Mancieri!

Mancieri means “eat” in Sicilian. And we certainly have been eating. I thought you might enjoy having lunch at a little restaurant around the corner, “Al Buco” if only in your imagination. Please forgive the unforgivable lack of accent marks.

ANTIPASTO or INSALATA

Lunch is a shorter meal than the evening meal here. Usually Sicilians do not have a salad course for their noon meal. They may share an antipasto of meats, cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes in oil, sautéed eggplant and olives or a salad with the freshest ingredients. My favorite is Caprese with fresh sliced tomatoes, fresh soft, creamy mozzarella cheese, fresh basil, a bit of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

PRIMO

Primo is the first course. Here Dana ordered fresh homemade penne pasta with tomatoes, eggplant, fresh tuna in oil and porcini mushrooms finished with chopped mint.

SECONDO

Secondo is the second course. This may be all a Sicilian orders for their noon meal. It is, generally, sausage, veal, beef or chicken (often pounded flat and heavily seasoned) or seafood. My Secondo was Catania-style sausage from a city north of Noto. No additional seasoning was needed in this marvelous meat course.

DOLCE

Dolce means “sweet” and is the last food course. This is a chocolate volcano cake, so named because the chocolate in the center is eaten hot. The combination of the hot rich chocolate and cake with a slight dusting of powdered sugar is diliziusu.”

CAFE

The meal may be concluded but not before a final shot of espresso with a “digestivi” like an anise seed liqueur to cut the bitterness of the coffee.

After this you walk home very slowly and settle down for a nice nap (sònniru ) which cannot last longer than 30 minutes because you must go back to work.