stock hot and stir it in a timely manner you tend to over boil the mixture and the result is a starchy gluey mess with little texture.
That is an oversimplified description for the sake of brevity, but Risotto is an act of love and patience which takes some mastering.
Morale of the story - don’t order out things you can cook at home! Lesson learned.
Tomorrow we plan to venture further south into the main heart of the city, the Four Corners. This is a pedestrian area with adjacent fresh markets. I’m hoping we are rested enough and brave enough to try the specialty dishes made of tripe, snouts and various other normally discarded bits of the the cow, which are a local delicacy here. Perhaps followed by a sampling of cuttlefish or octopus and then a cannoli or three for desert.
We don’t join our tour group till Saturday night so we’ll try to see the things they don’t cover on the tour, such as the interior of the main Cathedral and the Opera House. Two full days are probably barely sufficient for a brief taste of what the city offers but, I’ll strap on my Birkenstock’s and do my best.
In total, we have 9 days to cover the island- just enough for a good overview.
I fell asleep at 10:30 pm tonight but awoke at 1:30am. Susanna caught a few Zzzz’s on the plane and seems to be adjusting better to the time change as she seems to be in a deep sleep. Hopefully a few pages of a boring book will get me back to sleep in a hurry so I’m up and energized by 8am, ready to face a long and interesting day.
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