The Pantesca Salad? It’s the perfect mix of taste and smell of a wonderful island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea!!!
The wind in Pantelleria has thought me to feel and follow the true scents of the island. I spent months smelling true, wild, sensual and significant products. I fell asleep among bushes of blossoming capers protected by dwalf palm trees. I woke up with the scent of tomatoes drying in the sun. I fed on zibibbo honey, and I drank its sacred juice. I admired and loved the philosophy of the fisherman and the farmer from Pantelleria. I tried to ask not using words but glances. I cooked, fed and digested, trying to take this process as far as possible. I tried to give my palate the most pleasure possible and my mind a lot of energy, I lived inside Pantelleria and ,now, She lives inside me forever
Filippo La Mantia
I always travel with books dealing with the place I visit, I consider it a “printed soundtrack”, if you are interested in knowing some books, here you can find some
The summer is the perfect time to eat something light and fresh. The Pantesca salad is poetry because it’s the perfect mixture of taste and scent typical of Pantelleria. Even if I have never been a fan of mixing raw and cooked vegetables, in this case I had to change my mind.
The words by the famous Sicilian cook Filippo La Mantia remained fixed in my mind for the passion for the ingredients, even the simplest ones. It’a a quite simple recipe (even better!) one of those you can remember by heart and prepare with great nonchalance for a lunch or dinner with family and friends. And it will be a success.
Pantesca Salad: the ingredients
The ingredients are often in our kitchens but also for this reason it is important that their quality is the best:
4 potatoes of average size
1 Tropea onion
basil
oregano (that of Pantelleria is top quality, you can buy it here)
8 green olives
40 gr capers of Pantelleria with salt
extra virgin olive oil
salt
First, boil the potatoes, peel them and cut them in slices. While they cool down, chop the tomatoes and the onion in slices. Then mix the ingredients adding the basil, the olives, the desalted capers (leave them in water for 10 mins) and oregano. Dress with oil and a bit of salt.
If you wish making your salads richer you can add boiled eggs. Now close your eyes and it’s like you went back to your dammuso thanks to this unique scent!
Enjoy your meal!
What is your favourite recipe with capers?
