SWORDFISH PIE

(Impanata di Pescespada)

Serves 8

PASTA FROLLA PASTRY (see note)

425 g/15 oz flour (see note)

2 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of salt

150 g/5 oz lard

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Grated rind of 1 orange

2 eggs

125-225 ml/4-8 fl oz white wine

FILLING

3 medium courgettes

125 ml/4 fl oz olive oil plus 2 tablespoons

1 onion, grated or finely minced plumped in warm water and drained

150 g/5 oz pine nuts

900 g/2 lb swordfish, skinned, boned, and diced

2 celery stalks cut in 12 mm/½ inch slices, blanched

65 g/2½ oz pitted green olives

150 g/5 oz capers

150 g/5 oz sultanas,

225 ml/8 fl oz plain tomato sauce or 450 g/1 lb fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the lard and butter into small pieces and cut them into the flour, working them in until you have the texture of a coarse meal. Add the orange rind, and stir in 1 whole egg and 1 yolk (reserve the extra white). Add the wine little by little, using just as much as is necessary to bring the pastry together. Knead briefly, shape in a ball, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Wash the courgette and cut them into 3 mm/⅛ inch slices. Sauté them in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until delicately browned on each side. Put aside.

Sauté the onion in 125 ml/4 fl oz oil over a very low heat until it is soft. Add the celery, olives, capers, sultanas, and pine nuts. Sauté for 3 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, then add the tomato sauce and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the swordfish and simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes.

Grease a deep 30 cm/12 inch pie dish. Knead the dough for a few minutes, then divide it into two parts, one of them slightly larger than the other. Roll out the larger piece into a circle wide enough to line the bottom and sides of the dish. Fill the lined dish with a layer of swordfish, a layer of courgette, and then another layer of swordfish. Roll out the remaining pastry, place it over the pie, and seal the edges. Make vents in the upper crust with a fork and decorate it with scraps of pastry. Beat the reserved egg white until foamy and brush it over the top of the pie.

Bake in a 180C/350F/gas mark 4 oven approximately 60 minutes or until the crust is a pale golden brown.

A similar dish, filled with chicken rather than fish, has a much more imposing and quite irresistible name—pasticcio di sostanza, “pie of substance.” In his book on Sicilian food, Denti di Pirajno gives a recipe that he has copied from some earlier source, fascinating in its archaic language and frustrating in its imprecision. What follows is my attempt at reconstruction.