Giusina in the kitchen: four recipes for the perfect Sicilian dinner

Per “Giusina in the kitchen” it all started during the first lockdown: she too (like many) went back to the kitchen and with her hands in the dough while the world stopped but more – encouraged by those who saw us along and immediately grasped her talent – set up a set at home with her cameraman husband and shared her recipes with the general public making the first program shot with just two smartphones. Here’s how, as a communication professional, Giusi Battaglia within a few months she has also become one of the most beloved faces on television: a native of Palermo who has lived in Milan for years, on Food Network she continues to teach us how to prepare Sicilian delicacies bringing a breath of Mediterranean spirit and genunity into our homes. Now he also does it with a book: it has just come out Giusina in the kitchen – Sicily is served (Cairo Editore), with 70 recipes that are a journey to this island that is more generous than ever at the table.

«It all happened so fast that I still can’t believe it», Says Giusi Battaglia, who at the beginning – as he writes in his book – would not even have wanted to run the program:« I didn’t feel safe, I had a thousand hesitations, then in the end I decided the results were unexpected ». That simplicity pays off, on the other hand, is not new, nor the fact that cooking remains one of the topics that also always make everyone agree, but in this case there is also more: «I believe – continues Giusi Battaglia – that the program is appreciated above all for the recipes given that the Sicilian cuisine it is one of the best in the world, but also because it is food and wine culture. For many non-Sicilians my recipes have been a discovery, for the Sicilians instead a rediscovery of dishes and traditions, with often very deep meanings ».

An example? There “Pasta used to go there”, made with tomato concentrate and salted anchovies. “These are the ingredients that an emigrant could carry in his suitcase and for this reason it is also called “‘a milanisa”. During the program it was the dish of the turning point, it made me understand how much the kitchen can excite: when I told the story I was moved, and like me I know that all the people who followed me and wrote to me were moved. This is a book for them, for those who encouraged me».

The “Pasta used to go” it is one of the recipes contained in the book, one of those that you would always like to keep next to the stove because they solve your dinner with little since the dishes are simple and are made with what is in the house, but above all they are very good. «I dubbed the recipes in the book ‘prime numbers’ because they are the basis of Sicilian cuisine», says Giusi. “In the book there is everything that is known, from sfincione to sword rolls, from rings to cassata, and then arancine, caponata, pasta with tenerumi and much more”, continues the author, who with his first book also shares with us a glimpse of his world in Sicily.

The book is dedicated to his Carolina mother – “My model, even in the kitchen”, says Giusi – and each recipe is preceded by a story starring “her men” (two children, twins, and her husband) and the friends she continues to welcome around the same table that we see during the program. Starting with Ficarra and Picone who wrote the preface telling her about all those dinners shared in Palermo and then Milan, about those late evening phone calls in which Giusina (her friends in Palermo call her that) replies “Of course, guys, I’ll wait for you!” and sets the table with its delicacies.

«Welcoming friends into the house is one of the things I love the most. For me, especially at this moment, the perfect moment is to be together, healthy, around the table, because sharing food is always a special moment “, says Giusi Battaglia, who for this very reason has a special surprise in store for Christmas, with an online Advent calendar in which a different recipe will be revealed every day. The secret of a perfect dinner? «I always prepare at least ten dishes, from appetizers to desserts, and place them in the center of the table. I like that everyone can choose, and also that in the end something remains that everyone does not touch because they have some qualms, but that then disappears. Normally they are peppers, because everyone thinks they are difficult to digest, but then they finish on time. Indeed, it also happened to me that some friends took them away for the schiscetta the next day ».
For the dates of the book’s presentations and all the other news, follow her on Instagram: @giusinaincucina

For a taste here are four recipes for a perfect Sicilian dinner taken from Giusina in the kitchen – Sicily is served