Today on So Much On My Plate, I shared two recipes I enjoyed in Italy, fish cuscus and veal Marsala. The veal is very simple to make, and the cuscus can be adapted to your individual tastes by varying the amount of cinnamon or nutmeg, and using whatever kind of seafood you like. The top picture is a dish of cuscus we had in Catania, on the Eastern Coast of Sicily. Ironically, I preferred this one to the first one I had, bottom photo, in Trapani, where it is supposed to be ‘traditional’.
In Catania, the couscous was topped with shrimp and fish, and included artichokes, celery, onion, carrots and zucchini. The fish stock was very powerful. By contrast, the Trapanese dish was much more simple, with a bowl of cooked couscous presented along with a tureen of lightly spiced tomato broth and shreds of whitefish. The following recipe is more representative of what we ate in Catania.
Fish Cuscus Serves 4
For the stock:
2 pounds fish trim
1/2 pound large shrimp or prawns, shell on
1 large carrot cut into 2 or 3 pieces
1/2 an onion, peeled
4 whole cloves
a few stalks of parsley
Peel the shrimp and reserve them for the final poaching. Put the shells, along with the fish trim, carrot, onion, cloves and parsley into a large pot and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain out the solids.
For the cuscus:
1 cup hot fish stock
1 cup of instant couscous
Put the couscous in a large bowl and pour the hot stock over top. The couscous will swell and absorb the stock, and be ready to eat in about 5 minutes. Set aside for the final preparation.
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
1 stalk of celery, sliced on the diagonal
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 an onion, sliced
1/2 cup tomato juice or tomato passata (a thick puree of tomato available at Italian grocery stores)
1 cup fish stock
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper
1/2 pound fish fillets, such as red snapper or ling cod, cut into large chunks
In a large pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add in the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Stir and fry until the vegetables have started to soften. Stir in the tomato juice or passata, the fish stock and the spices. Then add the chunks of fish and the reserved shrimp or prawns. Simmer until the seafood is just cooked.
To serve, put a ladleful of couscous in each serving bowl. Then ladle some fish, prawns and liquid on top. (You can increase the number of servings by adding more fish, more stock and more tomato juice as you make up the final liquid base.)
Veal Scallopine Marsala
This is a very easy dish to make, excellent to throw together for a last-minute dinner party! You could also use thinly-sliced chicken or turkey breast to make this dish.
Ingredients:
4 thin-sliced veal cutlets, about one quarter-pound each
about half a cup of flour, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper
olive oil
half a cup Marsala wine
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan on medium high heat. Dredge the cutlets in the seasoned flour and knock off any excess. Carefully put the cutlets in the hot oil, and fry, turning once, until both sides are golden. Pour in the Marsala and continue to cook until almost all the wine has evaporated and you are left with a thick gravy. Serve immediately with some steamed vegetables such as asparagus.
