Our Family Tries Sicilian Recipes for Saturday Night!

Savor the flavors of Italy with this delightful Sicilian-style bruschetta, perfect as an appetizer. This easy recipe brings the taste of Sicily to your home. Enjoy this tasty food with fresh basil for an authentic Italian experience. It’s simple italian food at its best!

Discover the joy of Sicilian cooking with three authentic recipes that bring the island’s flavours straight to your table. In this video, I prepare:
🍅 Bruschetta Siciliana with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, olives and basil
🥔 Potato & Green Bean Salad with parsley, capers and garden vegetables
🐟 Stuffed & Baked Cuttlefish with breadcrumbs, Parmigiano Reggiano, capers and herbs
These are recipes full of tradition, simplicity, and flavour, the kind of food you would enjoy with family on a relaxed Saturday night. Each dish is rooted in Sicilian tradition, using fresh seasonal ingredients and the no-waste, honest approach that defines Mediterranean cooking. Whether you try just one dish or cook all three, this meal makes a true Sicilian feast.

📌 If you enjoy this video, don’t forget to subscribe to TortellinoTime for more authentic Italian and Sicilian cooking, shared with warmth, calmness, and family spirit.

🍅 1. Bruschetta Siciliana
Ingredients
Rustic bread (sourdough, French stick, or similar)
Olive oil
Dried oregano
Fresh tomatoes (sliced)
Fresh mozzarella (125 g ball, thinly sliced)
Black and green olives (pitted, halved)
Fresh basil leaves
Capers (about 1 teaspoon, rinsed if very salty)
Parmigiano Reggiano (grated, optional)
Black pepper
Balsamic vinegar (1–2 teaspoons)
Garlic (1 medium clove, crushed)

Procedure
Slice the bread diagonally, about 1.5 cm thick. Mix olive oil with dried oregano. Brush both sides of the bread slices. Place on a baking tray and toast in the oven at 190°C for about 5 minutes until golden. Prepare topping: halve olives, chop basil, crush garlic, mix with capers, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Parmesan, and black pepper. Top each bread slice with fresh tomato slices, then mozzarella. Spoon the olive-basil-caper mix on top. Return to the oven for 5–6 minutes, just until the cheese melts. Garnish with fresh basil. Serve warm.

🥔 2. Sicilian Potato & Green Bean Salad
Ingredients
Fresh green beans
Potatoes (small, firm – boiled and cooled)
Fresh parsley (chopped)
Garlic (1 medium clove, crushed)
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar (2 tablespoons)
Black pepper
Salt (to taste)
Capers (1 teaspoon, rinsed)
Black and green olives (a few, halved)
Fresh tomatoes (a few small ones, chopped)

Procedure
Trim the beans and boil in salted water for about 5 minutes, until tender but still with a bite. Drain. While still hot, toss beans with a marinade of olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, parsley, black pepper, and salt. Add boiled potatoes (cut into small cubes and cooled). Add capers, olives, and fresh tomatoes.

Mix gently. Chill in the fridge before serving for the flavours to combine.

🐟 3. Stuffed & Baked Cuttlefish (Seppie Ripiene al Forno)

Ingredients
Cuttlefish (whole, cleaned – approx 500 g drained)
Breadcrumbs (5 heaped tablespoons)
Parmigiano Reggiano (about 50 g, grated)
Fresh parsley (chopped)
Garlic (1 clove, crushed)
Black and green olives (halved)
Capers (1 teaspoon)
Fresh tomatoes (baby plum or cherry, halved)
Red wine vinegar (½ teaspoon)
Olive oil (generous)
Black pepper (to taste)

Procedure
Prepare stuffing: mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan, parsley, garlic, olives, capers, tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, and black pepper. Stuff six of the cuttlefish bodies with the mixture, pressing firmly so it stays compact. Drizzle a little olive oil at the opening to help seal. Slice remaining cuttlefish into 1 cm rings and toss in the breadcrumb mixture. Place all stuffed cuttlefish and rings on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with extra olive oil. Bake at 190°C for 20–25 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Serve hot, garnished with extra parsley.

