“Sushi” Greek Sardines

Ready to eat!

I like sardines very much. This is why I like to eat them lightly cured in coarse sea salt and lemon juice.

Natalia, my trusted culinary advisor, considers the dish a “sushi” dish, due to the very short duration of the curing process. In her honour, I have renamed it “Sushi” Greek Sardines. I added the word “Greek” because of the olive oil and the lemon.

As fresh as possible!

 

I usually buy them from the fishmarket of Lavrio, a small town near Sounio, near the tip of the south peninsula of Attica. The fishing boats supply the local sellers with top quality fish.

The difficult part of this recipe is that you have to do the dirty work before you enjoy the fruits of it.

This means descaling, gutting and filetting.

If you are brave enough, the story continues as follows.

Isn

The benefit of doing the dirty bits yourself is that you get to know how fresh each fish is. The fresh fish has firm flesh, that bounces back if you press it. While knifing and cleaning, you see for yourself the fresh ones. If there are fish that get squeezed easily, throw them away, they are stale.

After you have the fillets ready, sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of coarse sea salt over them and squeeze a lemon. Add a bit of water so that all fillets are covered.

Leave them to rest for 30 minutes.

The objective of this light curing is to cut the acidity of the raw fish. You do not want to make it salty of bitter. After the thirty minutes are gone, throw away all the liquid, clean the fillets throughly so that there is no particles on them and place on a shallow dish.

You must taste them at this stage, They must taste sweet with just a hint of salt and lemon, no more than that. All the seasoning that you want, you can add at this stage.

Sprinkle olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt over them and serve.

Sea Bass with eggplants and potatoes

Served: Sea Bass with eggplants and potatoes

This is a simple recipe that I picked up some time ago on the island of Crete, and modified it. It requires the best quality of ingredients, as this way of cooking brings ot the foreground the essence of the ingredients in a way that cannot be masked by anything.

Ingredients: one sea bass weighing a minimum of 1 kilo, potatoes (1 kilo) and four bell shaped eggplants ( 1kilo)

The preparation is very simple: slice the potatoes to 1-2 mm slices, and the eggplants to 2-4 mm slices. Take a baking tray, put some olive oil on it and then layer the potatoes. As you can see in the photo, the slices should be semi-transparent, otherwise they will not cook. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Potato slices

Place the eggplant slices on top of the potatoes and sprinkle olive oil and coarse sea salt over them.

 

Eggplant slices

Rub coarse sea salt on the inside and outside of the fish and sprinkle ground black pepper over it.

Then place the fish on top of the eggplants, resting on its belly, the spine being vertical, and make sure it is stable.

 

 

Ready for the oven

Now comes the tricky part. Please the tray in a hot oven (200 C) and leave it for approximately 30 minutes.  

 

Ready to serve

The fish is ready when the skin is crispy and brownish. After you remove from the oven, squeeze a lemon over the tray before serving.    The result is delicious. The eggplants and potatoes melt in your mouth, full of sea flavours, while the fish’s flesh is moist and tender.    

 

You need a nice glass of white wine, I prefer chardonnay.

 

Pasha Restaurant, Novi Sad, Serbia

My work brings me to Serbia these days.

I  would like to share with you my impressions after visiting the Pasha restaurant in the city of Novi Sad.

The restaurant is next to the tennis court of Dunavski Park, a beautiful small park 100 meters from the Dunau River.

The clientele is mostly locals who have the money to pay for a rather expensive by local standards meal.

Fried green pepper

 The fried green pepper is juicy and with loads of garlic.

Salmon Carpaccio

Beef Carpaccio

 The salmon is lightly marinated in lemon and dill and served as carpaccio. Good, but not exceptional, I would like it to have more flavour.

The beef carpaccio is exceptional, the visit to Pasha is justified by it alone.

 The beef tortellini that I tasted were rather bland, while the four cheese sauce was so overpowering that any trace of taste left in the tortellini was lost in the battle against the cheeses! I do not comment on the use of the work tortellini, as the picture reveals them to be tortelli in the best case!

 

Beef tortellini with four cheeses sauce

 The most appealing feature of the restaurant for me is that I can have a decent glass of local wine. As an example, I want to mention Harizma of 2007, by the Aleksandrovic Winery http://www.podrumaleksandrovic.co.yu/about_us.shtml.

Harizma 2007

It is powerful Chardonnay with very rich bouquet. I tasted the 2007 wine and it was brilliant!

