You have arrived in Palermo, the capital of street food and among the first questions you ask yourself: where to eat an excellent arancina? Seguimi, e scopriremo insieme dove gustarla nel Centro Storico di Palermo.
Questa volta ti accompagno presso la pasticceria “La Martorana”, un locale storico situato nella strada principale Via Vittorio Emanuele. Oltre a pasticceria, La Martorana è rosticceria dove potrete consumare anche degli ottimi primi di pasta, insalate, gelati e granite oppure sorseggiare un aperitivo.
But what is the arancina?
Its origins seem to be associated with Islamic domination in Palermo, between the 9th and 11th centuries, where the Arabs had the habit of preparing saffron rice balls in the palm of their hand, and then season it with the lamb meat. The Arabs called their meatballs with a name that can be traced back to a similar dish. And here is the connection to oranges, which were of a similar size: here are the arancine, inspired by the citrus fruit that they exported to Sicily. Until then adapting it to today's tastes.
The main ones are arancina alla carne (with meat ragout) and butter (ham and mozzarella). From the outside, although very similar, they are distinguished by their shape: the butter arancini are a little more oval, while the meat ones are perfectly round.
At Martorana we chose the arancina with meat. Here it is presented in its natural form.
Inside the rice with its characteristic yellow color given by the saffron. And the meat sauce is essentially composed of: minced meat, carrots, peas, tomato puree, oil, salt, and a chunk of grated cheese. Its flavor will be difficult to remove from your mouth and you will be amazed.
Note the very little pepper, an indicator of quality. In fact, be wary of arancini in some bars in the city where pepper abounds.
There is also a menu where you can accompany your arancina with a fresh beer or a good glass of red wine.
The internal room offers a bit of intimacy, with air conditioning. Or there are tables outside to admire the historic Cassaro buildings.
La Martorana is easily reachable by bike, just a few minutes from our store and overlooks a purely pedestrian area. For those who want to reach Mondello by bike and enjoy an arancina by the sea, stop by here first 😉
Buona arancina a tutti!
