I prefer the Christmas celebration to be on Christmas Eve, it is called La Vigilia (the Vigil) in Italian.
In Sicily, as in many parts of Italy, the Christmas Eve celebration is deeply rooted in Catholicism and tradition, of fasting and abstaining from meat. One of the most cherished customs is sharing a festive meal with family and friends on La Vigilia. This meal features fish, and/ or vegetarian content.
I originally wrote this post on December 20, 2012, to share the types of Sicilian fish dishes I might cook here in Australia on Christmas Eve (or during the festive period).
The traditions and recipes are just as relevant today and I still cook them, so I’m bringing it back to the spotlight for another festive season!
The photos below are from Fish Markets in Sicily – Catania, Syracuse and Palermo. Three of these photos were included in my book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking (Published 2011).
Below are some excellent photographs of the food I cooked in my very small kitchen. The credit goes to the New Holland photographer, Graeme Gillies, and the food stylist Fiona Rigg – their team work and attention to detail is obvious when you look at the photos of the food.
The link below includes many Sicilian recipes of fish. See recipes for:
TONNO CUNZATO – Raw Marinated Tuna
RAVIOLI DI RICOTTA CU NIURU DI SICCI – Ricotta Ravioli With Black Ink Sauce
RISO CON GLI ANGELI – Rice with angels
SPAGHETTI CON L ’ARAGOSTA – Spaghetti with crayfish
CALAMARETTI RIPIENI CON MARSALA E MANDORLE – Stuffed calamari with fresh cheese, almonds and nutmeg braised in marsala
PESCE INFORNATO CON PATATE – Baked fish with potatoes, vinegar and anchovies
Initially, the plan was straightforward, my partner and I were to head north in our simple campervan to the Northern Territory and then loop back to Melbourne via Mount Isa and the inland roads of Queensland and make our way back to Melbourne.
But just like my cooking, there were revisions, adjustments, unexpected twists and the itinerary evolved – the two-month trip became a three-month exploration.
I left Melbourne on July 16 (2024) driving first to Mildura and then through parts of South Australia to the Flinders Ranges and on to Marree and Coober Pedy. From there we planned to travel via Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Parks to Toritja (Western McDonnells) and Alice Springs to Darwin, stopping off at Litchfield National Park, Katherine Gorge and, of course, many places in between.
The second lap was from Darwin to Kakadu and Katherine, into Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Atherton Tableland to Cairns, down the Great Barrier Reef Coast through places like Mission Beach and Cardwell to Townsville.
From Townsville, I travelled through inland Queensland to Emerald, Carnarvon Gorge and Roma, and into Northern New South Wales to Lighting Ridge, Dubbo and Canowindra, Junee, Jerilderrie, Shepperton. Once again with many places in between.
Every location and every state disclosed their unique cultures and tapestries of breathtaking landscapes, waterfalls, vibrant colours, extremes of dry and lush vegetation, shifting weather, dawn and dusk, and the fascinating cycles of the seasons. The six Aboriginal seasons rather than our four colonial imports make so much more sense in a country as vast as Australia. I marvelled at the ancient rock paintings and the splendid Aboriginal Art in galleries and museums.
Cooking in our camper van is an outdoor affair. Meals were quick and easy, ready to be eaten and cleaned away before dusk to escape the incoming swarm of mosquitoes and sandflies. The buzzing of the mosquitoes was a constant alert to their presence, but the tiny insects were crafty, silent attackers, their bites lingering for days.
This transient cooking meant I didn’t always have sufficient light or time to take photos of our meals Still, my partner and I ate extremely well and healthily, even if in the remote outback, the variety of fresh vegetables were lacking. I took my chances to stock up for a few days at a time from the larger towns.
I bought fresh herbs (such as parsley, rosemary, thyme and oregano) from home and was happy to find the bay leaves and thyme lasted in the ice box for about four weeks. In some supermarkets I was able to buy basil and coriander. From a stall in the front of a sugar cane plantation in north Queensland I bought fresh tumeric. As you can see, my cooking was not all Italian, but the principles, respect of ingredients and dedication remain the same.
I cooked mainly vegetarian meals: cauliflower, zucchini, red peppers and sweet potatoes were always available and I made many tasty vegetable braises using pulses, often with eggs poached in the braises or topped with feta. This was the cheese that mostly available, sold in plastic packs, I was willing to I forget the Italian fresh cheeses as I was for anything that was a little out of the ordinary.
Tomatoes, avocado, lettuce and, strangely enough, rocket and red cabbage were also available in some places so I managed to make interesting salads. I did not expect to see any Italian greens, but bok choi was plentiful in most places – especially North Queensland – and a variation of simple stir fries with bean curd was often on the menu. Pulses and nuts have always been part of my cooking. Once again I had to I forget the Italian vegetables and anything that was a little out of the ordinary.
