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What's Tinniruma? Pasta chi Tinniruma lovesicily style

What are Tinniruma?
Tinniruma are the leaves of "cucuzza", a typical Sicilian zucchini used in many local dishes.
It is a very poor ingredient which is great to eat on its own as a side dish just boiled or sautè with garlic and chilly, or can be used for pasta dishes, invioltini and soups.
Like many other poor ingredients, it was not considered something to serve in a restaurant menu, until famous Sicilian chefs like Pino Cuttaia and Ciccio Sultano started using Tinniruma in their recipes thus turning it into a special ingredient in their top class restaurant.

Nothing special really for Sicilians as we have used Tinniruma in our daily family summer cooking for generations.

Here you have a simple recipe of "Pasta chi tinniruma" lovesicily style.

Boil the tinniruma in abundant water, when they are ready take them out of the pot and save the water to boil the pasta in it.
Squize the tinniruma to press excess water out, chop them roughly and set aside.
Slice an onion (we use the ones from Giarratana) and sautè some in a pan using extra-virgin olive oil, then add some thinly sliced cucuzza. When the onion and the cucuzza are softened add some fresh chopped tomatoes and finally the tinniruma. If it is too dry use some of the tinniruma cooking water to adjust.
We chose a special shape of pasta pruduced locally in Pozzallo which traps all the ingredients of the sauce and gives an excellent result. You can use any kind of short pasta both dry or fresh. When the pasta is ready, add it to the pan and stir.
To finish sprinkle the pasta with toasted bread crumbs and serve with slices of fried cucuzza. If you like it spicy add some fresh chilly to reach perfection.

Written on
July 24, 2009