Paul Falls In Love With Sicily's Delicious Gastronomy | Paul Hollywood's City Bakes | Tonic

i'm visiting the baking capitals of the world uncovering the tastes traditions and the recipes look at that are the world's best baking cities i love coming into bakeries from the historic streets of palermo to the multicultural city of san francisco welcome to city based [Music] [Applause] [Music] this time on city bakes i'm getting under the skin of one of europe's ancient cities steeped in history welcome to palermo sicily it feels like an adventure when you get to a city like this it is beautiful here i get hands on making a recipe that's 1 000 years old hello and watch true artists at work it's a real privilege you know it's a real honor to watch these guys do it plus i meet local people keeping traditions alive layers of history in a cake and i show you how to bake a show-stopping layered scatcha bread and traditional cassata a delica baked sweet ricotta cake i've just landed in the sicilian capital of palermo for the first time sicily is the biggest of the mediterranean islands and it covers over 10 000 square miles which is only just a little bit smaller than the size of belgium sicily is basically the football at the end of italy you know that comes around it's the little football if you don't know where it is i'd like to think i'm pretty familiar with italian food but sicilian baking let's just say all i know is there's more than sea separating this place from the mainland i want to find out about their food culture i want to find out why are they so different is sicily like italy but there's one particular sicilian bake i do know and love and i've always wanted to try it in its home city you've got to see this cannoli cannoli is a deep-fried crispy pastry filled with sweet ricotta cheese excuse me kind of a cannoli espressi expressy means it's freshly filled in front of me this is canola espresso grazie how big is that i've gotta have a bite of this [Music] it's rich you can taste the ricotta inside it on the fruit do you know what the big difference is that shell the canola on the outside it's crispy and together with the cool filling you can imagine being really hot and you eat this that's the best one i've ever had ever in my life i've had a few this one wow the thing is about this i was expected to be really sweet it's not the shell almost brings a slight bitterness to it but then that creamy ricotta gives you that coolness which isn't so sweet yeah i'm full now can you eat a whole cannoli oh my god if my first palermo taste is this good then i can't wait to see what else is in store but first i've just spotted something see those steps behind me do you remember a certain film where a guy lost his daughter who was shot and she lay down on the steps yeah that's right godfather three how cool is that [Music] it's quite buzzing at the street it's hot though in the solid format i'm probably wearing the wrong color because of its location slap bang in the middle of the mediterranean sicily was easily accessible to both europe and north africa and as a result it's been occupied by the greeks the romans the arabs and the spanish and they've all left their mark you can see it in the architecture and i'm willing to bet we'll see it in the food too we all talk about fusion food as if it's a modern thing fusion food in sicily goes back millennia and that for me is fascinating palermo is full of cheap eats it's in the top five places for street food in europe so it must be good they eat everything here i mean that the whole basis of a lot of the mediterranean countries is peasant food waste not want nuts [Music] so i've just ordered the pork once here it's like but these people queuing up here are not tourists these are these are from here these are sicilians i suppose it looks a bit like a bacon busy thing is about street food and this pork in particular he cooks the whole pig and then just blitzes it all up and sticks it in her back ready to scoop inside her bat she could be eating anything [Music] now i'm meeting a guy in this little bakery cafe here on the corner called marco who's gonna be my guide today to discover the best places and go off the beaten track i need a local guide and marco romeo is my man he gets flavored he runs foodie walking tours and knows everything there is to know about palermo [Music] fantastic place marco's passionate about the local food so he's brought me to one of his favorite places this is a cafe bakery this is uh yeah the bakery of temptation sounds like heaven to me the counters are stuffed with traditional bakes including a delicate little cake called kasata now this is a traditional traditional quesada this is the one when you say patisserie in sicily you mean cassata and cannoli but as for cakes she is the queen so what is a cassata what's in there so in there you have uh just two thin layers of cake yeah with ricotta cream and chocolate chips and the sugar almond glaze on the top cherries now they've got ricotta in this again we caught yeah why ricotta all the time because we have too many sheep we need to do something with them you know what it reminds me of in a weird way a pequel tart the flavors of the almonds the cooling from the icing from the cool ricotta to the silk and then the sponge and it's everything together that i think is gorgeous and this is history of sicily you have a ricotta brought by