I seem not to have bothered with taking many photos of vegetarian dishes, instead I took photos of the very few occasions I cooked meat or fish – Barramundi in the gulf of Carpentaria and in northern Queensland, green tiger prawns on Queensland’s north coast and fillet steak in the Northern territory and it was so good to find lush greens in the Atherton Tablelands that I bought pork fillet, bok choi, coriander and fresh ginger that I accompanied with squashed cucumber.
Barramundi cooked two ways:
Fillet steak with a herb butter:
Pork fillet with bok choi
Green Tiger Prawns:
We only had two meals out, each with friends and here, too, we embraced the local flavours. In Cairns, northern Queensland I ordered barramundi at a yacht club with friends visiting from South Australia and later, in Canowindra in central New South Wales, I enjoyed a hearty steak, fittingly so, since our friend is an environmental consultant, pastoralist adviser and beef cattle rancher.
Purchasing alcohol while traversing the outback comes with its own set of rules, and ordering alcohol can be an intimidating experience! I quickly learned that beer reigns supreme as the drink of choice. And if you find yourself in a remote location, avoid asking for specific wine varietals, dry cider, or red wine that has not been chilled to the same degree as beer—there’s no forgiveness!
Phone and internet coverage was very spotty at best in the outback. When we did manage to connect, it was all about researching maps, checking road conditions, and booking campsites.
In my previous post, “From Melbourne to Darwin,” I shared snapshots of some of the food from that leg of the journey, and I’ll continue to do this in this post. i had difficulties selecting photos, there are so many, and we covered so much ground.
In the Italian language mussels are known as cozze. Those of you who have travelled to Italy or like Italian food would know that mussels are enjoyed in all regions of Italy.
Trieste, Ponte Rosso
In Trieste, mussels are called pedoci in the Triestino dialect.
The people in Trieste have a sense of humour, because pedoci (slang for the Italian word pedochi) in English are lice/parasites. The Venetians must have also shared the joke because in the Veneziano dialect they call them peoci.
As a child I was always amused by this term because parasites (head lice) were only found on those who did not bathe. Because they were contageous, all had to keep away.
In the 50 years before World War I, Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and because of’ its seaside the location it was the empire’s only international port. Following the 1954 London Memorandum, Trieste was appropriated by Italy and since 1963 it has been the capital of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Mussels have been bred in the Gulf of Trieste for a very long time and were an offshoot enterprise from a successful and profitable international oyster trade. Some archaeological evidence shows that oyster farming and the exploitation of natural oyster beds were distinct features of the Roman era in various parts of the empire. Trieste was under Roman control from the 2nd century BC until the collapse of the empire.
The success of the modern oyster industry motivated the Austrian Marine Fishing and Fish Farming Society to develop new oyster cultivation systems. This indirectly increased the abundance of mussels and well before the end of the nineteen century, mussels achieved significant, economic importance.
The location of Trieste on the northern most shores of the Adriatic meant the city was always a rich mix of Mediterranean cultures along with peoples from Central Europe and the Balkans. This blend of cultures and cuisines influenced the culinary popularity of both oysters and mussels in Trieste.
Mussel farms are still abundant and popular in Trieste and in the nearby municipalities of Muggia and Duino-Aurisina. Muggia is the first town on the Istrian peninsula and the last coastal town before the border between Italy with Slovenia. Duino is a picturesque settlement on the steep Karst cliffs of the Gulf of Trieste and is famous for its castle.
I have been thinking about why the Triestini and Veneziani referred to mussels as lice/parasites. and thought that perhaps it was because early fishermen were successful in implementing the growth of mussels on poles in the seabed where oysters were bred. So, figurately, the mussels are like lice/parasites freeloading on the expanding oyster beds. The fact that mussels are also considered to be unattractive and to spread very easily, added to the impression of being like parasites.
In Trieste the most common way to cook mussels is to steam them with a little white wine and, as you would expect, parsley and garlic. What I find unusual and appetising in this regional recipe is the addition of fresh/day-old breadcrumbs to the juices to thicken the sauce. Trieste has a few old recipes that add breadcrumbs to soups as a thickening agent. I remember my mother making pappa di pane (bread soup) when my brother was a baby.
When you open mussel shells and look inside some will be orange or yellow. Orange is the female specimen, yellow is a male. Usually, the females are the tastiest mussels. It is true of fennel, too.
So why was I suddenly inspired to cook mussels?
I saw an article recently about the mussel industry in Victoria and I was excited by what I read. The mussels came from the Queen Victoria Market from Happy Tuna and are from Mount Martha.
