Erica De Mane

Recipes:

Zuppa di Pesce with Marjoram Pesto
Arugula, Dandelion, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I always find a dish of fresh seafood followed by a salad of summer greens to be a most satisfying meal. I usually prefer my seafood tossed with pasta, but this zuppa di pesce is loaded with enough summer herbs and garlic to make me almost not miss the pasta. The green salad is dressed in Southern Italian style, with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt.

Zuppa di Pesce with Marjoram Pesto

There are so many variations on fish soup in Southern Italy that I decided to clear my head of them and just make up my own. However I found myself including razor clams, tomatoes, and white wine, ingredients in a stew I was served one night on Ischia, one of the small islands off of Naples, so I’ll have to call it Ischia-style. The Marjoram pesto is my own touch, added for a jolt of flavor just before bringing the dish to the table. Since the pesto contains nuts, it also thickens the broth.

When buying seafood for a stew you can be tempted to get lots of different things, but juggling their cooking times always turns out to be difficult, so I’ve found it best to choose maybe three kinds of seafood and concentrate on cooking them perfectly. That way you can easily avoid winding up with rubbery shrimp, half-raw lobster, and unopened clams. I’ve included only shellfish in this version, but chunks of monkfish, catfish, or any other firm-fleshed fish can stand in for the shrimp. The zuppa I had in Ischia also included baby octopus, which tastes good but has an almost prenatal look that sometimes turns me off. If I can find very small tender calamari, I’ll cut it into rings and add it at the last minute. I find razor clams at Italian markets (in New York they almost always have them at Randazzo’s fish shop on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and at Citarella in Manhattan); if you can’t find them, just include a few more of the littlenecks.

(Serves 4)

For the pesto:

1 garlic clove
A handful of pine nuts
About a cup of loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
Leaves from a few large branches of fresh marjoram
About 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Salt

For the stew:

Extra-virgin olive oil
2 tender inner celery stalks, chopped, plus the leaves lightly chopped
1 medium onion, cut into small dice
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 bay leaf
A small, fresh hot red chili, minced, including the seeds
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
Salt
A large wineglass of dry white wine
4 large summer tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Salt
1 pound littleneck clams, the smallest ones you can find, washed
About 8 razor clams, if available, washed
1 pound small mussels, washed and, if necessary, debearded
1 pound large shrimp, head and tail on if available, unpeeled
A few sprigs of marjoram, the leaves chopped
A few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves chopped
A baguette, sliced

To make the pesto, place the pine nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and grind to a fine crumb. Add the parsley and marjoram, the olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Process briefly, just until you have a not-too-smooth green paste. Transfer to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressed against the pesto so no air is in (this will preserve the pesto’s green color as long as possible).

Look over all the shellfish, discarding any that don’t close when you either plunge them into cold water or tap on their shells (this means they’re dead ones, which you definitely don’t want in your stew). Choose a large, fairly wide casserole fitted with a lid that will hold all the shellfish after it has opened. Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the casserole over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, hot chili, anchovy, and a pinch of salt, and sauté until everything is softened and fragrant, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the white wine and let it boil down by about half. Add the tomatoes and cook at a lively simmer for about 10 minutes (and not longer, since you want to keep the sauce a nice bright red).

Add the littlenecks and cook, stirring frequently, until about half of them have started to open, usually about 5 minutes. Add the razor clams and the mussels (these take less time to open) and cook, stirring, until most of them have opened. Add the shrimp and stir them around so they’re covered with sauce (if you are using large, head-on shrimp, add them along with the mussels, since they take a little longer to cook through). Cover the casserole and turn the heat to low. Simmer very briefly, just until the shrimp are tender, about another 4 minutes only. Turn off the heat and let the casserole sit covered for a minute or so on the turned-off burner (this seems to give everything a moment to blend together, and also gives any clams or mussels that haven’t opened a last chance). Uncover the casserole and stir in the pesto. Serve hot in large bowls with slices of the baguette, toasted and brushed with olive oil.

Arugula, Dandelion, and Cherry Tomato Salad with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

I discovered the idea of dressing salad just with extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt in Sicily. The combination is especially good on bitter greens, where vinegar is not missed at all. Use your best olive oil for this.

(Serves 4)

1 garlic clove, lightly crushed
A large bunch of arugula, washed, dried, and stemmed
A medium bunch of young dandelion, washed, dried, and stemmed
A handful of whole basil leaves
A few whole mint leaves
A few sprigs of tarragon, leaves left whole
About a half a pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Your best extra-virgin olive oil
Finely ground sea salt

Right before serving, rub a wooden salad bowl with the crushed garlic, and leave the garlic in the bowl. Add the greens, herbs, and tomatoes. Drizzle on enough oil to coat the leaves lightly (about 3 tablespoons should do it). Sprinkle with sea salt and toss everything gently. Serve right away (olive-oil-dressed salads tend to wilt quickly).