the arabs in cakes here but then the spanish arrived they make the rich like baroque style as you see in the churches and they started decorating with cherries candy fruit and so on this is the result so layers of history in a cake all together cassata sicilians rock and roll music i love it love it uh what i see bonjour now for something savory this is another palermo classic arancina we'll have a look inside it's the middle first of all why do we call it arancina what does it resemble it looks like an orange aranca arancina is a saffron rice ball stuffed with mince meat covered in breadcrumbs then deep fried the thing is about the arancina is the meat the flavor of the meat is delicious with the peas inside it which is very traditional the texture of the rice is delicious with this light crumb on the outside but as you bite into it and you mix it with all the meat it is really good very very good this is the sort of thing in sicily street food is important surely street food it's not just food in there in sicily it gives the pacing of the day it's it's also a social thing so it's simple it's an excuse to get together exactly he's fascinating marco he's opening up the history behind palermo's incredible flavors this is my kind of city tour our next stop is an alleyway i would never have found without him to visit a lady who makes alan china using a thousand year old recipe [Music] what happened in sicily 1200 years ago is the arabs arrived with a risotto cooked and softened with minced meat and then when the normans arrived in the 1100s we shape it like an orange around china to use it as a take away food ariana has been making these authentic risotto rice balls for 20 years she is the best she is the the last of the arancino makers because she doesn't use tomato at all the arabs created these flavors long before tomatoes were introduced from south america but they love saffron which was used to give the risotto rice an orange color ariana makes hundreds of these a day and now it's my turn it feels quite al dente as well this is one of the secrets of making a good argentina the grain needs to be separated from each other you have to feel it when you buy it yes the mincemeat filling goes into the center and the rice is folded over to create that famous orange shape it's that initial seal if you get that right you can you can sort of cover it up i have a job [Laughter] next it's covered in breadcrumbs and then into the fryer how long do they stay in the fryer welcome it depends ask a silly question you get a sicilian answer when they're ready when they're ready i've decided mine are perfect after seven minutes look at this they look the same color as an orange it's beautiful it's crispy it's quite hard to touch and they smell amazing i might have to have a little bite hang on [Music] absolutely delicious hello now you are a real arancinaro first time i've been called one of those marcos really wet my appetite for this city and now i want to dig a little deeper earlier i tried classic sicilian cannoli which are sold all over the city i've heard about a bakery that makes one from scratch and they're happy to share their secrets with me now the head baker of this place there's a guy called maurizio now he's based in the back and he's allowed me into his kitchens and he's going to show me all things cannoli but look at this stuff the pastries here are amazing look at them all made where the magic happens i'm sorry maurizio the boss maurizio is from milan he and his local sous chef robicio can make up to 500 cannolis a day not sure i'll achieve that but i want to get stuck in lead go on tell me show me tell me all about cannoli this is the most important this is the regular the classic yeah okay with the ricotta chocolate chips and a small fillet of orange is very very very important sicilian dessert go on show me how it's made first fabrizio makes the dough for the crispy shell by combining flour sugar coffee chocolate lard masala and surprisingly vinegar [Music] okay so why don't you put vinegar in the canola this is the bubble yeah it's a bubble the vinegar make the bubble on the shell this is very important this is the secret yeah there's a reaction with this which forms a bubble after mixing the dough is rested in the fridge for two to three hours or preferably overnight this makes it easier to work with now we make a bowl a bowl yeah okay you can see how the dough's changed overnight it's become much smoother and easier to roll out are you sure this is your first time i wait with though all my life okay looks like i'll need to prove myself to the locals and get rolling the circles are then molded over a metal tube into that classic cannoli shape this goes over yeah one pot give me an hour i'll get quicker then the shells are placed in the fryer this is where the bubbles form in the crispy pastry you're happy with those yeah no more okay now cannoli volcanolive perfect and now the ricotta mixing sugar to the ricotta and sieving it is the secret to the perfect filling two free time pass that's yeah these we make carricotta very soft by passing it through exactly you can see it different in there already it's much smoother yes it's been passed through the mixture is then chilled and in go the chocolate chips but you see here it's been passed and rested it's smooth and solid perfect for their cannoli you take the shell push the ricotta inside