The article was written by Benjamin Preiss and is from the May 4 issue of The Age Digital Edition.
Here are a few quotes from the article:
They sow crops over vast areas and harvest when the size and season is right. But these farmers work the sea, not the soil, feeding Australia’s growing appetite for fresh and locally grown mussels.
Thirty-five years ago this industry was tiny, with few Victorians interested in eating the shellfish. But now the industry is poised for further expansion. Some mussel farmers say they need more room to grow as the government prepares to release additional areas within existing aquaculture reserves.
Phil Lamb, managing director of the Victorian Shellfish Hatchery and partner of Sea Bounty mussel-growing company, said: ‘‘Portarlington mussels are renowned in Victoria. I’d like to see them gain a similar reputation internationally.
Lamb said the mussel sector had been increasing steadily for the past 20 years. ‘‘ It was a cottage industry, and it’s been slowly growing every year.’’ He said local mussels compared ‘‘ very favourably’ ’ to those regarded as the best internationally, including those grown in Spain and France.
Michael ‘‘Harry Mussel” Harris began working in the industry in 1993 and later started his own farming business in the water off Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula.
He described mussels as a superfood — healthy to eat and environmentally friendly to grow. ‘‘They’re the canaries of the sea,’’ he said. ‘‘If the waters aren’t good enough for the mussels and bivalves to grow, it’s not good enough to swim in either.’’
In total, there are more than 2480 hectares of area reserved for aquaculture in Victoria — most of that in Port Phillip Bay, although there are sites in Western Port and some on land.
Victorian Fisheries Authority aquaculture manager David Kramer confirmed 330 hectares of vacant water within aquaculture reserves would be released for tender in coming months. Kramer said the authority expected the mussel industry to grow between 10 per cent and 20 per cent in coming years. He said the government had committed to grow the industry. ‘‘We want to do everything we can to allow that industry to grow.’’
Melbourne University honorary fellow, John Ford, who specialises in sustainable seafood, said mussel farming required little physical infrastructure — all of which could be removed. ‘‘Mussel farming tends to be a win for pretty much everyone, the environment included,’’ he said.
Mussels in Trieste are cooked in simple home recipes. As a child I remember stalls that sold mussels and mussoli (other type of molluscs) on street corners, just like roasted chestnuts used to be sold.
I have several books on the cooking of Trieste and there are some small variations in the ingredients and cooking procedures, but all are cooked plain with garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs.
I like the use of bread to lightly thicken the juices. Some recipes omit the breadcrumbs and just mop up the juices with slices of bread, but I am in favour of this very ancient way to thicken liquids (rather than using flour). Some recipes do not add wine, but wine has always been popular in my cooking. I also found some recipes that suggest adding a tablespoon of tomato paste, but this does not resonate with my memories of eating mussels in Trieste. Also tomato was introduced much later in the cooking of Trieste as they were grown Southern Italy.
In some recipes the name of this dish is Pedoci a Scotadeo, (cozze alla scottadito), ie burn your finger… cooked quickly, eaten hot.
As I said, it is a very simple recipe. Adjust amounts of ingredients to your liking.
Ingredients for 4 people (two of us comfortably ate 1.5 kg)
2 kg of mussels
4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, a couple of handfuls of parsley, 2 cloves of chopped garlic, black pepper, 75-100 ml of white wine
2 handfuls of grated bread – fresh or from the day before, no crusts, in fine/small pieces to give it a chance to break down
lemon wedges/juice (optional)
Remove the beards and wash mussels quickly.
In a large pan over medium heat, add about half of the extra virgin olive oil with the garlic. Stir it until it is slightly fragrant but be careful not to burn it. Add the wine and bread. Stir a couple of times to mix everything together, the wine will partly evaporate.
Add the parsley and black pepper, then the mussels .
Cover with the lid and bring to the boil. The mussels should open in about 5- 8 minutes. Don’t overcook them because no one likes rubbery mussels. Some mussels take longer to open. These are fresh healthy mussels, cook them until they too open.
Lift the mussels out and put them into a serving bowl. Check the sauce to see if the bread has broken down in the liquid. If you would prefer it to be more softened bring the liquid to the boil and stir it a little longer.
Pour the liquid over the mussels. Drizzle with the remaining extra virgin olive oil and toss well.
They need to be hot (remember? Pedoci a Scotadeo). Sprinkle a little lemon or some lemon cut into quarters.
It seems that all of our Adelaide friends (irrespective of culture) discuss food and where to eat, and there was one place that almost everyone seem to recommend. It is in The Adelaide Central Market, and the stall called Fair Seafood and it deals with sustainable seafood.
