Posts made to Love Salina Amanda Arena, editor of Vinoway online magazine dedicated to wine and tourism.
“Dalla barca, tornando, vidi un’isola nascosta dietro Lipari. Il barcaiolo la chiamò Salina. Lì si produce il vino di Malvasia. Volli bere, proprio alla sua origine, una bottiglia di questo famoso vino … È davvero il vino di un vulcano, denso, zuccherato, dorato …”. (Guy De Maupassant, “La vita errante”, 1890)
Five proposals for ideal pairing with wine Malvasia:
Photo Sicilian cassata: © Sicilia Convention Bureau
1.Cassata Sicilian. Malvasia type "raisin", soft taste and mouth-filling with aromatic bouquet aromas of candied apricot, yellow flowers, honey, raisins, is a perfect match with the cassata (from 'Arab qas'at, "bowl"), the Sicilian dessert par excellence. A riot of flavors and colors that is the result of many influences how many were the dominations in Sicily: cake made of sponge cake, ricotta, chocolate chips, marzipan, covered with icing sugar and rich decorations candied fruit, which has its roots around the 'A thousand years when the Arabs introduced in Palermo sugarcane, cedar, almond, lemon, tangerine and bitter orange.
Sicilian cannoli Photo : © Lucio Cordaro
2.Cannoli Sicilians. It is one of the classic combinations with version "dried". The aroma and the intense sweetness of the Sicilian cannoli, Sicilian pastry pride of the varied, requiring a sweet white wine, from overripe grapes or dried, with strong aroma and persistent taste. Delicious cannoli and laborious preparation: dough for the shell ('to scorcia) is made of flour, lard, sugar and eggs with a velvety cream filling of fresh ricotta, pieces of chocolate and chopped almonds. Legend has it that the city of origin of the cannoli is Caltanissetta (ancient "Kalt El Nissa", "Castle of women"), in which there were numerous harem of Saracen emirs. It seems that the favorite of the sultans during their culinary experiments to spend time, have invented the cannoli inspired by a sweet Arab banana-shaped, filled with ricotta, honey and almonds.
3.Spaghetti bottarga. Malvasia in a dry version, structured, with a great complexity of aromas, meets perfectly with a refined dish like this. The roe is a food very valuable, consisting of tuna or mullet roe salted and dried. It is a small "jewel" culinary be reserved for a special meal. Malvasia, with its intense fragrance, has the same expansion of the olfactory roe; Moreover, a certain alcohol ago by effect "buffer" to counter the flavor of the roe which tends to salivate.
4.Tagliatelle with chestnut flour. For a combination of season, ideal with a dry Malvasia and structured, characterized by a certain aroma. The noodles can be served with a white sauce made from almonds, hazelnuts or with mushrooms.
Octopus salad
Photo octopus salad: © Love Salina
5.Insalata octopus. A dry Malvasia, aromatic, but with an alcohol lighter, it goes beautifully with a salad of octopus. In fact, the tendency of the sweet seafood needs a Malvasia of this type to "clean mouth".