yeah it's pushing it down i'm afraid of breaking it you know the trick is to fill the shell without any gaps so this one was okay you got better from the chat thank you really chef yeah yeah you see i was better than you when you started we tasted it being fresh is very different yeah what is it is it pudding dessert snack street food what is it canola it's very very simple you start in the morning for breakfast for uh lunch for dinner eh eh in the middle of the night the night if you if you open your fridge that candle frankly i don't blame them a perfect cannoli is both crunchy and creamy rich and light incredible in fact they're so good i'm gonna make another one okay don't worry coming up i explore palermo's back streets and the the noise the action the people the shepherd [Music] i discover some weird delicacies [Music] and i show you how to make an incredible layered sketcher loaf [Music] i'm in the sicilian capital of palermo discovering their fusion food and the fascinating culture that surrounds it look at this it's gorgeous it really is i love getting up high and the cathedral towers above the city and like palermo's food this building tells a story of centuries of different cultural influences this original church was founded around 1135 but the original structure actually was built on top of a mosque which again was built on an earlier christian basilica during the 13th and 14th centuries it was gothicized and then after that the spanish in the 15th century came along with their ideas which created this very meringue cake-like structures all around you start with a very basic structure then you build and influence as architecture begin to change the look of the church back down in amongst the ancient streets my new friend and tour guide marco is going to show me the heart of the city and its authentic flavors get rid of some bumps there's only one way to travel around palermo and it's in one of these an ape or a la patino they call them in palermo it's basically a vesper with a body on it it's so small and tight it's just perfect for getting around the city it feels like an adventure when you get to a city like this it is beautiful but then you go down the dirty little alleyways and then again a different character city with a soul yesterday and the the noise the action the people the shep yeah it's just incredible this is what we call vaniar which means to shout to attract people this is very arab the sights the smells the people shouting it's an active city it's it's getting down and dirty in palermo i love it the character of palermo is one of the best cities i've ever visited marco's brought me to bolero market it's been around for a thousand years and it's huge it's rough and ready this i mean look at it and right in the heart of the market is palermo's most authentic eatery with an interesting menu from the back streets to the back benches all right okay where are we going this is he's saying my shout yeah it's my advertising unfortunately marco's mate is advertising awful cow and pigs guts hearts yep the lot is right clean one this is the tongue nadia so he prepares this uh intro soup or also a dried cartilage in a salad with lemon he's welcoming us inside if you want to try something it's going to make us say something very special okay let's get inside let's get into another layer of palermo layers of cake and a cassata i can handle this might be a layer too far don't worry you can make it fall i'm with you marco tells me places like this are increasingly rare a last refuge for the most traditional locals who appreciate a plastic cup of homemade wine it does worry a little bit be honest the plate of freshly cooked offal is ready and garnished with parsley and cheese stripe in a tomato sauce and the other plate uh you have uh the bold intros let's say just boiled okay mr joy wants you to know that this is history of palermitan cuisine that we've been making for centuries um i'm honored to be welcomed here but yep you guessed it i'm wimping out how is it it's okay i love it very delicate it's very well-made i'm gonna back out as well [Music] now there's one thing i did expect to eat in italy and that's pizza but in sicily of course they do their own version [Music] now this looks like the type of food i like [Music] so all these vendors you'll see throughout palermo go to this one bakery to get this pizza this sicilian pizza svenzione my svincioni was made about five hours ago in a bakery just round the corner every day at 3am in the bakery behind the market svinciones are starting to be made [Music] three men work through the night every night producing hundreds of the pizza style breads that you can buy on the streets of palermo it is believed that svincioni comes from the west of sicily and dates back to 1860. [Music] the dough is a million miles away from the thin crispy neapolitan pizza and here it comes in just one variety tomato and onion [Music] unlike pizza it's still pretty tasty well it's a few hours old it really doesn't surprise me that sicilians have even messed with the italian pizza i mean come on in sicily do what they want can't we i'm beginning to realize how unique the cuisine is in sicily and i've heard about someone who has made it their mission to preserve the island's food culture valeria trepani is a food anthropologist who's spent the last 10 years visiting homes of ordinary people and writing down