We told others we saw, especially unexpected friends and acquaintances from Melbourne that we encountered while in Adelaide: they then recounted that they indeed found this stall at the Adelaide Central Market and what a wonderful place it was to eat and to buy fish.
Finally, we got to go there. And it was indeed excellent.
It is called Fair Seafood.
Fair Seafood is the first and only Australian seafood wholesaler and retailer to provide 100% fisher-to-consumer traceability on all products. Customers can know where, when, how and by whom it was caught, and even more importantly, when and how it was processed.
100% Traceability, 100% Transparency, 100% Peace of Mind.
This is because the profess that Fair Seafood connects directly to fishers and the sellers know where, when, how and by who your seafood is caught. and they also know when and how it was processed. And this is indeed what we all want from our fishmongers.
I also found out other information from various websites that mention Fair Seafood. Some of this I knew, but it was good to hear it again:
Over 75% of seafood consumed in Australia is imported from overseas.
Over 4,000 fish species in Australia – why do we put pressure on less than 9 common species.
89% of consumers buy filleted fish. The more fish is handled, the more it costs.
Adelaide is known for its premium and versatile fish industries. When I go to Adelaide I think of King George Whiting, Garfish, Snapper, Sardines from Port Lincoln, Coorong Mullet, Goolwa Cockles, Mulloway, Squid and Tuna when it is sustainably caught, and Fair Seafood is focusing on selling only sustainable fish. To provide better value for buyers they sell more whole fish that requires less processing and also the lesser-known varieties that are not necessarily found at fishmongers.
And there is more: Fair Seafood’s mission extends beyond sustainable seafood; it champions ethical and transparent practices within the industry. As consumers become more conscious of the impact of their choices, businesses like Fair Seafood are stepping up to meet the demand for sustainable options.
There were four of us. We had some simple dishes and very suitable for a quick lunch:
Sashimi Scallops, Sashimi Market fish, Sardines with Romesco sauce, a Cabbage Slaw and a Lobster roll. All excellent, and of course we drank South Australian wine.
Pasta Con Le Sarde (sardines) can only be a Sicilian dish.
Sardines are plentiful, so is the wild fennel (it is seasonal), and most Sicilians eat pasta in some form, every day.
The flavours and ingredients of pine nuts, saffron and currants are said to have been introduced by the Arabs.
Breadcrumbs toasted in a fry pan with a little bit of olive oil are popular in Sicily as a topping or dressing – called muddica/ mollica/pan grattato, it is sprinkled on pasta instead of grated cheese, and some vegetable dishes like Parmigiana di Melanzane (eggplants), Caponata, fried peppers (Peperonata), and Sfincione (a type of regional pizza) .
And I make Pasta Con Le Sarde when I know I can impress friends, those who appreciate being impressed.
Accept that not everyone likes sardines or fancy the idea of wild fennel. The photo below shows how some bunches of wild fennel are sold in Sicilian markets.
Over the years I don’t just toast the breadcrumbs in the frypan (made bread that’s several days old); I also add a little cinnamon, a tiny bit of sugar and grated lemon peel. The lemon flavour really makes this pasta topping even more special. Sometimes I also add pine nuts to the pan.
Bucatini is the pasta I prefer – it’s slightly larger than spaghetti, long and hollow, like a tube.
But last time I made Pasta Con Le Sarde, I did use spaghetti. You can see how many pine nuts I sprinkled on top before folding them into the pasta. In a traditional dish there would be fewer.
Most of the time my Pasta Con Le Sarde looks like pretty ordinary, but still tastes magnificent. Sometimes I also add chopped, roasted almonds. Looking at this photo below can see that not all the almonds were chopped!
It is sometimes difficult to find wild fennel that is healthy looking or in season, so sometimes I do add a fresh fennel bulb.
Below the photo shows fennel and onion sauté-ing (if there is such a word!)
This is followed by the addition of saffron, wild fennel and currants.
If I can get sufficient wild fennel I use it in the boiling water to flavour the pasta. The stalks from fresh fennel also work. Simply cook the stalks or wild fennel in the water and remove them before adding the pasta to cook.
Although Sardines are easy to clean, sardines are also sold as fillets.
Italian traditional and regional recipes for the upcoming festive season.
Usually my month of December is just so busy that I don’t have time to investigate new recipes and I tend to rely on old favourites that I can cook with my eyes closed. Some of these old favourites are: Pasta Con Le Sarde; Baccalàcooked in various ways; a Risotto or Pasta with squid and black ink with green peas; Mussels/ Cozze; Tuna/Tonno steaks also cooked in different ways: Insalata Russa; Grilled seasonal vegetables/ Verdura all griglia like zucchini, peppers and eggplants; and for dessert, there is either Zuppa Inglese with Arkemes (Alchermes) or a Sicilian Cassata., made with ricotta.
