Giorgio Locatelli - Made in Sicily

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.

To make the filling, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, put in the guanciale and cook until golden brown all over, then lift out and drain on kitchen paper. Mix, in a bowl, with the salame, cheese and elderflowers.

Rub the dough with another tablespoon of olive oil. Cut in half, and roll one half into a sheet large enough to line a tart tin. Scatter with the guanciale mixture and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Cover with the other half of the dough, pressing around the edges to seal. Brush the top with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, until golden. Slice and serve hot.

Schiacciata con salsiccia

Schiacciata with sausage

This is typical of the area around Agrigento, another very rich pie that is cut up and served as an antipasti … very moreish, but also very filling.

Serves 6

4 whole black olives in brine

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little extra for greasing and finishing

200g 100 per cent pork sausages

1 large potato, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 medium onion, sliced

60g caciocavallo or pecorino cheese, diced

For the dough:

500g semolina flour, plus more as needed

500g ‘00’ flour

30g fresh yeast

80ml olive oil

20g sea salt

5g sugar

1 egg, beaten, for brushing

First make the dough. In a food mixer with a dough hook, mix the flours, yeast, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 400ml of water, the salt and the sugar. Mix until soft and elastic, then emulsify the rest of the olive oil with another 50ml of water and add it to the mixer bowl a little at a time, with the motor turning, until the dough is soft. Turn out into a bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.

Drain the olives and pat dry. With a sharp knife, make three or four cuts in each olive from end to end, then cut each segment away from the stone as carefully as you can.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Put in the cauliflower and blanch for a minute then drain.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and brush a baking dish with olive oil. Remove the skins from the sausages and break the sausage meat into pieces.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the sausage meat. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper. Add the potatoes to the pan in which you cooked the sausages, season, and sauté until golden and just tender. Lift out and drain on kitchen paper, then put the onion into the same pan and cook gently until soft but not coloured. Add the cauliflower and season with salt to taste.

Put the sausage and potatoes back into the pan of onion and cauliflower, along with the olives, and season well with black pepper. Stir everything together for a minute or so, then take off the heat.

Dust your work surface with flour, and roll out the dough to about 6mm thick. Divide it into two: you need one piece big enough to line a shallow baking dish, and the other to put over the top. Line the dish with the bigger sheet of dough, then spoon in the sausage mixture. Scatter the cheese over, then cover with the other sheet of dough and seal the edges all round. Brush with a little more olive oil.

Put into the preheated oven and bake for 20–30 minutes, or until the top is golden.

Prezzemolo e aglio, oli e condimenti

Parsley and garlic, oils and dressings

Prezzemolo e aglio

Parsley and garlic

This is just a way of preparing parsley and garlic that brings out the maximum flavour in both, and is something I’ve always done. Every morning in the restaurant we prepare it. To 1 garlic clove we use about 4 handfuls of flat-leaf parsley. We put the garlic cloves on a chopping board and crush them with the flat of a kitchen knife, so that they become a paste. Then we put the parsley on top and chop it finely, so that we are chopping through the garlic at the same time, and the two flavours mingle.

Olio all’aglio

Garlic oil

It is a very Sicilian thing to make fresh garlic oil; I don’t remember going into anyone’s house and seeing a bottle that had been bought from a shop. Make it in small batches and use it up quickly.

Makes about 50ml

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

50ml olive oil

Mix together and leave for a day in the fridge before using. It will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 days.

When you spoon it out, you should have about 75 per cent oil and 25 per cent chopped garlic.

Olio di limone

Lemon oil

This is the simplest combination of oil and lemon juice, but when it is made with the juice of Sicilian lemons the flavour is brilliant. It should be used immediately after making, otherwise the flavour of the lemon will change, so adjust the quantities according to how much you need.

Makes about 200ml

a pinch of salt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

150ml extra virgin olive oil

Put the salt into a clean, screw-topped bottle or jar, then add the lemon juice and leave for a minute until the salt dissolves. Add the oil and shake really well to emulsify. Use straight away.

Olio di peperoncino

Chilli oil

Like all the countries that face the Mediterranean, Sicily favours the chilli pepper, much more than the rest of Italy, especially the north. As well as fresh chillies, you will find little strings of dried ones that are often just crumbled into dishes.

I like the kick of spice that chilli brings to a broccoli and almond salad ( Insalata di broccoli, mandorle e peperoncino) or some green vegetables, simply blanched and tossed in olive oil with chilli and garlic. How hot Sicilian chillies are is a bit of a lottery; they can be quite gentle and sweet, or they can be explosive.

Makes about 50ml

½ fresh red chilli, finely chopped

½ fresh green chilli, finely chopped

50ml olive oil

Mix together and leave for a day in the fridge before using. It will keep, refrigerated, for up to 3 days. When you spoon it out, you should have about 75 per cent oil and 25 per cent chopped chilli.

Giorgio’s dressing

As I explained in my previous book, Made in Italy, there is nothing mysterious or special about this, it is just the label we used to put on the bottle of vinaigrette in the kitchen when I was cooking at Zafferano, to help out a young chef who otherwise could never remember which dressing was which. I like a high ratio of oil to vinegar, but you can vary it as you like. Naturally, since we started making our own oil in Sicily, that is the one we use, and now we also add some white wine vingar. You will find that Sicilian oils are generally very fresh, grassy, fruity and fragrant. Make up a bottle of this and keep it in the fridge.

Makes about 375ml

½ teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

300ml extra virgin olive oil, preferably Sicilian

Put the salt into a bowl, then add the vinegars and leave for a minute until the salt dissolves. Whisk in the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of water until the vinaigrette emulsifies. Pour into a clean bottle and store in the fridge for up to 6 months. It will separate out again, but just shake it well before you use it.

Salsetta, salmoriglio e pestoLight sauces and pesto

Sicilians are not keen on heavy cooked sauces; however, light, fresh salsette and salmoriglio – a dressing made with oil and lemon or vinegar, plus garlic and herbs – along with pesto are at the base of their cooking and eating. I like the idea of putting a few of these out in bowls with the antipasti, so that they can be spooned on to vegetables or fish or seafood.