their family recipes when you went round were the the grandmothers that you met the mothers that you met were they very happy about giving their recipe or were they quite secretive no no they aren't very happy because i'm sicilian okay using the recipe she's built a successful business running cooking classes for people interested in traditional sicilian cuisine did you think of it as work or was it fun for you no it's it's really a passion yeah since i can't read italian valeria has kindly prepared few of the recipes she has collected including her favorite what is this bread it's a strange bread and i love it and when and inside you can find [Music] sausages and cheese ricotta cheese valeria discovered this recipe being home baked in the town of ragusa on the southern tip of sicily it's a layered loaf called scatcha this is amazing if you get a good look inside there look at all that meat and the ricotta the bread's actually acting a bit like a pastry rather than a bread it's a carrier for the flavours and valeria's got more upper sleeve another recipe she came across on her travels it's a variation of the svincioni i tried earlier the most part of the person think that this fincheone is the red one but in a little city near palermo bugaria you can find an another kind of spinchone is a white one without tomato and with red cottage cheese i want to make this part in red one and this part in the white one okay for the white half of the dough i'm adding ricotta cheese and fried onions just spread over the top then the tomato and the onions for the other half okay and then put the cheese both are covered in cheese and breadcrumbs similar but different yes absolutely the svincioni goes into the oven for 50 minutes wow look you can smell it straight away you can smell like smell the onions the onions are strong only you can smell them it's very soft it's really soft like cabrios it is like a brush but with a pizza topping that's exactly what it's like all right let's have a look at this one actually i prefer this one yeah i think it's got more flavour fantastical after seeing such a great range of breads i'm inspired to start baking my own i am of course going to meddle with tradition but valeria's on hand to make sure i don't stray too far this is my version of skatcha a layered loaf with flavour running right through it a great supper time treat we need to make a very basic dough now to do that we've got two types of flour we've got semolina flour which is actually quite fine it's ground down and we have strong white bread flour i'm going to tip these onto the bench if you don't want to do this on the bench and you want to do this in a bowl to be honest you can i know valeria probably shout at me [Laughter] yeast dissolved in water gets mixed with the flowers now this makes a right mess on the table oh my god see so work this don't worry it's not on your oh it's a little bit honest not watching the floor to be honest do you want to put the salt in and i will then i'll mix it in together when you go to the villages is it the men that make the bread or is it the women that make the bird well the women the women with the red that's very that's very mediterranean i put some olive oil this is a bit like pizza dough so now we start to build up the the gluten perfect really perfect [Music] now rest the dough for an hour before rolling out okay okay no that's not thinner again happy with that okay add sauteed tomatoes onions and parsley for the filling this cheese is a problem but inside there is a lemon you could use another cheese but this is going to make it really special take this part this is like pizza that gets folded over itself from outside in with a bit more filling between the layers more the mixture right down the middle now this is what makes this bread special the foals are what it's all about and again and again and last time and then you close it okay finally a drizzle of olive oil i'm going to pop this in the oven we'll have a look at it in a bit as the dough is super thin it only needs 15 minutes in the oven this kitchen smells amazing [Music] what do you think it looks great it looks good to me when i cut this oh it's really crispy wow look at that perfect now obviously at the moment it's a little bit hot to eat yeah but that once that's cool that would be beautiful yeah there you have it scatcha look at those layers it smells incredible coming up i'm introduced to a bizarre way to eat ice cream bun ice cream crazy sicilians and it's liverpool versus palermo i'm enjoying my first trip to sicily finding out how locals are embracing and updating their traditional recipes now i've heard the cathedral town of monreali up in the hills south west of palermo is well worth a visit for its sourdough bread i come all the way to palermo and i'm getting rained on brilliant but let me show you this [Music] there we have palermo you can see the way it stretches around the bay and this is called the concadora that reaches all the way up here the golden shell this is where they grow a lot the lemons the oranges all the way up this valley and that view i save you but actually if it wasn't raining you'd have a great view over the sea but that is palermo someone who knows about all things sicilian is my good friend and chef enzo oliveira hello paul how are you all right yeah what's going on with the weather oh god don't tell me sorry i i cannot