You will find all of these recipes on my blog.
This year I am in Adelaide for Christmas. I had given my family in Adelaide some options of what I could cook for Christmas Eve, but they all asked for two old favourites – Baccalà Mantecato and Caponata Catanese as part of the antipasti….. same old, same old.
The Baccalà Mantecato is from the Veneto region in Italy and something that was very common in Trieste (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) where my parents and I lived when I was a child. The baccalà is soaked in water for 3 days, then poached in milk, bay and a couple of garlic cloves, drianed and creamed with extra virgin oilve oil. It is spread on crostini – bread brushed with oil and toasted. The crostini my mother made were toased in a frypan and never in the oven. Crostini made with polenta are also favourites… but who has the time?
In the photo below is the soaked baccalà.
The Caponata Catanese is from Catania in Sicily. Unlike the Caponata from Palermo that is made with eggplants. This version is made with peppers as well as eggplants and the usual caponata ingredients of green olives, celery, a bit of tomato paste and the agro-dolce, (a sweet and sour sauce). This is topped with pine nuts and basil.
So let’s just share a recipe for Christmas, but remember that at this time of year it is hot in Australia (because it is summer), if it is winter where you are, you may not even consider cooking it. It is braised lentils cooked wit Cotechino…..Cotechino con le lenticchie.
Although I would never serve this at midnight as was customary in some parts of Emilia-Romagna where the dish originates, it is an interesting choice. The Cotechino is a rich seasoned pork sausage that I poach with the lentils. The thick sausage is then sliced and served on top of a bed of braised lentils.
The green lentils that resemble the shape of coins are intended to bring you prosperity in the New Year.
It is the season to begin thinking about fish and how to cook it to make it special.
Baked Fish With Potatoes, Vinegar And Anchovies Sicilian – Pisci o furno chi patati is a recipe from my book Sicilian Seafood Cooking (now out of print), and it is so simple to cook that I could do it with my eyes closed.
The fish is a locally caught sustainable Snapper. You can see that I make slits in the fish’s sides and in the slits I insert a couple of anchovies. If you don’t like anchovies use fresh herbs; good for this fish are wild fennel, thyme, rosemary or tarragon.
I made the marinade and marinaded the fish in your baking tray for an hour before cooking.
In the marinade you can see that I have used consists of chopped parsley, quite a bit of onion and grated lemon peel. The liquid is: extra virgin olive oil, some wine vinegar and some lemon juice. Add a bit of salt and pepper also. I have included some quantities in the recipe below, but really, the fun of cooking is also experimenting.
Mix up the marinade and let the fish steep in it for about an hour. Turn it over a few times before you bake it. You can bake potatoes with it if you wish and the potatoes take on that lemon flavour that often Greek baked potatoes have when baked with lemon (usually cooked with chicken). The Greeks did settle in Sicily after all!
I usually part-cook my potatoes and put them in to bake with the fish about 15mins before I think the fish is ready. Raw slices of potatoes are used in the recipe and these will require longer cooking time, but do whatever you think is more practical for you.
PESCE INFORNATO CON PATATE/ Sicilian – Pisci o furno chi patati
Baked fish with potatoes (and vinegar and anchovies)
Ingredients
1–1.5kg (2lb 4oz–3lb 5oz) whole fish
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 onions, finely chopped a small bunch parsley, finely chopped
250g (9oz) potatoes, thinly sliced or par-boiled potatoes in chunks
3–6 anchovies, finely chopped (see above)
juice of 2 lemons, plus grated zest of 1 lemon
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Suitable fish
Any whole fish or large, thick fillets of medium to firm fish, preferably with the skin on. The fish is cooked whole, filleted and portioned at the table.
Method
If using whole fish or fillets with skin, make a series of slashes in the skin. Mix
the oil with the vinegar, onions and parsley. Add seasoning and marinate the
fish for about an hour, turning frequently.
Place the fish in an ovenproof dish, spoon half of the marinade over it and bake for 10 minutes in a 200°C (400°F) oven. Arrange the sliced potatoes around the fish. Sprinkle the potatoes and the fish with more marinade, the anchovies, lemon juice and grated zest. Bake for another 20–35 minutes, depending on the type of fish. Serve hot.
To see if the fish is cooked to your liking, you can test the fish with a fork held at an angle. Insert it at the thickest point of the fish and twist the fork. it should flake easily.
Variation
Place rosemary and bay leaves underneath the fish in the baking pan.
Somehow, I ended up eating fish for most of the week, and part of the first recipe lead into the second, and part of the second led into the third, but each dish was unique.
