Blessed with perhaps the most diversified cuisine of the Mediterranean, the island of Sicily, located southwest of the Italian peninsula, is one characterised as much by its long struggle for national identity as it is for its variegated foodstuffs. Subjugated by Greek, Roman, Germanic, Byzantine, Arab, Norman , Savoy and finally Italian occupation, the island has developed a cuisine more acclaimed than that of many of Europe’s contiguous nations.
Although ‘native’ to the birthplace of my parents, Syracuse (Sicilianu: Sarausa), the traditional Impanata Siracusana has been appropriated to symbolise the Sicilian (‘imagined’) community, giving rise to provincial variations such as the Scacciata Catanese.
The dish emulates in its appearance a flattened calzone and is, in its most artisanal form, a folded dough base filled with broccolini, potatoes, varieties of Sicilian cheese (most often tuma or caciocavallo),black olives and the traditional Salsiccia alla Pizzaiola. In this way, the dish remains true to its ‘contadino’ or agricultural origins, making use of the resources historically significant to the island’s agrarian economy.
In the southwest of the island, the Impanata Siracusana is believed to have been adapted from its namesake, the Spanish empanada, which arrived on Sicilian shores during the Savoy occupation of 1713. However, it was not until 1763, when the Prince of Paternò requested the Impanata at the table of his Yuletide feast, that the dish was considered of particular importance to the religious celebration.
As a result of the Sicilian emigrational diaspora, the Impanata Siciliana remains a staple of migrant cuisine. In her first years in Australia, the dearth of broccolini on Australian shelves meant that my grandmother would recreate the dish with chard or silverbeat to maintain some form of authenticity. She recalls, as John Dickie notes, the years of Fascist autarky, when both France and England placed embargos on exports to, and imports from, Italy:
“mancava il carne e perciò l’impanata si faceva solo con le verdure…”
“meat was lacking and so the Impanta was made solely with greens…”
The rustic, agricultural origins of this dish have also meant that it is denied a spot on the menu of the best of Melbourne’s Sicilian restaurants, Bar Idda.
For a recipe on the tradition preparation of the dish, click here.
For a similar recipe in English, click here or here.
For a tutorial on how to create this regional dish, click here. Narration is in Italian but the video is simple to follow.
tastingeurope 