apologize enough enzo's native to palermo but he's now based in london he's returned to his beloved island to show me some of his favorite regional foods stardom is something i did not expect ice cream you know the first ice cream parlor was made by sicilian in the world it's incredible [Music] [Laughter] i'm laughing because my delicious gelato is served in a bread bap that's what the way we eat it i want to see your face i'm not sure but fun ice cream crazy sicilians [Music] ice cream baps are all good fun but what i really came to monreali for is its famous sourdough bread the recipe hasn't changed in centuries and people come from all over the island to buy this unique loaf what have we got here then that's the best bread you can find in sicily it's the bread of everyone is trying to copy it but they cannot do it john michelle and his family have been baking this bread in wood-fired ovens for decades the locals have high expectations so sticking to the original recipe is essential what's different about it then it's a secret they won't sell to anyone how to do it and also they keep in the oven they bake it for longer so the crust is thicker and inside it stays moist yeah actually it will last three four days you see this this bits here they're put in the middle of the table and the family each one member of the family can break one bit with the hands because otherwise it would be hard to can you smell the the wood from the oven oh it's the smell is like it smells like toast okay it's the closest thing i can get it smells like toast because the wood is being used to fire the oven it gives it a very much a hard solid crust but inside it's so soft it's like a marshmallow perfecto it's a really really nice bread molten buona i kid you not this is truly remarkable bread can i i want to ask you if you wouldn't mind me going to the special the recipe is such a big secret even i don't get to see how the dough is made okay what shape you're gonna do the round one i'll do the round one i'll do the this collector okay the village break comes in three different shapes the rotonda and the scaletta of his sharing and the filoni is a sandwich life [Music] that's ready but are you going to do the because the cat you have to do so how many is there a number or is it just oh it's more or less what do you oh okay it's what you feel is right how many how many kids you got in the family okay got one or two each and then straight into the seeds yeah you can do that okay yes but we have to praise sorry that's it oh paul i like baking i love baking now i can say i'm in sicily making bread is what i love to do the bread is baked for 40 minutes at a high 350 degrees celsius to get its signature crust the bread here tastes amazing there is a little hint of sour in there but the flour the yellow flour together with the heavy crunch and the fact that it's a wood-fired oven it just takes it to a whole new level the breads themselves will last a couple of days but to be honest it wouldn't last an hour or two in my house it'd just be carved up and eaten it's almost like it's got butter on it already the taste is phenomenal i'm now heading back to the hustle and bustle of the capital it's pretty lively in the day but at night in palermo they really turn it up a notch [Music] i'm joining marco in the la vicuria market which is the place to hang out [Music] you're doing good i'm kidding it's cool is it just wine or beer or what actually this is a tabetna so it was mainly designed to be in the day for the trunk man the old man of the district okay and now it's for everybody it's not just students cheers it feels fantastic at night it really does come alive and the people are so happy friendly everybody wants to talk to you share their food because if you go down to the bottom there's stalls all the way along with with fish with meat and for me hanging out with the locals it's all part of the atmosphere it's liverpool this is palerbo come on come on and before i call it a night i've spotted something that seems to be a big hit with the younger crowd come here look at this this is crazy now we know a little bit more about arancini traditional sicilian food but look at this [Music] it's mad stuff they look similar don't they yesterday i made classic argentina rice balls with a thousand year old recipe this shop is selling every flavor imaginable pistachio pumpkin shrimps and chicken curry i'll try this smoked salmon one please oh you got sweet ones as well can i try the nutella okay this is gonna be fascinating all right i'll put these down here this is a smoked salmon oh yeah hang on although it shouldn't work as a traditional it arancini that's actually very very good indeed nutella in a sweet one okay now i'm doing this for you guys okay what you don't know we need to pan the camera can you just pan the camera left and just show the people so not too embarrassing then how strange is that it's got the flavor of nutella heavy chocolate i can taste everything in there but the texture is argentina i can't eat anymore though [Music] i'm not leaving palermo just yet i still have to meet the marzipan master look at this wig look at this work it's incredible and i celebrate my time in palermo by showing you how to bake an amazing casata alfono beautiful and soft the ricotta i'm in palermo sicily hunting down unusual bakes and fascinating local food sicily has shown itself to be a city