Of course there were also left overs.
I made Baccalà Mantecato on the weekend. The baccalà has to be soaked for a couple of days before it is poached in milk with some bay leaves and a clove of garlic. It is a dish that comes from the Veneto region and is also particularly popular in Trieste (Friuli Venezia Giulia).
Cooking the garlic in milk softens the taste and once blended with the baccalà and extra virgin olive oil, the taste of the garlic is less aggressive.
I always save the poaching liquid whether I poach the baccalà in milk or in water, and I did this a couple of days later when I made Baccalà Mantecato for a friend who is allegic to diary.
I cooked fish again. I bought some fish cutlets, slices cut horizontally, each steak usually has four distinct fleshy segments and each segment can be studded with a different flavour. Below is a photo of what I expect when I buy this cut of fish that I use regularly. I have included a link to a full recipe at the end of this post.
The photo below shows the four distinct segments of fish that surround the central spine, each receptive to a different flavour. It looks like on that occasion I studded the segments with cloves, oregano, fennel and garlic. At other times I have used sage, cinnamon, dill, thyme, rosemary or tarragon. The flavours I use for the stuffing will also determine what use to deglaze the pan after I have sauteed the fish, for example on various occasions I have used dry marsala (especially for Sicilian cooking), vermouth, Pernod and a variety of white wines that impart different flavours to the fish. Lemon juice or vinegar is also good.
When I opened the parcel and was ready to stud my fish, I noticed that only one slice was as I expected (cut from the tail end of the fish), but the other slices included what I call ‘flaps’, the often long and bony sides of fish encasing the gut of the fish.
It is part of the fish’s anatomy, but what I objected to was that the slices in the display cabinet were all the same size. These slices were not at all suitable for inserting with four different flavours; they were also difficult to fit into the frypan comfortably.
I cut the flaps off and only used two flavours to stud into the flesh of the fish – garlic and thyme.
I pan fried the fish, added some herbs – fresh fennel fronds and parsley. I deglazed the pan with a splash of white wine, evaporated it, added a little of the stock from the baccalà, added some capers.
What to do with the flaps?
The next day I poached the flaps in water flavoured with some onion, whole peppercorns, bay leaves, a little celery. This gave me some extra fish stock as well as an opportunity to remove the flesh and discard the skin and bones. I discarded the greenery.
I had the makings of a fish risotto.
Making a risotto is easy. I decided to add peas, frozen at this time of year and herbs of course, as in all of my cooking.
I softened one chopped onion in butter and extra virgin olive oil, added 1 cup of rice to the pan and toasted the rice. A splash of white wine, evaporated it, added 1 cup of peas and some chopped parsley and fennel. Tossed them all in the hot pan, added a little salt and then proceeded to add the milk stock from the baccalà and the stock used to poach the flaps of the fish to cook the risotto.
I added the fish pieces to the risotto when it was nearly cooked (to warm it), the grated rind and juice of a lemon and at the very end some butter and black pepper.
There was enough for lunch the next day and the evolving fish meals stopped there!
Ricci, they all called and in Italian and this means the ‘curly’ ones. Spiny, perhaps, rather than curly.
At first sight, before they are sliced in half to be displayed or eaten, sea urchins or ricci (in Italian) look most like small explosive mines, covered as they are in dark glossy spikes.
Sea Urchins- Spaghetti chi Ricci – Sicilian
Whatever they are called in either English or Italian, the name of these forbidding looking delicacies is a puzzle.
A riccio di mare is an urchin (Ricci di mare is the plural).
A riccio in Italian is also a porcupine. Both of these creatures have spikes and neither are curly so I have yet to fathom why the name ‘riccio’ is applicable to both of these creatures.
As to why they are called “urchins” in English – who knows?
Richard Cornish in his regular Brain Food column for the Good Food section in the The Age. (February 14 / 2023) has written about Sea Urchins.
His articles always stir up memories and give me an opportunity to use the produce in the recipes he mentions, or refer to recipes I have already written. This time I shall provide links to posts about sea urchins I have written about in the past. His article also alerts me to the fact that sea urchins are available to purchase now and I must buy some again soon.
When ricci are mentioned I always conjure up an image of me as a child walking with my father, early in the morning on a beach somewhere in Sicily. My mother and father and I went to Sicily every summer. One of my dad’s brothers who lived in Sicily had driven the three of us there to collect ricci. On this deserted beach, my father lifted rocks. He wore gloves. My task was to lift small rocks and alert my dad if I found a sea urchin. My uncle had his own bag and he was collecting ricci on another part of the beach. We took them home, sliced them open, and like Joseph Vargetto (as mentioned in Richard‘s article), removed the black bits and we ate them raw like oysters with lemon. On another occasion more members of the family came to the beach and we ate them at the beach with lemon. I do not remember ever having ricci in Trieste, where we lived; ricci are popular in some other parts of southern Italy, but not in the north.