 

Visit to “La Brecha” Fishmarket, Donostia, San Sebastian

 

This is a report on a short and late visit to the fishmarket of “La Brecha” in Donostia, San Sebastian. I went there around 1130 hrs by which time most of the seaffod selling stalls were closed! 

The market is large and houses also meats, game and vegetables.

 

Congrio

Besugo – Sea Bream

One of the signs of freshness in the squid is the light grey - brown colour of its skin. When it starts turning rosy the freshness is gone.

The squid is not only fresh, but according to the seller it has been caught on hook, not on the nets. As a reult, it costs 50% more than the “ordinary” catch.

Chipiron (detail)

Cigala (detail)

Carrillera Rape - Monkfish

 One of my favourite dishes in the Basque country, and wherever else I can find them: hake and cod cheeks. The famous “kokotxas!”. Here we also have monkfish cheeks.

Unbelievable instensity of subtle flavour, as long as you know how to cook them! They are so delicate that I always prefer to cook them in very low fire, in order to preserve the flavours and the texture.

Kokotxa Bacalao - Cod

 

Percebe (detail)

 This is one of the many Spanish mysteries I have not resolved yet.

I have read the stories about extracting them from the rocks, seen the videos, but have not tasted them yet.

Sapito Negro

 I am not sure about the translation of this one, is it “catfish”. Whatever it is, it is sold with is liver sticking out. Which means that there must be a dish with it in the Basque country.

I need to do some investigation on this one!

 

Merluza - Hake

 Another of my favourites, the aetherial “merluza”.

Navajas - Razor Clams (detail)Not ot mention the razor clams.Seller

 

Lubina - Sea bass

Rockfish

Wine Bar dei Frescobaldi – Aeroporto di Roma, Fiumicino, Italy

 

Genuinely polite service

I believe that civilization is an everyday affair. Of course saying is not practicing. One of the occasions when I felt that practicing is not that difficult, was when I by chance visited the Frescobaldi Wine Bar at Fiumicino.

I had a couple of hours to kill before catching my flight back to Athens. This time is usually spent shopping things I do not need, or being bored to death.

This time I got lucky. I opened my eyes and there it was: an oasis of civilization.

I has the seafood crudo misto and felt that I was by the sea. I accompanied it with a full bodied glass of chardonnay to establish some balance with the strong raw seafood flavours.

 

 

Crudo Misto

The very nice lady serving me offered me at the end some nice biscottini (cookies) and I washed them down with a divine glass of Grappa di Brunello. There is no better way to prepare yourself for a flight!

Limanaki Tavern, Neos Pyrgos, Evia, Greece

 

For those who want to capture the flavours of the Aegean, as fresh as you can get them, the “Limanaki” Tavern in Neos Pyrgos on the northern tip of Evia is the place to go.

The tavern is literally on the small harbour of fishing boats that venture out in the Aegean every day for a catch. The village of Neos Pyrgos is small and its big neighbour, Orei, has all the big fishing boats. Neos Pyrgos has the small ones, and this is why you can eat fish that has been literally hooked, and not caught in the nets.

Limanaki is the favourite place of the fishermen when they return in the morning. You can see them having “tsipouro” (the local grappa, or eau de vie) eight o’clock in the morning, while Nikos, the Limanaki proprietor prepares a nice meze for them.

Enough of all that, lets now get to the food.

In the summer, it is essential to start with ultra tender green beans, called “ambelofassoula”.

 

 

Ambelofassoula

Nikos will serve you the freshest squid grilled on charcoal. I cannot begin to describe the flavours.

 

 

Squid grilled on charcoal

After that you can have prawns grilled to perfection, that I suggest you eat without taking the head off. Its full of flavours and deliciously crunchy.

   

  

 

Prawns grilled on charcoal

 What comes naturally next is whole fried little fish, called “atherina”.

 

 

Atherina

The grilled cod that comes to conclude the set has been caught on hook. The fish is sweet, the flesh is firm and has nothing on it but coarse salt. Just add a little olive oil and lemon and you have it.

 

 

Grilled Cod

Vini da Gigio, Venice

 

Entrance

 I visited “Vini da Gigio” during my last trip to Venice. The location of the restaurant is by a small canal in the area of Canareggio http://www.vinidagigio.com/ and is very easy to find.

 I was attracted by the mixed dish of raw seafood and fish and ordered it straight away. I was not disappointed. I just wanted more!