rooted in tradition and my next stop is no different sometimes food traditions get so embedded into a culture that the people around it can't really appreciate it what i'm about to show you is something that i promise you is truly exceptional [Music] all this here is marzipan it's incredible it's truly exceptional where this takes it away from being just a normal pastry into the world of a kitchen artist so the person that makes all this is the same person or you have a big team yeah we have an older master it's because of him we have uh multiplying he is 79 years old where is this he's downstairs can i go and see you can go there gotta go see this guy amazing [Music] vincenzo sits here every day making hundreds of marzipan fruits and vegetables this is like a library just look at the master at work brilliant we're in durham or look at this work look at this work it's incredible what's this you're doing at the moment peach it's very clever no you can't carry on i like watching i like watching sicilians love their marzipan made from sugar and fresh almonds grown right here on the island the volcanic soil around mount etler gives them a unique flavor [Music] crafting these marzipan delights is such a time consuming process each design takes up to seven days to make from shaping painting drying and glazing it's a real privilege you know it's a real honor to watch these guys do it he is a true artist just look at the stuff that he does the ideas the color the feel the touch it's all here the fact that he's been doing it for so long is just incredible absolutely incredible [Music] though i don't have the skill of vincenzo i'm still up for having a try [Music] no pressure with the master watching me [Music] okay okay great it's just okay that's fine with me he's a master i'm a numpty [Music] as well as marzipan fruit all over the city i've seen casata the queen of cakes marco introduced me to when i first met him at their most elaborate they are incredible constructions chefs like those at the grand hotel piazza borza painstakingly piece them together it's the perfect example of fusion food with roots that date back to the muslim rule in the 10th century the sponge base is filled with classic ricotta and chocolate chips then it's glazed with water icing and the signature elaborate decoration of candied fruits the end result is a work of art only the most committed home baker would ever try this but i've discovered that you can get similar results quite easily now what i want to show you now is cassata alforno so that's basically a baked cake baked cassata now to start with you have your flour in the bowl this is plain flour so we add our butter straight in then i'm going to add my sugar and then get your hands in this is where you need to crumb this down into little pieces you're just basically introducing the butter to the flour okay i'm happy with that then lemon zest that lemon will really bring a little pecan seed to the pastry and give you a beautiful lift to it when you bite into it next add one whole egg and just the yolk of another now you can see straight away it comes together beautifully stick the pastry in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes roll it out and carefully line the tin right there's our base now moving on to the interior of the cassata this is sicilian ricotta add sugar to sweeten the ricotta chocolate chips the zest of a lemon and vanilla extract it's beautiful and soft the ricotta okay there's the filling all prepared now it's the case to put the whole dish together now to do that you come back to your case which you beautifully lined over here i've got some biscuit crumb or cake crumb and i'm just going to put a line of this down at the bottom to avoid the i can hear the screams soggy bottom okay now with your filling pour it straight onto the base add more cake crumbs and top with pastry then egg wash the sides and fold over now the ricotta in there with the egg and the pastry this will blow up slightly so it will rise in the oven and when it comes out it'll be good to go bake in the oven for 45 minutes until golden and crisp the voila there's the baked cassata give it a good dusting of icing sugar [Music] and there you have it that is my cassata alfono palermo has been a revelation it's a city steeped in history and the influences of its rich past shine out in its food it's about flavours sure but it's it's a lot about family as well it's about tradition it's about heritage it's about passing the knowledge on i've seen recipes thousands of years old and been served things long gone from most cities i've seen lifelong artists at work and tasted world-class bread perfect you have to come to sicily you have to come to the home of these bakes because the passion you can almost taste it

Channel: Tonic

Views: 420,293

Rating: 4.9131031 out of 5

Keywords: Paul Hollywood, paul hollywood's city bakes, city bakes, city bakes full episodes, Paul Hollywood full episodes, City bakes, city bakes paul hollywood, full episode, full episodes, season 2, season 2 episode 1, tonic, tonic channel, what to eat in saint petersburg, Tonic, best of, best of city bakes, city bakes best moments, paul hollywood best moments, city bakes compilation, city bakes paul, paul city bakes, paul hollywood in palermo, city bakes palermo

Id: Ou8vLycIcdc

Length: 46min 10sec (2770 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020