Spiedini of Monkfish and Scallops
Roasted Red Mullet with Olives, Lemon and Capers
Salt Cod with Artichokes and Porcini
Whole Turbot with Rosemary Baked in Sea Salt
Grilled Monkfish with Salsa Verde
Whole Grilled and Roasted Sea Bass
Pan-Fried Squid with Cannellini Beans
The Italians’ approach to fish is instinctively simple yet brilliant. Grilled whole fish – maybe stuffed with fennel herb, rosemary or thyme, its natural juices enhanced by a squeeze of lemon and extra virgin olive oil – is a perfect example.
Going to fresh fish markets in Italy is such a spectacular adventure. Whether in Venice on the east coast, or Piombino just north of Rome, you notice how many varieties there are of every kind of fish, especially unusual fish that you can’t even put a name to because they are native to the local waters; tiny baby squid, no bigger than marbles, hand-sized squid that we use to grill whole, very white cuttle fish, seeping their black ink, and sometimes frighteningly large chestnut brown octopuses with their glistening skin.
Supreme quality and freshness are apparent everywhere. We were stunned by beautiful red mullet, luxurious in their boxes, as we were by the colour of the gills of the sea bass – so red, so oxygenated. Fish as fresh as these need only very quick cooking, no matter what the method. Our recipes all follow this rule, searing salmon for minutes on a very hot grill; pan frying squid for seconds flavoured in olive oil.
Traditionally, fish are cooked in their entirety, with the head, eyes and skin intact. You will find roasted whole fish, buried in sea salt, mostly on menus in the south.
Our very successful recipe using turbot simply stuffed with fresh rosemary, packed with coarse sea salt and then roasted, is one of the most popular choices in the restaurant
In most fish markets in Italy you will find a speciality salt fish stand. These were a revelation to us. You find every size of anchovy, salt cod, dried cod and sardine. The stall holder will even sell you pre-soaked baccalà so that you can cook it immediately.
We have started to cook more baccalà recipes: it is an ingredient steeped in Italian cookery and we have found that people love eating it in the restaurant. Our interest has led us to the salting factories of Norway to look at this fascinating and ancient process for ourselves.
Salted anchovies are an equally important part of our cooking, as we use them like the Italians do, for seasoning, for making Anchovy and Rosemary Sauce (see here), and, when you can find the excellent large, red-fleshed ones from Spain, for marinating to serve with bruschetta.
Over the last few years fish has become the primary focus of our main courses in the restaurant. Not only is it delicious to eat but the oils contained in fish and shellfish are far better for us than animal fat.
Grilling fish on a skewer is very simple. For the restaurant, we wanted to make this way of cooking more sophisticated, so we chose to use big Scottish scallops and pieces of thick monkfish. The scallop is sweet and rich in taste, while the monkfish has a drier more stringy texture: it’s a very successful combination.
As we always think of herbs as an important part of fish flavouring, we use the rosemary stick as a skewer. This imparts a little of its flavour to the fish as it cooks – and the leaves are added to the anchovy in the sauce.
Season the surface very generously with Maldon salt and coarsely ground black pepper. This seals the cut surface of the fish which, when put on the grill, forms a crisp crust. The same technique applies to grilled squid and to seared salmon.
Red mullet is a gutsy fish, with a strong flavour, so it needs strong flavours to complement it. All those ingredients from the south – the olives, capers, tomatoes and lemon – make a perfect marriage. They are not made into a sauce as such, you just let the heat from the frying pan bring them together. We prefer to ‘cook’ the fish with the ingredients, not just present the fish with the sauce on the side.
Wild salmon is more reasonably priced and more commonly available these days because the smoked salmon market now uses farmed salmon, removing the pressure from the wild stocks. To sear the fish, you must cut the fillets like an escalope, cut at an angle to include a thin strip of skin. Sear on both sides on a very hot grill, leaving the centre slightly rare.
A squid the size of your hand is perfect for grilling; a larger one would be too thick and become rubbery, despite scoring. The scoring, or cross-hatching, on the body of the squid is actually more to do with breaking the skin or flesh tension, so that when you take it off the grill after cooking, it rolls up of its own accord in the shape of a whole squid. In the Mediterranean, squid are usually smaller and are grilled whole. We buy squid fished from the north sea, so scoring is necessary, helping the cooking.
Our fresh red chilli sauce is the perfect complement to the squid. There’s a juiciness and flamboyance about fresh chillies. Italians would probably use tiny dried peperoncino and lemon juice to season.
Salt cod, baccalà and stockfish are all different names for the product of a very ancient industry in which large North Atlantic cod are split open then salted and dried. Italian families tend to buy one big salt cod at Christmas time; it’s a rare and expensive treat.
Once salted, cod undergoes a unique transformation; even though you reconstitute it with water, the fish will have completely changed in flavour, texture and consistency. If you have a big enough basin, try to soak a fish whole, then you can very carefully cut it up and use for the recipe. If you have to cut it up before soaking, you may have to use a saw because the preserved fish will be so hard.
Once you have soaked your cod there are a number of ways in which you can use it. We like to make a soup with it, together with tomatoes and potatoes, or a salad, with rocket, chillies, olives and bruschetta; we also stew it, with chickpeas, and grill it and serve it very simply with fresh chilli or tomato sauce. Here we steam it, and put it together with artichokes and porcini.
A fish to be salt-baked must be kept whole. The point about roasting in salt, which is a very Mediterranean thing to do, is that you’re encasing the fish, sealing it in the salt crust, which keeps in all the juices and the true flavour of the fish. If you roasted it without the salt, the skin would break because of the heat, the flesh would dry out a little, and some of the flavour would go into the pan. Choose a fish like turbot or sea bass to bake whole because they are dense with incredible flavour.
Use coarse sea salt for the crust which won’t melt in the heat like Maldon.
Monkfish is a beautiful fish, with dense, juicy flesh. Roast a monkfish tail whole on the bone, treating it more like a piece of meat. You can also stud it with herbs as the flesh is so firm. In this recipe the monkfish fillets are scored to butterfly them flat, then grilled very swiftly and serve with a salsa verde.
There are two methods involved in cooking this delicate and delicious fish whole. Grilling it first seals the skin, and gives it a distinctive flavour; the subsequent roasting of the fish on top of the herbs and wine gives added flavour. We leave the roasted bass in the pan to rest and then serve with the juices poured over.
As with grilling, squid need only seconds when pan-frying, and here the flavourings are added during cooking. The sweetness of the squid, plus the zing of the chilli and parsley, complement the creaminess of the cooked beans.
Anchovies caught in the spring and early summer and then salted by one of the famous salting companies around San Sebastian in Spain, are fantastic because only the best fish are chosen for this process. The colour, shape and flavour are retained as no heat has been applied, and all you have to do is wash the salt off and peel away the fillets.
Salted anchovy is a traditional seasoning for the Italians – like chilli, fennel seeds or dried porcini. It’s part of the essential larder, and all over Italy there are market stalls dedicated to selling only salted fish. Buy them here from delicatessens (from large tins by the gram) and keep them in their salt, but only for a couple of days, carefully wrapped in the fridge.
To marinate them after washing, we use freshly squeezed lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil and either parsley, lemon zest, chilli or black pepper. An alternative method uses a white wine with a distinctive flavour like Chardonnay, along with oil, lemon juice and fresh marjoram.
Freshly cooked crab, simply seasoned and served with bruschetta, is a special summer starter. To complement it, serve a herb salad – perhaps a mixture of fennel herb, basil, mint, wild rocket and sorrel. Dress this with olive oil and lemon juice.