00:00 Introduction & Saturday Dinner
00:48 Sicilian Potato & Green Bean Salad
07:02 Preparing the Cuttlefish Stuffing
13:19 Cooking the Stuffed & Baked Cuttlefish
14:21 Bruschetta Siciliana
20:25 Tasting the Sicilian Feast

#SicilianRecipes #ItalianFood #MediterraneanCooking #Bruschetta #SeafoodRecipes #PotatoSalad #tortellinotime #tortellino

Saturday. Yeah. So this is our Saturday dinner.
Right. Have we got to eat it all?
No, just carry on. You carry on eating. So this is our Saturday dinner. I’ve just 
been joined by Diane. Diane is Julie’s mum, and Julie and I have made some Sicilian-style 
bruschetta, Sicilian-style French beans and potato salad, and Sicilian-style cuttlefish 
with breadcrumbs. Absolutely delicious. What is it like? What are you trying, bruschetta?
Very tasty, very tasty. Have you tried this?
I have, I have. I could try another piece for you. Julie has nearly finished the 
bruschetta, so if you’d like to see how I made it, just watch the video next. The first thing I’ll make is the Sicilian 
potato and French bean salad, but I want to just deal with the cuttlefish first. 
I defrosted them overnight and, if you look, there is quite a lot of water. 
So I will let them drain for the next 10 minutes whilst I make the salad, so 
that by the time I deal with them, they are as dry as they can be. I do not 
want much water, if any, in this recipe. So, I’ll put this out of the way and I’m going to 
show you, by the way, how they came. I bought them from a supermarket. You don’t find them 
very often in the UK. And here they are: they’re called cuttlefish. These 
are still frozen. They were £7.99, and actually it’s quite a good price. There’s 800 
grammes in there. I think it’s a very good option, far more affordable than buying squid, 
and the taste is very, very similar. So I’ll put it back in the freezer and I’ll get 
on with the salad. And as you might have already guessed, these French beans come from Julie’s 
vegetable patch. She picked them yesterday, so they’re really, really fresh. 
Also, she picked some the other day, we blanched them, and put them in the freezer. If you’ve got access to French beans, sometimes 
you might find them reduced in supermarkets, or this time of year they are actually quite 
affordable, depending where you buy them from. All you need to do if you want to keep some for 
winter: just do what I’m doing now. Remove the head and the bottom, put them in boiling 
hot water. At the moment I’m putting mine in cold water as I’m cooking them, and leave 
them to blanch for no more than maybe 30–40 seconds. Then get them out and put them under 
running cold water, dry them, and spread them on a baking tray. Put them in the freezer until 
they’re frozen solid. Then you can remove them, put them in your freezer bag, and they 
will last you throughout the winter. So: cold water. I’ll put them on the hob 
until they start boiling, then I’ll turn the temperature on medium and I’ll leave them 
to cook for about 5 minutes, until they are hard to bite. I don’t want them to be too soft, but 
clearly they need to cook for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, I’ll make the dressing. Whoops, I was actually looking for a medium clove of 
garlic—nearly lost it. So I’ll peel it off and I’m going to use a crusher, as I want the garlic 
to spread all over my vegetables. Olive oil, and two tablespoons of vinegar. Today I’m choosing red 
wine vinegar. Sometimes I use white wine vinegar, sometimes apple cider vinegar, or very often 
you might have seen me using balsamic vinegar. I’m opting for red wine vinegar today because 
it’s got a deeper taste and flavour. Bearing in mind that my beans and my potatoes are going 
to be quite sweet, this will balance it nicely. If I was to use balsamic vinegar, it 
would be too sweet. White vinegar would also work very well. Follow with some black 
pepper—quantities to taste as always—and of course a little salt. No need to add too much, 
you can always add some more later if you wish. This is parsley, which I’ve just picked from 
the garden. I’ll chop it with my knife so that it releases even more flavour. French 
beans and potatoes is a very Sicilian combo, but if you want to make the recipe even more 
Sicilian you can add some capers. They’re very salty, so just rinse them under water. These are 
one teaspoon. And also a few olives which I keep in olive oil. These are from my favourite jar. 
I refilled this last night, and I made a video a little while back—if you want to look at it, 
have a look here and you can see how I make them. Lastly, a few fresh tomatoes. These are 
also from our garden. Julie’s just given them to me. I’m using just the little ones 
today, but I will also be cooking with a combination of supermarket tomatoes and 
our own. They are really, really lovely. In the meantime, my French beans are beginning to 
boil, so I’ll turn them down to number 4—5 minutes from now. My marinade is ready, and the garlic 
is already releasing some wonderful flavours. They’re done, and I’ve just drained them 
