Fish and more fish

One of my biggest passions is fish. I love eating fish out especially when I am in Italy. Italian fish restaurants are a real delight for fish lovers: shellfish is beautifully arranged on plates and most of it is barbecued giving fish a fantastic addictive flavour.

Eating fish out can be quite expensive though but in a few simple steps you can learn to cook it at home with eccellent results.

Instead of barbecuing at home you can use a humble griddle pan which is the quickest way to obtain a similar result with little mess but sometimes I use the oven too depending on which type of fish I am cooking.

You don’t need to be an expert at preparing fish. You can get your fishmonger to clean the fish for you and you will be ready to go in no time.

As I am on holiday with my sisters Ivana and Laura we often take turns to make meals or we cook in a team. Paolo, Laura’s boyfriend gave us a hand at preparing a fantastic fish dinner. When Paolo cooks I can see how he is driven by passion and I certainly know where he is coming from.

With the fishmonger just a few yards away from home we bought a good selection of fish.

We cooked sea bream, langoustines, sword fish and fish kebabs made of salmon, white fish, peppers and prawns. We stuffed the fish with lemon slices, capers and herbs.

Thyme goes perfectly with fish, so does rosemary. Add a few leaves when cooking the fish and you will taste and smell the aroma of these beautiful herbs. Always chose fresh herbs if they are available.

A drizzle of olive oil, some lemon juice, chopped tomatoes, a sprinkle of salt and we cooked these in the oven.

To cook langoustines, lightly oil a griddle pan, heat it up well  and cook them for a couple of minutes each side. Cooking time depends on how large they are.

Paolo bought some white polenta and he chargrilled it on the griddle pan too. White polenta has a very delicate taste and it is often paired with fish.

We thinly sliced eggplant and zucchini and chargrilled them for a minute each side on the griddle pan.

Add salt, a drizzle of olive oil and some thyme leaves. Let them marinate for 15 minutes.. they taste fantastic!

Chargrilled radicchio also tastes amazing!

Laura made a sauce to go with the fish which I recommend: 4 tbsp of greek yogurt, 1 tbs of capers and 1 tbsp of chopped parsley.

Chop finely the capers, add them to the yogurt with the parsley, a grind of pepper and mix. The capers will provide some saltiness so there is no need to add extra salt.

The fish tasted beautifully, we enjoyed it with a chilled glass of Sicilian white wine. To me this was the perfect meal!

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