Bread history in Sicily, impanata and scaccie

I just happened to be re-reading Mary Simeti's wonderful book on Sicily and Sicilian cooking, Pomp and Sustenance, 25 Centuries of Sicilian Cooking, and I became intrigued with her chapter on bread.


Now, whoever said that man cannot live by bread alone is clearly an idiot.  I can.  Although if there's peanut butter around, that's a definite plus.


I was looking at the various fillings for impanata or bread pie.  Page 123 for those who are interested.  Filling #1 is raw Swiss chard, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt and olive oil.  I don't know about you, but it would never enter my mind to stuff bread with raw Swiss chard, but hey, I'm the peanut butter girl, remember?  Tomatoes, clearly a recipe after the 17th century as tomatoes are a New World addition to the Italian cuisine.
Filling #2 includes cauliflower or broccoli, raw fresh Sicilian sausage, ground pork, fennel seeds, and cheese - either tuma, primosale or mozzarella - and of course black pepper and olive oil.  This sounds yummy.
Filling #3 sounds pretty good too - chopped fresh raw spinach, black pepper and olive oil and caciocavallo or parmesan cheese.   Grrrrr.


Is there anything such as too much cheese?


Scaccie are stuffed bread rolls and obviously those fillings are varied.  Her filling #1 includes eggplant fried in olive oil (and nowhere in the world is there fried eggplant as delicious as in Sicily - many have tried and all have failed), tomatoes, basil, caciocavallo or parmesan cheese and surprise!  Black pepper and olive oil.  I don't know, I think I could eat about 20 of these ... 
Filling #2 is fresh ricotta, scallions, either of the above cheeses, eggs and black pepper.


All I know is, while I rarely try to cook from her book, I love reading about all these delicious foods.  it brings back all the months Bill and I wandered through Palermo and parts of Sicily and just ate what people gave us.  Ummm, what great memories.