Sgombro con Salmariglio

Summer in Sicily is normally soooo hot but not this week. Enjoying sun and cool breezes. 

Lunch's main course this day was mackerel, a bluefish perfect for a light meal. My sister in law met up with the fishmonger and he recommended making it into a cold dish. Easy and tasty. We accompanied it with sautéed green pepper strips, eggplant, and cherry tomatoes, and a salad. Ended with bread and cheese. Fantastic. 

Whole mackerel here are tiny fish, about 6-8" long, and our fishmonger cleans them. Of course they shouldn't smell at all or be slimy.  Mackerel have skin and no scales so are perfect for quick cooking. 

Lay the fishes in a pan and barely cover with water. Add a teaspoon of salt, a little dried or fresh mint, a few fennel seeds, and bring to a soft boil. Reduce and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the fish, let cool a bit, and gently split into filets and remove bones. Place fillets on serving platter. 

Salmariglio is the standarddressing for   Italian meats and fish.  Chop a large bunch of fresh parsley, add to this the juice of a lemon, a little zest as well, about 1/4 c of olive oil, a teaspoon salt and a couple cloves of crushed garlic. Mix well and gently dress fish. Let sit while you prepare your side dishes and serve room temp. Decorate with a few sliced cherry tomatoes. 

This made for the perfect meal to eat with the balcony doors open wide and the breeze keeping us cool, and a little naturally effervescent water from the tap, bubbly thanks to our local volcano. Perfect. 

Linguine with Wild Fennel Weed

This is one seriously Sicilian dish. Wild fennel weed that must be picked wild, preferably off a mountain like the volcano Etna.....then a quick run by the fish market to get some little fish. Almost any kind will do. The most used would be a blue fish. You could use mackerel, or fresh sardines too. Best bet is go to a Chinese market and find some fresh or frozen tiny fish. They love fish as much as Sicilians do. 

These two ingredients make for the perfect summer pasta dish. Light and nutrient rich, with a nice crunch to boot.

1 lb linguine

A fist full of dill weed with stalks

An onion

2 salted anchovy fillets finely chopped

1/2 c pine nuts

1/2 c raisins

4 peeled tomatoes or 1 c diced tomatoes

1 1/2 c breadcrumbs

1 lb little fishes

Fill a pasta pot with water and salt as for boiling pasta. Take your fennel weed and put it right in there. Let it boil 20 min. I think we could substitute fresh dill weed. Has to be fresh and not dried. Put a whole bunch in. Let it blanch and then pick it out and let drain. Keep that dilly water for the pasta. 

Chop the dill up nicely and add to a skillet with one grated onion and 2 tbsp or so of olive oil. Sauté all that for a bit. Throw in some everything else including  pine nuts and / or raisins if you have them and sauté together. Add a bit of dilly water to make saucy. Squish the tomatoes and they'll disappear. Sauce shouldn't be red. 

Your little fishes should be cleaned and have no scales but still probably have bones. It's up to you to decide whether to filet or not. However you decide, toss in the fish and sauté away. When the fish is done, set it aside. They might fall apart and it's ok. Salt to taste. 

In another skillet toast some plain breadcrumbs. Put a bit of olive oil in with a crushed garlic clove and sauté. Add the breadcrumbs a with a little Parmesan. 

Like 1/3 cup per person. Make them nice and golden. Just set the skillet on medium high and stir every so often. Put them in a bowl for the table. 

Now boil your pasta in the dilly salted water, and strain, saving some pasta water for the table.  Toss in with the fish sauce and add pasta water as needed to make it come together. 

Serve each plate with a nice sprinkling of breadcrumbs and some Parmesan if desired.  It's crunchy and fresh and healthful. Dill weed is well known for its healthful properties and so are tiny fish :)

**In our family we actually fry the little fish fillets separately and put on top of the pasta. It's a little drier to eat but we like it. Just dredge the fillets in breadcrumbs and fry in a little olive oil. Salt to taste. 

Pesce Piccata

Ok so in all my investigating living around Italy, no one I've met has ever heard of Veal Piccata. I introduced my Sicilian family to my version a few years ago and they raved.

My version is with fish. Tilapia, orange roughy, any firm white fish will do. Made it tonight for our cousins and again, even the 2 and 7 year olds ate it all!

Pesce Piccata

White fish fillets
Flour for dredging
Butter and olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic minced.
Capers
Lemon juice
1/2 c white wine
1/2 c water

Have a platter ready with paper towels or paper bags. I love using paper bags for draining fried food.  Don't stick and work great.
In a skillet, heat 3 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp olive oil on med hi. Salt and pepper the flour. Salt the fish and dredge in flour. Fry on both sides till browned and set aside on platter.

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Add two tbsp butter to the skillet, melt, and add garlic. Sauté till golden brown. Add white wine, scrape up the yummy bits stuck on the bottom, and then add water. Cook on medium till reduced by half. Add 2 tbsp lemon juice and 2 tbsp capers. Cook a few min.
You're thinking at this point, 'I can't put this stuff on my fish. It's all runny!'  Well, here's where the magic happens.

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A few at a time, put the fillets back in the sauce, count to ten, turn over gently using a couple of spatulas, count to ten again, and return to platter. Your fish is warm now, your sauce has thickened, and yumminess reigns. Pour sauce over the fish. Serve with rice or Italian Rosemary roasted potatoes and a quick salad, and don't forget a nice chardonnay.