using a pasta drainer. I’m going to share a little tip with you: a lot of people 
put them under cold running water by now, because they want them to cool down. I don’t. 
That’s because I’ve got my beautiful marinade here with garlic and oil and parsley, and I 
like to add my marinade immediately on top of my very hot beans. As the beans are really hot, they 
infuse very well with the garlic and the parsley, and with the rest of the ingredients. 
They will cool down very quickly anyhow. Here are the last ingredients: potatoes. 
These are also from our garden, just like the French beans. Julie picked them 
yesterday, chopped them in little pieces, and cooked them. Then she drained them 
and they were in the fridge overnight, so they are stone cold—ideal, 
because they will cool down my salad. Quantities of beans, quantities 
of potatoes: entirely up to you, depending how many people you’re cooking for. 
Now that I’ve added the cold potatoes and mixed everything together once again, these are 
nearly ready. All they need to do is cool down, and the best way to do that is to put 
them in the fridge. I’ve got a little rubber cover, which is also hermetic, so 
that will prevent any smell coming out. They’ll go in the fridge and cool down 
relatively quickly, because I’ve got a metal bowl. If you’ve got one, that’s ideal, as 
the heat will dissipate considerably quicker. And I’ll get on with the fish next. Today 
I will be stuffing some of my cuttlefish, but I will also be cooking some 
in rings, a bit like calamari. These are dry breadcrumbs. I’m going to be 
adding five heaped tablespoons. A little bit more parsley. Actually, the ingredients are going 
to be very similar to the salad that I just made, but obviously this will be cooked. Parsley goes 
really well with this dish, but if you wish you can switch with mint, basil, or even rosemary. 
But really it’s difficult to beat parsley. Here are my capers. This time, 
though, I’m not going to salt my mix, and I’m not going to drain my capers. 
The reason is that I’m going to use quite a generous amount of Parmigiano 
Reggiano, which is a Parmesan cheese, and this is quite salty. So I always say 
that you can add salt if you want at the end, but it’s impossible to take it away. Quantity is 
entirely up to you. I’ll add about 50 grammes. Next, another clove of garlic. 
This time I’m going for something a little bit larger. Using the crusher 
again—it spreads the flavour widely. Here are my olives once again. 
Black and green, or just black, or just green—whatever you have. These 
are pitted, so it’s easier for me to cut them in half, but if you like you can use the 
unpitted ones. I’ve actually made this dish with unpitted olives before. Obviously, be 
careful—make sure you don’t break any teeth. Capers and olives in recipes 
like this are really important, as they release quite a distinctive flavour 
and they marry incredibly well with the fish. Now the tomatoes. These are baby plum 
tomatoes from the supermarket. They need to be used up—they’ve been in the 
fridge over a week. You can also use cherry tomatoes. If you cannot access fresh 
tomatoes, you can use tinned. If you do, make sure you remove as much juice as 
possible and try to use plum tomatoes. Just like before, I’m going to add some red wine 
vinegar. This time it’s because I’ve got it handy, but it could have been white. Doesn’t 
really matter. Just a little—about half a teaspoon. I’ll mix it all 
together so the ingredients are marinating. The breadcrumbs 
are playing a key factor here, spreading nicely across all of my ingredients. 
It smells and looks absolutely beautiful. Many families in Sicily also add onion. They 
slice it in little pieces and add it with the rest of the ingredients. You can do that if you 
like. I think there’s plenty going on already. Back to my cuttlefish. I’m looking for six which 
I can stuff easily without having to worry. Some of them are kind of damaged. So, one, two, 
three, four, five… and here is number six. I’m not stuffing them with tomatoes, 
as I want to make sure they’re properly compacted. You can also use squid to 
do this. They tend to be a bit bigger, so you can throw everything in, tomatoes included. I’ll just show you one so you can see how 
easy it is. Take some of the mix—make sure you get a combination of olives, capers, and 
breadcrumbs—and push it down with your finger, nice and compact. By the time it 
cooks, the breadcrumbs will shrink, and you want to make sure all 
of the stuffing stays inside. I’ll do the other five and 
then show you what to do next. A little olive oil: I’m applying a tiny drop on 
each opening of my cuttlefish. Maybe a little less than that. Don’t worry if you make a mess; 
everything will be mixed together in a little while. But ensure that you put a little olive 
oil, as this will generate a crust so that it’s nice and crunchy by the time it’s cooked, and it 
will also prevent the stuffing from coming out. Now, olive oil to my mixture. Fairly generous. I also want to make sure that the 
