Summertime brought to our minds fresh, sunny, Southern Italian seafood dishes, and we stumbled upon a great cookbook, Chef Giuliano Bugialli’s “Foods of Sicily, Sardinia and the smaller islands” (1996, Rizzoli International Publications). We often talk about Chef Bugialli’s “Parma” cookbook, edited by Academia Barilla and available at the Academia Barilla online store, but we like also Chef Bugialli’s exploration of further Italian regional traditional cuisines.

Today’s recipe comes from Trapani, Sicily: Couscous alla Trapanese (Couscous Old Trapani Style). Couscous is a typical Arab dish, imported into the food culture of Southern Mediterranean countries more than a 1,000 years ago. Traditionally, Arab couscous is made with meat and vegetables, but the unique Tunisian version of couscous is made entirely with fish and seafood.

The proximity of Trapani, Sicily, and Tunis, Tunisia, and the commercial and social exchanges that intertwined the two cities over the centuries, allowed a fusion of some cultural topics from architecture to fishing style and, obviously, to food. Trapani is less than 300 miles away from Tunis, and some of the Sicilian minor islands, such as Pantelleria and Lampedusa are even closer, as you can see in the Google Map below.

Trapani absorbed the Tunisian couscous culture (and vice-versa), adding its own Sicilian touch to a typical Arab dish. The Sicilian Couscous alla trapanese is a main course, and its unusual feature is that fish and chicken are combined in the same dish, a duo sometimes found in Spain (Valencian Paella) but not in Italy. It has become very difficult to find authentic preparations of this dish because today Italians often omit the chicken.

Nowadays people rebel as much at the amount of work and time required to make real couscous as they do to make real polenta. Certainly precooked versions of these grains save time but it is important to understand that in using these precooked versions, the real flavor and texture of the dish are sacrificed.

Ready for the Couscous Old Trapani Style? This recipe requires a long preparation time.

COUSCOUS ALLA TRAPANESE
(Couscous Old Trapani Style)
A recipe by Chef Giuliano Bugialli
(Dish picture by John Dominis)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE

- 1 large red onion, cleaned and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds blanched and seeded tomatoes, cut into large pieces
- about 2 pounds fish heads and tails, wrapped in cheesecloth
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- a large pinch of hot red pepper flakes
- 20 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves only
- 6 large cloves garlic, peeled
- 10 very large fresh basil leaves, left whole
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cups completely defatted chicken broth, preferably homemade

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FISH AND CHICKEN

- 6 medium-sized calamari (about 1/2 pounds), cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch rings
- 2 pounds of different types of non-oily fish, cut into large pieces, with bone (Langoustine, the small lobsters, are optional)
- 1 large lemon
- coarse-grained salt
- 1 chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 10 pieces, with all the extra fat removed

INGREDIENTS FOR THE COUSCOUS (NOT PRECOOKED)

- 1 pound couscous
- salt to taste
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- a large pinch of ground saffron
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 large bay leaves

INGREDIENTS FOR PRECOOKED COUSCOUS

Follow the procedure printed on the box, adding oil, not butter, as well the bay leaves and ground saffron listed above.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE BROTH 

- 4 quarts very light chicken broth, preferably homemade
- 4 bay leaves
- a large pinch of ground saffron
- 4 medium-sized carrots, scraped and cut into large pieces

INGREDIENTS TO SERVE

- 3 or 4 langoustine for decoration (optional)
- 15 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves only, coarsely chopped

PREPARATION

Soak the chopped onion pieces in a bowl of cold water for 1/2 hour. Soak the calamari and fish pieces in a large bowl of cold water with the lemon, cut in half and squeezed, and a little coarse salt for 1/2 hour.

If you are making your own couscous, place the (not precooked) grain in a large bowl. Add salt to the water along with the saffron and start adding the water by tablespoonfuls while constantly rubbing the grains between the palms of your hands. Do not add extra water until the previous tablespoonful has been completely absorbed by the grain and uniformly distributed. When all the water is used up, oil your palms and again rub the grains. Keep repeating until all the oil is used up.

Place the 4 quarts of broth along with the bay leaves, saffron and carrots in a stockpot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Line a colander with a thick cheesecloth then mix the prepared couscous with the bay leaves and put it in the prepared colander.

Fold the cheesecloth over the top and insert the colander in the stockpot containing the boiling broth. Tightly cover the colander with a lid or with aluminium foil. If you have a lot of space between the stockpot and the colander, you can seal it by wrapping a kitchen towel dampened in cold water all around or you can make a dough with flour and water, and attach it all around the opening in order to keep the steam from coming out (the dough method is Sicilian and probably older than the cloth method). Let simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large casserole over medium heat. When the oil is warm, drain the onions and add them to the casserole; sauté for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes, stirring every so often with a wooden spoon. Add the fish heads and tails with their cheesecloth wrapping and cook for 15 minutes, turning the “bags” over 2 or 3 times. Season with salt, pepper and the hot pepper flakes.

Finely chop parsley and garlic together on a board. Add the chopped ingredients along with the whole basil leaves to the casserole, mix very well and cook for 5 minutes more. Dissolve the tomato paste in the broth and pour it into casserole. Lower heat and simmer for 1 hour. The liquid should be reduced by half. Remove and discard the cheesecloth with all its fish bones.

Taste the sauce for seasoning. Start adding the fish that require at least 35 minutes of cooking time, such as calamari, to the broth. Add the other fish and chicken pieces that take less time as appropriate. The chicken will not take more than 20 minutes to cook.

Open the cheesecloth, mix the couscous very well to be sure no lumps have formed, then close it again and cook for 1 hour more.

