Name: Mafalda
Type: Sesame bread.
Raw material: wheat flour.
Shape: coil.
Tasting notes: soft dough; mild odor, of yeast and flour, with aromas of sesame; chewing you feel a tougher consistency than that obtained with white flour.
The flavor reproduces the taste of sesame seeds, with hints of toasted and dried fruit.
Pairings: shellfish cooked in various ways, seasonal prosciutto crudo, Fontina, Montasio.

The sesame is an herbaceous plant native to the regions of India, known for its seeds.
It became so popular in the Middle East that its name was even mentioned in “One Thousand and One Nights.”
In the story “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, in fact, the magic words “Open Sesame” are pronounced to move a huge stone that blocked the entrance to a large cave, which harbored robbers. Sesame seeds are prevalently used in Arabic cooking. Thus, those territories dominated or influenced by the Arabic culture adopted its culinary use of sesame seeds.

Middle Eastern flavors in the history of Sicily

In Sicily, a region that has assimilated to some aspects of Middle Eastern culture, you can enjoy a multitude of Arabic preparations, in addition to loaves with sesame seeds, such as couscous (especially in Trapani), nougat and honey (cubbaita), cassata and dishes with saffron spice, which are also present in other regional cuisines.
Breads with sesame seeds, the best known of which is the mafalda, are tasty and fragrant. The presence of these seeds gives the bread a precise, albeit delicate flavor, allowing it to depart from the connotation of neutral food, which is a typical characteristic of starchy foods.
This does not prevent the sesame bread (such as those with cumin, poppy seed or sunflower oil) from pairing with a variety of foods.
The sesame flavor, vaguely reminiscent of walnut, in fact, is harmonious with numerous courses and helps to enrich the flavor of the food with which it is served.
A mixture of wheat flour, and then the fermentation.
There are multiple versions of this bread.
The mafalda is made with whole wheat flour, water, salt, and malt.
The ingredients are mixed vigorously, then left for about three quarters of an hour.
You should roll the dough in long cylindrical shapes that can then be coiled.
Allow a portion of the dough to resting across the top of the bread, along the length of the coil; moisten the surface of the loaf by brushing it with water and then sprinkled it with sesame seeds.
The resulting coils are then left to ferment in a warm place for a couple of hours, then after, are baked. Another sesame bread is called “Sicilian”.
The ingredients are the same as mafalda, excluding malt.
In this case, the obtained mixture is collected in a container and is left to ferment.
After less than an hour, you may spill the contents on a work table and divide the mass into pieces of the desired sizes, making as many strands as possible.
These are moistened at the top and are rolled successively in sesame seeds so as to make the seeds adhere to the wet surface of the dough.
The bread from this recipe are left in a fermentation cell for about an hour, then are marked with three diagonal cuts on the surface and baked in the oven.

Soft texture, strong character

The mafalda, where it is not covered in sesame seeds, has a golden crust.
The texture is soft and the smell is light with scents of yeast and flour.
When chewing, you will notice that the dough is tougher than those breads made with white flour.
The flavor reproduces the taste of sesame seeds and recalls toasted nuts.
The mafalda, and breads with sesame seeds in general, are not neutral in taste like other breads, thus cannot be paired with just any foods.
Sesame breads are perfect with seafood flavors, most of all with shrimp.
These breads provide a supplementary condiment that, in the case of a course that is very simple, it is not always useful.
Served, for example, with a delicate fish such as hake boiled, the mafalda may cause a subtle change to the balance of the delicate dish that compromises its aroma and taste. By contrast, in some cases their aroma proves complementary to that of the plate with which they are accompanied, as in the case of shellfish, especially shrimp.
These, stir-fried, or in a tomato, curry, or even butter sauce, or flambéed with Cognac, reveal sweet, well-characterized taste that harmonizes with sesame seeds, from which they receive a soft and pleasing hint of toasted nuts.
They also pair well with fried foods and with prosciutto crudo.
Sesame breads accompany many other preparations of fish such as fish soup and other coastal Italian soups, mussels marinara, the aliotidi (also known as bull’s eye, mollusk, or ear of the sea), grilled swordfish stew with capers, olives and tomatoes, poached octopus, the Brazilian moqueca (where you use coconut cream), the Louisianan shrimp gumbo (shrimp and vegetable stew), and bouillabaisse. It is also tempting to pair these breads with fried foods, especially fried fish and vegetables and, of course,  tempura.
As for meat, it goes to the varieties savory taste penetrating as the sheep and goat, roasted in the oven, grilled or cooked on the grill or in damp, so it should be served with grilled mutton chops, leg of goat spit, lamb fricassee, lamb chops with curry.
It lends itself also to accompany pork ribs with cabbage, pork neck meat fresh baked, beef steak Florentine.
The comparison with some ham reveals exciting if these are long seasoned, the flavor of sesame and the fat blend creating a taste that may look like the best Spanish hams, obtained from pigs reared acorns and therefore characterized by a vague peanut flavor.
To try again, with cold meats such as hams salted pork or speck, also accompanies pork sausages cooked on the grill or wine.
Another exciting combination is given by some cheeses (eg, Fontina, Toma, Asiago, Montasio). This is because between fat and sesame flavors of understanding is established that leads to the enhancement of the cheese. Finally, with regard to the combination with vegetables, should be favored above all peppers, eggplant and tomatoes.

Cacciucco

Ingredients for 6 people:
squid, cuttlefish, dogfish, mantis shrimps, prawns, mussels and shrimp, with a total weight of 3 kg, 1 kg tomatoes, garlic, onion, celery, carrot, parsley, lemon, olive oil, dry white wine, broth, pepper, salt, pepper
Clean and wash the fish, brush the mussels. In an earthenware pot saute 4 cloves of garlic and a piece of red pepper 100 g of oil.
Join squid and cuttlefish in pieces, pour a glass of wine and add the tomatoes, peeled and chopped.
Cook over high heat for 15 ‘and, meanwhile, to open the mussels in a pan with a spoonful of oil as well as garlic and parsley.
Chop onion, celery, carrot, parsley and the zest of half a lemon, salt and pepper lightly and put the mixture in the saucepan with shellfish and other fish (except dogfish).
Also add the mussels, freed from shells.
Stir, sprinkle with a little broth and cook for about 10 ‘.
Remove everything from the pan and pass the broth through a strainer.
Put it in the bowl and add all the fish and dogfish to pieces.
Add a little ‘water mussels filtered.
Mix gently, keep the fire still 5 ‘and serve.