Sacco da pescheria (Pescheria bagful)
- Jake Tilson
“I had to check with my mother as I never despised an ingredient as a child, but for as long I can remember I have always been scared of fish - so much so that I wrote a book about my attempts at cooking fish for the first time.”
This recipe is from the chapter on Venice in Jake Tilson’s In at the Deep End, Cooking Fish from Venice to Tokyo, Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2011:
Six small bags of assorted seafood from the Pescheria means I can try different cooking methods, frying, baking and boiling. The entire meal will be served on an eat-it-when-it’s-cooked basis, the main purpose is exploration. All this work is helped along with slugs of prosecco spento from our local wine shop, one of the dwindling shops that sell loose wine. Heavy, deep shelves are stacked with large demijohns attached to petrol station nozzles, wine is decanted into recycled 1.5 litre aqua minerale bottles. Local restaurants give it the fancier name of prosecco tranquillo. Perfect for a lunchtime drink that won’t require a long siesta to sleep off.
serves 5
mazzancole (prawns)
calamari (squid)
garusoli (murex)
sarde (sardines)
alici (anchovies)
latterini (sand-smelt)
salad
bread
peperoncino
olive oil
lemons
plain white flour, or fine couscous
A bowlful of salad sits on the table with a long loaf of bread. This will keep everyone happy and fill in any gaps whilst I cook. The fish is served in batches straight out of the pan.
The striped mazzancole (prawns) are seriously succulent, sweet and extremely easy to cook as they helpfully change colour from grey to pink when cooked after a few minutes in the pan. I add a touch of peperoncino to the last few for Dad, he adores chilli.
Next comes the squid. I remove the eyes, intestines, one bone - which is like a transparent quill – and the skin, which peels away easily. I’m left with two wings, tentacles and a large pouch-like sack. Squid requires brief cooking otherwise it feels and tastes like rubber. I slice them into strips and fry for 45 seconds in a touch of olive oil, a quick divine appetiser.
The garusoli (murex) when boiled for 20 minutes remind me rather of whelks or snails.
Sarde e alici (sardines and anchovies), being so small, makes them perfect training for gutting and de-boning, all done with small, sharp knives. I bake the larger sardines, splayed like butterflies, on a bed of chopped tomatoes and sliced garlic for about 15–20 minutes.
The smallest fish are so tiny they can be eaten whole, bones and all. We’re out of flour, so I dust the latterini (sand-smelt) and alici (anchovies) with some extra-fine couscous. It made lousy couscous last night but makes an interesting flour substitute today. I fry until crisp, a few minutes each side, and serve instantly. To eat fish bones is thrilling and empowering to someone who has been paranoid about them for decades, definitely part of a ‘graduated exposure therapy’.