breadcrumbs are nice and moist. The rest of the cuttlefish I’ll cook in 
rings, like calamari. I’m slicing it in approximately 1-centimetre pieces. The 
rest of the body here I’ll chop in half, as they’re small. Everything will 
cook broadly at the same time. Add them to my mixture over here. The 
cuttlefish will marinate beautifully with my other ingredients, and I’ll add them to the 
rest so they benefit from the breadcrumb coating. Nearly ready to go in the oven. All I need is my oven tray. I would recommend lining 
it with baking paper. In my case, I’m using reusable paper, which is great for 
the environment and also dishwasher safe. Here is my cuttlefish. Spread 
the loose pieces and tomatoes, and place the stuffed ones 
here so they can cook evenly. Ready to go in the oven. Temperature 
about 190°. Doesn’t really matter if it’s fan-assisted or conventional. Timing about 
20–25 minutes. It depends on the size of your fish. The vegetables will cook in that time. 
If you’re cooking large cuttlefish or squids, you might need to cook them a 
little longer. Keep an eye on them. I’ll put this in the oven and 
start on my bruschetta next. Let’s start with the bread. What bread is 
best to use to make bruschetta? In fairness, you can use any bread: French sticks, 
sliced bread, it doesn’t matter. Clearly, the more rustic the bread, the more 
rustic the look of the bruschetta. But I’m going to show you a little trick 
which equalises almost every bread. I’m using some sourdough today. Both Julie 
and I went shopping yesterday and we saw this loaf of sourdough bread. 
We both fell in love with it. If you’re using a normal loaf bread like this, 
I advise slicing diagonally. It gives you a greater surface and looks more elegant 
on the plate. About 1.5 cm thick slices. Many leftover breads I always put back in the 
packaging, then in the freezer, so it stays fresh. The equaliser process: olive oil and oregano. 
Mix with a brush, and start brushing the olive oil and oregano on both sides of the bread. 
The flavour once it goes in the oven really helps any type of bread taste beautiful. So you don’t 
have to buy special bread—any bread will be fine. Another baking tray. I’ll position them inside. As my oven is already on, I’ll put them 
in for about 5 minutes until golden. Meanwhile, my jar of olives comes 
out once again. A couple of spoons, chopped in half so they don’t roll off. Fresh 
basil: I’ve just washed a little branch. Chop it with a knife. Same bowl as before with 
oregano—top up with a little olive oil. Now capers again. Just a few, not even a full 
teaspoon. I haven’t rinsed them, so I’m not adding salt. A little Parmesan cheese, and more at the 
end once it’s out of the oven. A little pepper. This time I’m using balsamic 
vinegar, 1–2 teaspoons. Lastly, another medium clove of garlic 
through the crusher. Quick mix. Now slice my tomatoes: six bruschetta slices, so twelve pieces of tomato, so I 
can put at least a couple on each. Next is mozzarella. A fresh ball, 125 grammes. Slice it very thinly to 
ensure enough for each piece of bread. Five minutes have gone by. I’ll get the bread. My 
bread is well bruscato. Bruscato means “to make it rough.” Bruschetta is the name of the bread. So 
this has been bruscato because it’s roughened up. I’m doing this while my bread is 
hot because I’m cooking dinner now, but if you wanted you could prepare your 
bread well in advance, even the day before. Some people start with mozzarella, then tomato, 
then olives. Some the other way round. I don’t think it really matters. The important 
thing is that all the ingredients are there. I’m starting with tomatoes, followed by 
mozzarella, kind of like making a pizza: tomato first, then mozzarella. Then 
the olive-basil-cheese mix on top. They’re ready to go back in 
the oven—about 5–6 minutes, not too long. The bread is already 
cooked; it’s just for the cheese to melt. By the time I come back, 
I’ll bring the fish with me, and Julie and her mum will join me 
so we can taste everything together. The bruschetta is ready. I thought of 
adding more Parmesan, but I don’t think I’ll bother—they look beautiful as they 
are. Just a little pepper for colour. The smell from the fish is absolutely amazing. 
Look at these—they’re absolutely perfect. So I dished them up, and I’m going to call them. Let’s try this. Looks delicious.
Yes. Umm, ohh, that is nice. OK. I’ll try some more from the salad. Hmm, hmm.
How about this? Ohh, that is delicious. Actually yummy. 
Hang on, let me go, sir. I will do that, thank you.
Hmm. Look at the ability. Need good teeth, yeah. I think it’s fair to say that they’re 
tucking in and really enjoying it. What do you think?
This is your love. And what about you?
Yeah, OK.
Hmm. We’re going to eat now. No complaints. We’re 
going in the garden to eat. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the video. You don’t have 
to make them all—you can make one, you can make two, or you can make them 
all. If I was you, I would make them all. Arrivederci, grazie, and buon appetito. Ciao ciao.
Hmm, hmm.