The other memories are eating them as an adult in Sicilian restaurants, always with spaghettini with some slight variations in the ingredients.
When I have bought ricci and used them I have found them to be incredible variable in the size and number of tongues of roe. There are supposed to be five delicate tongues of gonads – the gonads are the roe, these are the edible parts (gonads function as both the reproductive organs and as nutrient storage).
The roe tongues can vary in colour from off-white to a deep orange, but the colour is not necessarily an indication to the taste.
How do I describe the taste? I can’t, it is not a pungent taste like say, anchovies, but it is definitely a marine taste, creamy but tasty. Pasta is a great recipient for a quickly prepared sauce to dress the pasta. The roe is added raw, the heat of the pasta does the cooking. The pasta is traditionally spaghettini, (the thinner the better, more opportunities for the sauce to coat the greater surface), but hey! Not conventional, but I have also used egg pasta with great success, and I shall definitely experiment with using roe as a topping for steak tartare.
This is Richard’s article:
Everything you need to know about Sea urchins
The spiny armour of these simple sea creatures hides a rich and luscious interior. They’re a delicacy in Europe and Asia. In Australia, chefs are making the most of native species, using umami-rich urchins in pasta sauce and to top steak tartare.
What is it?
Ancient denizens of the sea, sea urchins are endemic to most of the globe’s waters. They live on the sea floor and dine mostly on algae. Inside these prickly, globe-shaped creatures is a simple alimentary canal and five large lobes of roe. The edible roe has a slippery yet creamy, buttery texture and a fresh, salty seafood flavour with a clean finish . Australia has many urchin species but one of particular interest is the long spine sea urchin, which has moved with warmer currents from its home off the NSW coast to Victoria and Tasmania. There, it devastates the kelp (brown algae) forests. These pests are targeted as a food species, alongside indigenous species, and hand-harvested by divers.
Why do we love it?
‘‘ Sea urchin is rich and buttery, a decadent and naughty food,’’ says Pip Pratt, executive chef at The Rover in Surry Hills, Sydney. ‘‘ Most rich food fills you up, but urchin is light. I love it because you
can spread it, eat the roe whole as is or use it in a sauce as a fresh, sea-like flavour enhancer.’’ At The Rover, lobes of roe are draped over a mound of finely chopped steak tartare, the creaminess working with the minerality of the raw beef. Melbourne chef Joseph Vargetto used to dive
for urchins off the beach at Brighton, treating them like oysters and eating the flesh raw with lemon, washed down with a crisp white wine. At his Kew restaurant, Mister Bianco, he serves fine hand-cut fresh spaghettini with a creamy sauce of cultured butter, pureed sea urchin roe and vermouth, garnished with fresh urchin roe.
How do you use it?
If using live urchins, wear a sturdy glove. Find the mouth opening at the base and use sturdy kitchen scissors to make two equal and opposite cuts halfway down the urchin. It will now split apart easily. Remove the five lobes of roe. Wash in salted water and remove darker membrane. The roe is now ready to use. Lay fresh lobes over nigiri rice to make the classic Japanese uni sushi. Serve roe as a side to Spanish cold almond soup. Add to seafood risotto with cold butter for extra creaminess and umami. Whisk raw urchin through eggs and a little cream to make silky smooth, just-set scrambled eggs topped with salmon caviar.
Where do you get it?
Buy live sea urchin from fish markets and fishmongers . Look for fresh processed roe from local processors. Keep live urchins in the fridge for two days if you are going to eat them raw, or five days if you are going to cook them.
The spiny armour of these simple sea creatures hides a rich and luscious interior. They’re a delicacy in Europe and Asia. In Australia, chefs are making the most of native species, using umami-rich urchins in pasta sauce and to top steak tartare.
What is it?
Ancient denizens of the sea, sea urchins are endemic to most of the globe’s waters. They live on the sea floor and dine mostly on algae. Inside these prickly, globe-shaped creatures is a simple alimentary canal and five large lobes of roe. The edible roe has a slippery yet creamy, buttery texture and a fresh, salty seafood flavour with a clean finish . Australia has many urchin species but one of particular interest is the long spine sea urchin, which has moved with warmer currents from its home off the NSW coast to Victoria and Tasmania. There, it devastates the kelp (brown algae) forests. These pests are targeted as a food species, alongside indigenous species, and hand-harvested by divers.
Why do we love it?