When the sauce is ready and the fish and chicken are cooked, transfer the couscous to a large serving platter. Pour all the sauce over the couscous, arrange all the fish and chicken, with or without langoustine, on top and sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot.

CHEF TIPS FROM ACADEMIA BARILLA

To obtain a full Sicilian flavor, the Academia Barilla Chef Team suggests to use Academia Barilla’s Monti Iblei Sicilian extra virgin olive oil and Natural Sicilian Sea Salt with Black Olive Oils - they are both available at the Academia Barilla online store.

Buon Appetito!

We blogged several times this month about Giada De Laurentiis, to announce her new gourmet line Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla and to publish a couple of Giada’s recipes. Now we really want to give space to this great Giada photo shooting who’s traveling around the blogosphere.

Yes, we can answer the same question everybody is asking: “is this a photoshop effect?”  The answer is No. She really is Giada De Laurentiis bathing in a sea of tomato juice.

This is actually the third picture of a series by photographer Gavin Comb for Esquire, the men lifestyle magazine, who always dedicates stunning photo services to women celebrities, for the series Women We Love. Here is the first Giada photo shot of the 3-shot series.

And the second, right before she find herself in a lake of tomato juice as in the first picture we published.

As reported in the original article by Esquire, the concept for the photo shoot was:

In her crusade to show the world how much enjoyment can be derived from Italian cooking, De Laurentiis goes through a lot of tomatoes.

An average of two thirty-two-ounce cans per day (as shown in the first slide), to be precise. So in a month that would be… well, you can see that in the second photo.

“Canned tomatoes are packaged when they’re the ripest and the sweetest,” she says, “so there’s really no reason to go with fresh.”

Very smart article and concept for the photo shooting, and great Giada De Laurentiis pictures!

The article came with a recipe from Giada on how to make a great Giada’s Home-made Sauce, still online at the Esquire website, go have a look!

We are back with Barilla US Chef Assistant Yury Krasilovski for another exclusive cooking demo for our Italian Food Lovers blog!

Chef Krasilovski today will prepare another recipe sent by Giada De Laurentiis, who is staring experimenting new recipes using her new Italian gourmet food product line, Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla.

Giada last week proposed an interesting dish, Giada’s Balsamic Chicken Drumettes, where she used her new Giada’s Balsamic Vinegar, while this week Giada sent us a new recipe where she uses her new Giada’s Tuscan herb Mix, alongside Academia Barilla’s Parmigiano Reggiano: Giada’s Parmesan Popovers.

Are you ready? Let’s go to the kitchen with Chef Iuri Krasilovski.

GIADA’S PARMESAN POPOVERS
A recipe by Giada De Laurentiis
(makes 6-8 servings)

INGREDIENTS

- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix
- 4 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3/4 cup grated Academia Barilla Parmesan (about 5 ounces)

PREPARATION 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a blender, combine eggs, flour, salt, pepper, Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, milk, and cheese.  Blend on medium speed.  

Spray a mini-muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Pour the batter into the muffin cups, filling each cup 3/4 full.  Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove popovers from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.

Thank you Giada for this interesting recipe, and again thank you also to Chef Yury Krasilovski for his step-by-step guidance in showing us how to prepare the dish.

We remind you that the products from the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla food line are now available nationwide in the United States at gourmet and specialty food stores as well as at some of the biggest food market chains - and of course at the Academia Barilla online store.

Here we go with the first one of Giada’s recipes: Giada’s Balsamic Chicken Drumettes. The recipe has been performed by Barilla USA Chef Assistant Yury Krasilovski, which we thank also for sending us pictures of the preparation step!

GIADA’S BALSAMIC CHICKEN DRUMETTES
A recipe by Giada De Laurentiis
(makes 4 to 6 servings)

INGREDIENTS 

- 1/2 cup Giada’s Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 5 sprigs of rosemary
- 5 cloves garlic, halved
- 10 to 12 chicken drumsticks
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

PREPARATION

Combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and garlic cloves in a large, re-sealable plastic bag.  Shake and squeeze the contents of the bag to dissolve the honey and the brown sugar.  Add the chicken drumsticks to the bag and seal with as little air as possible in the bag.  Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the chicken drumsticks on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake until the skin is caramelized and very dark in spots, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the marinade in a small saucepan.  Bring the marinade to a boil (in order to kill bacteria).  Reduce the heat to simmer and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes; reserve.  

Brush some of the cooked marinade on the cooked chicken.  Place the chicken on a serving platter.  Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and the chopped parsley.

NOTES AND CHEF TIPS FROM GIADA

I like the subtle rosemary and garlic flavors.  Brushing the cooked drumettes with the reduced marinade helps the flavors along.  Also, re-moistening helps the parsley and the seeds to adhere.

Thank you very much Giada for sharing with us this great recipe and your final Chef tips, and thanks also to Barilla US Chef Assistant Yury Krasilovski for the exclusive cooking demo for our Italian Food Lovers blog!

We will meet again Chef Krasilovski next week with another step-by-step preparation of another recipe from Giada De Laurentiis: Giada’s Parmesan Popovers.

Stay tuned!

The event was part of the launch and official announcement of the US nationwide distribution of the new Italian gourmet food line Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla we already introduced on our Italian Food Lovers blog.

At the Astra Lounge, while Giada presented her new gourmet product line, a team of Chef from Barilla USA prepared some gourmet appetizers using Giada’s and Academia Barilla’s products, while Mionetto was partnering the NY event providing pairing wines.

We will be following up soon on this, publishing photos and recipes from the NY event, as soon as we get them at the blog editorial team. In the meanwhile, we are pleased to announce that we will publish in the next couple of weeks some Giada recipes prepared with her new products, so stay tuned!