Each summer, my family and I head to Sicily for two weeks to visit with my parents.  My father’s #1 passion is his garden, and each year he walks us through it, pointing out all of his prize vegetables.  He tosses out tons of tips to me and my wife on how to grow this, what to do with that and then he bombards us with questions about our own garden.  We selectively tell him our success stories and leave out the realities like the fact that we recently “staked a weed”, thinking it was an eggplant plant.  When we returned from Italy, the one weed had turned into about nine of them, all taller than me.  We removed them and the stakes and now have a cleaner, yet less abundant garden.

Eggplant is a vegetable that I don’t typically buy in the regular old supermarket.  They are often bitter and require salting, and my father’s eggplants have spoiled me.  He grows many varieties and it requires very little effort to make them taste great.  While we were there, we had eggplant every night-sometimes served in two to three different ways, as my mother loves to cook. 

 
     

One of my favorite dishes is my mother’s traditional “doppietti”-lightly fried layers of eggplant filled with cooked spaghetti and fresh Sicilian ricotta. Once fried, they are then put in the oven with a light layer of fresh tomato and basil sauce. It’s a taste of Sicilian tradition that I love to eat every time I visit in July or August.

While in Sicily, we visited a wonderful restaurant on the southern coast in the town of Licata.  Chef Pino Cuttaia was a real gentleman, a philosopher of food and a chef that believes in reinterpreting the classics.  I could relate to him.    Our third course was my mother’s “doppietti”, turned inside out.  He served the eggplant and ricotta inside a nest of crispy spaghetti, elegantly plated and truly delicate.  I only wish we had remembered to take out the camera before the end of the meal so I could share the presentation with you here.  Instead, I’ll show you a photo of me smiling happily after a wonderful meal with this great chef.

At Felidia, I’m showcasing my own version of “doppietti.”  I serve paccheri pasta stuffed with ricotta and sautéed with tomato and basil sauce.  I then wrap the eggplant around the paccheri and put in the oven.  I love the fact that this dish has gone through three different renditions-my mother’s classic, my new friend’s version and now, my very own.