‘‘ Sea urchin is rich and buttery, a decadent and naughty food,’’ says Pip Pratt, executive chef at The Rover in Surry Hills, Sydney. ‘‘ Most rich food fills you up, but urchin is light. I love it because you
can spread it, eat the roe whole as is or use it in a sauce as a fresh, sea-like flavour enhancer.’’ At The Rover, lobes of roe are draped over a mound of finely chopped steak tartare, the creaminess working with the minerality of the raw beef. Melbourne chef Joseph Vargetto used to dive
for urchins off the beach at Brighton, treating them like oysters and eating the flesh raw with lemon, washed down with a crisp white wine. At his Kew restaurant, Mister Bianco, he serves fine hand-cut fresh spaghettini with a creamy sauce of cultured butter, pureed sea urchin roe and vermouth, garnished with fresh urchin roe.
How do you use it?
If using live urchins, wear a sturdy glove. Find the mouth opening at the base and use sturdy kitchen scissors to make two equal and opposite cuts halfway down the urchin. It will now split apart easily. Remove the five lobes of roe. Wash in salted water and remove darker membrane. The roe is now ready to use. Lay fresh lobes over nigiri rice to make the classic Japanese uni sushi. Serve roe as a side to Spanish cold almond soup. Add to seafood risotto with cold butter for extra creaminess and umami. Whisk raw urchin through eggs and a little cream to make silky smooth, just-set scrambled eggs topped with salmon caviar.
Where do you get it?
Buy live sea urchin from fish markets and fishmongers . Look for fresh processed roe from local processors. Keep live urchins in the fridge for two days if you are going to eat them raw, or five days if you are going to cook them.
Recipes and information on my blog about Sea Urchins:
Cooking and eating is greatly influenced by the seasonal variations in weather and the available seasonal produce.
Abundant in summer are eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers/capsicum and I enjoy making the most of these vibrant ingredients during this time. Summer is also a time for grilled food that adds both char and depth of flavor to food.
Celebrating what’s in season enhances the taste of our dishes and allows us to connect more closely with nature’s cycles.
There are recipes in this post for grilled sardines and squid. Also grilled zucchini, eggplants and peppers and a version of caponata as baked in the oven. A celery caponata makes a perfect and easy accompaniment for grilled food.
I particularly like grilled fish, especially sardines.
And squid tastes fantastic grilled, the charring adds so much flavour and character. The tentacles are good too and apart from having a more intense flavour they offer a different texture. Squid will not need much cooking, especially if it has been marinading beforehand for an hour or so. Cook the squid quickly – about 5 mins on one side, flip it over and cook the other side for less. The marinade can be as uncomplicated as a little extra virgin olive oil, salt and a few herbs of your choice. To the marinade this time, I also added a splash of white wine.
A simple drizzle of good, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice could be sufficient as a finishing dressing, especially it you are accompanying the squid with some flavourful side dishes.
There are also two accompanying, Sicilian green, traditional sauces – Salmoriglio and Zogghiu to accompany all grilled food.
As for the accompanying dishes, I made two different Sicilian caponate (plural of caponata) and a green salad.
Caponate also make good starters and they taste better if cooked days before, making them an easy option. They are always served at room temperature: take them out of the fridge about 30 mins before serving.
Caponata as cooked in the oven
I cooked one of the caponate in the oven and used eggplants, onions, celery and peppers/capsicums. To make it different, apart from baking the vegetables, I also added fennel seeds, plenty of basil and garlic as well as the customary green olives, capers, sugar, vinegar and pine nuts.
I definitely prefer the traditional method of sautéing of each of the vegetables in hot oil because although I roasted the vegetables at high temperatures, they released far too many juices. I drained the liquid and evaporated in a saucepan and then pour it back into the oven tray. In the end it did taste good, but the flavour took far too long to fix.
Cool the caponata. Place the basil and toasted pine nuts on the caponata at the time of serving.
The caponata in the photo below is made with celery. This caponata is very quick to cook and the addition of sultanas accentuate the sweet taste. The vinegar (present in all caponate) provides the sour taste and this cooked salad tastes very much like a pickle.
This celery caponata has the addition of toasted almonds rather than pine nuts.
The celery and onions are the only two vegetable ingredients and they can be sautéed in the same pan at the same time. Once they are slightly softened, add the drained and plump sultanas that have been soaking in water for an hour or so. Add a little sugar and once the sugar begins to caramelise, add a splash of vinegar and evaporate.
Friends also enjoy the chocolate version of caponata. Pieces of dark chocolate are added in the final stages of cooking the eggplant version of caponata that is characteristic of Palermo and its region.
The caponata that includes peppers is typical of Catania and its region.