 

 

Misto Crudo

 What I ordered next was sweet and tender “Tagliata di tonno”, juicy to the extent that you can smell the sea. Again, I was not disappointed! My expectations were met by the dish. The only comment that I have is that the sesame seeds gave momentarily a bitter taste to the dish.

  

 

Tagliata di tonno

 The variety of cheeses that followed was excellent. 

 

 

Cheeses

All in all, a very good place to visit in Venice

Osteria al Garanghelo, Venice

Osteria al Garanghelo

During my last visit to Venice I was lucky to discover “Osteria al Garanghelo” http://www.garanghelo.com/ita-index.htm and enjoyed eating and drinking there. The Osteria is located in the area of Castello, very near the Arsenale, on via Garibaldi.

In spite of the hords of tourists in Venice, the Osteria was also frequented by the locals, which right from the beginning was a very good sign. The sea breeze reaches the Osteria and you can enjoy your lunch or dinner al fresco.

One of the two brothers – owners is Simone, who suggested the dishes that follow.

Folpetti - Uova di Seppie

This is a mixed dish of boiled folpetti (little octopi) and cuttlefish eggs. Delicious! But wait until you see the detail that follows.

 

 

 

The “stuffed” folpetto

 Simone took the initative to serve one of the folpetti as it came out of the sea, taking out only the mouth and eyes. He explained to me this is how they eat it in his town on the island of Palestrina, near Venice. I had something similar in Palermo, Sicily, but the octopus was not that little! The Venetian folpetto was a miracle of tastes!

 

Frittura di pesce misto fresco

Simone then served the mixed fried seafood, which was perfectly prepared, everything was full of the aromas of the sea and even the squid was tender.

 

 

A visit to Venice’s Fish Market – Part 2

This is the second part of the article on the Venetian Fish Market.

I start this with a Jackson Pollock painting, Lavender Mist. For some reason I have associated it with the cuttlefish photo that follows.

Pollock: Lavender Mist (NGA Washington DC, USA)

Cuttlefish

 I have never tasted this soft crab, but it looked so delicious that I was ready to buy it, eventhough I had no place to go and cook it. I tried to find it in the restaurants or trattorias without success.

Soft Crab

Granseole – Spider Crab

 

 

 

 

Canestrelli Sgusciati

 

Canestrelli are pilgrim scallops that are delicious! The work literally means “little baskets”.

 

Pescatrice Cheeks

I cannot resist to publish a photo of pescatrice cheeks that are a real delicacy, even though the photo is not that good.

 

Moscardino

 I would not like to attempt to trranslate “moscardino” into english, lets just say it is a small octopus like polipus.

Variety of Fish

The buyers in Venice know their stuff and they cannot be fooled. This in my view is one of the basic reasons that the quality of the products on offer is so high.

Buyer in Venice’s Fish Market

A Stall in Venice’s Fish Market

The building that houses the market has beautiful arches that are fully “clothed” and create a more fresh atmosphere inside.

 

Seller in Venice's Fish Market

 

 I cought this sellet at a moment of rest, while she was munching some fruit.

A visit to Venice’s Fish Market

Capesante - Scallops

It was a hot day in August when I decided to visit the fish market in Venice, to start the day the right way: with the flavours of the sea and the voices of the buyers and sellers in this beautiful city. One of the best things in a market in the Mediterranean is that people make a show of it. It is true street theater. And every day it is played with variations. 

Palombo – (Dog-fish)

And being in Venice, names have artistic meaning. Like our Bronzino, who painted the beautiful Allegory with Venus and Cupid (National Gallery, London) and is not only a tasty fish!

 

Bronzino

Bronzino:Allegory with Venus and Cupid

  

Polipo - Octopus

I absolutely love octopus! And always check its price. Here we have the freshest octopus for a price that is almost half of I would have paid in my home town, Athens, for an almost definitely an inferior product.  

Folpetti

 The little octopi are unbelievably tasty! And they need no cleaning aprt from removing the sacket with the ink! They must be boiled intact and served with olive oil, coarse sea salt and a bit of lemon. This is a ticket to heaven.

Gambero - Prawn

 I lke fresh prawn and shrimp raw, without any cooking! And the best test before you buy them is have one for test.

Scampi

 

Alici - Anchovies

Orata - Sea Bream

 

Spada - Swordfish

 

Rana Pescatrice - Angler Fish

 

 

Rombo Chiodato – Turbot