Exra Cookstory

with more talk of Sicily and a recipe for cuzcuzu

When you approach Marsala harbour in a sailboat from the sea, the curve of the bay visible from sea-level is rimmed with a long line of low houses colour-washed in saffron and terracotta. The town centre, however, is elegantly baroque with a fine cathedral fronted by a handsome piazza round which the town’s inhabitants make a gentle passegiata every evening, taking the time for refreshment - maybe a lemon or coffee or melon granita, or one of the pistachio-and-fig or almond-and-cinnamon sweetmeats, specialities of a town as close as can be to the coast of North Africa.