June 2011

Panelle

I came across this very simple recipe recently while researching the idea of making my own paneer, the Indian cheese. It’s amazing where a little internet mis-spelling can take you. Next thing you know I’ve left India and am intrigued by the peculiar charm of this simple Sicilian street food snack. Apparently it’s a much loved and ferociously more-ish snack, especially when taking an early evening promenade through the ancient streets of a Sicilian village in good company. What wouldn’t be, you might ask. I did. The ingredients are surely too simple for the dish to amount to so much.

That’s my way of thinking usually – too simple, add more flavours! – but it can help me to sometimes see in a basic recipe the beginnings of an interestingly complex dish. There’s a rule about messing with old classic recipes, however, and it is this – make it the proper way first, then think about how to work with it. So I knocked up a batch, and let me tell you it’s tough work towards the end, when the porridge is really thick but still not quite there, and then it all gets a bit frantic as you try to press the quick-setting but boiling hot goo into the tin. If you enjoy that kind of fun, it will bring a little flush to your cheeks.

After I’d fried some off, I tasted it unadorned and thought..ho-hum. Then I sprinkled on the dressings of cheese, parsley and lime and had another piece…followed by a dozen more. No joking, I ate the portions I intended to save so I could see if it reheated well.

That’s a long way of telling you that the classic version of this recipe is so good you don’t need to get creative with it (though I confess to adding the lime). It’s just great great snack food with drinks. If you want to mess around with it, I’d suggest playing with the accompaniments – try serving it with a light spicy salsa to dip into or adding some spice mix to the dressing you scatter on top.

That said, of course in Paradiso we couldn’t resist bringing it indoors and dressing it up for dinner. We first used it as a canape – how far from street food is the very word ‘canape’? – cut into squares and topped with a little spicy aubergine relish. The queen demanded second helpings when she dropped in for a snack after her visit to the Tyndall Institute round the corner. Then we put it on the menu, served with an harissa-spiced peperonata, a salty feta cream and a sprinkling of lime. As that little beauty took shape in my mind, I envisaged dragging a Sicilian classic all around the Med, what you might call doing a Christopher Walken. So, okay, do mess with it all you like…but only after you’ve obeyed the golden rule – try it straight up first.

**DISCLAIMER – One of the above sentences is untrue.

#1 · Emanuele

Monday, 05 September, 2011

Hello, The real sicilan way of eating panelle (beside the common restaurant starter “antipasto caldo” made of panelle, arancine, potato croquette, and aubergine caponata) is inside a typical sicilian bread called “mafalda”. Or the most loved “panino with Panelle e Crocche’”, which is the same thing adding potato croquette http://cookingsicily.blogspot.com/2010/03/le-panelle-sono-delle-frittelle.html It is a speciality from Palermo, and they sell it mostly on the street, always adding a bit of salt and freshly squeezed lemon. As simple as that and truly beautiful! I understand though it wouldn’t make much of a dish for cafe paradiso, but I thought you might have appreciated a comment from one of yours sicilian customer!