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!

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!

So we introduced Giada’s product line a few months ago, then we tracked her book signing and other events, such as when Giada was featured as special guest of the month at Crate & Barrel, with a first preview and special limited distribution of the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla line of Italian gourmet specialties.

Last Sunday June 29 Giada De Laurentiis and Academia Barilla organized a great cocktail party in NY as a collateral event for Fancy Food - don’t worry, we will blog about the event as soon as we get a couple of pictures and some gossip.

The NY event served also as an official Academia Barilla announcement of the nationwide distribution and availability of the new Italian gourmet food line (which is of course available also at the Academia Barilla online store) - a very official announcement, to the point that we broadcasted a press release to officialize the news.

You might have seen our press release online, republished via RSS by blogs and news aggregators who are into Italian food as we are, and now it is with great pleasure that we republish the press release also on our beloved Italian Food Lovers blog. The original version of the release is also available online at PRWeb, for our friends journalists and bloggers who need to download attachments and images.

Here we go (integral text from July 1st press release) -

Academia Barilla and Italian Celebrity Chef and Author Giada De Laurentiis Launch Italian Gourmet Line

Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated Italian celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty Italian food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Bannockburn, IL (July 1, 2008) — Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® is Barilla’s first-ever gourmet celebrity product line, and offers food connoisseurs an authentic taste of Italy.  Products include Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Sicilian Hand-Harvested Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest, and Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, all personally selected by De Laurentiis. Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® will also be available online at the Academia Barilla online store beginning today, July 1, 2008.

Giada De Laurentiis is host of two popular Food Network cooking shows, a co-host of NBC’s Today show, and author of three New York Times best-selling cookbooks, with two and a half million copies in print. Her most recent book, Everyday Pasta, was released in April 2007. A fourth cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen, will be in bookstores nationwide in Fall 2008. She is the granddaughter of famed Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis and legendary actress Silvana Mangano. 

Ms. De Laurentiis was the spokesperson for the Barilla Group’s U.S. Pasta division, appearing in print ad campaigns across the country for the past two years. Her ongoing relationship with the company through Academia Barilla is best described as a natural fit, as both are dedicated to the love of traditional Italian cooking with the best products and ingredients available.

As Giada De Laurentiis says, and reports on the back label of all Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® products, “I was born in Rome, and I grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was an integral part of my life. My relationship with Academia Barilla is an obvious one, combining my love for traditional Italian cooking with the best ingredients available“.

About Academia Barilla - (note: we cut the boilerplate off as our readers already know Academia Barilla, but we leave the press contacts for the United States, just in case)

For more information, please contact Ms. Kim Sayid of Academia Barilla at 866.77.ACADEMIA or 847.405.7524. Visit also the Academia Barilla website and our Italian Food Lovers gourmet blog.

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We are late with this recipe since we promised you, as well as Chef Tony Mantuano and wine expert Cathy Mantuano, our new guests at the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, that this recipe would have been published last week, only that we have been really busy traveling around the world here at the Academia Barilla blog editorial team.

After the PKN conference in Parma, we had to head to NY for a big event - no anticipations about it, we’ll blog about it later!

Now it is finally time for the first recipe provided by Chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia, the top Italian restaurants and cafe in Chicago, Illinois. Wine expert Cathy Mantuano also sent us a great recipe for a classic Italian cocktail, so today you finally get both recipes! Here we go with the first one.

CRISPY PARMIGIANO FLATBREAD
A recipe by Chef Tony Mantuano
(makes 16 large pieces)

NOTES AND TIPS FROM THE CHEF

This cheesy flatbread is so satisfyingly crunchy and easy to make that you will want to bake it regularly. We recommend using a manual or electric pasta machine to roll out the dough for these crispy, paper-thin treats. Using a rolling pin will yield slightly thicker results. After just one bite you will understand why this is one of the most sought-after recipes in our restaurants.

INGREDIENTS

- 2 envelopes active dry yeast

- 11⁄2 cups warm water

- 2 tablespoons Academia Barilla extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

- 2 cups freshly grated Academia Barilla Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 teaspoon sea salt


PREPARATION

Combine the yeast and warm water in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the olive oil.

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a large bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix on low speed or with your hands until the water is absorbed and a shaggy dough is formed.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured board until the dough is uniform and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. It will be slightly sticky.


Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape into balls. Dust with flour and place on a floured cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.


Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
Have ready 2 nonstick cookie sheets or grease regular cookie sheets with olive oil.
 Working with one dough ball at a time (cover the remaining dough with a moist kitchen towel until ready to use), dust the ball with flour and flatten with your hand.

Cut the dough in half and roll half the dough through a pasta machine with the rollers set midway apart. Dust the dough with flour if it becomes sticky. Reduce the space between the rollers one setting at a time until you have reached the last setting and the dough is a smooth, thin sheet.

Transfer to a cutting board and cut in half on an angle into large pieces so that 2 will fit on a cookie sheet. The pieces should each be approximately 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. Roll and cut the remaining half in the same manner as the first.

Place the rolled dough on the cookie sheets. Brush lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with about a quarter of the cheese, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on a rack before serving.

Repeat this process with the rest of the dough balls, rolling and baking until all the dough is used. Stored in an airtight container, the flatbread will keep for up to 2 days.


Buon appetito from Chef Tony Mantuano, Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!

Please see next blog post for Wine expert Cathy Mantuano’s recipe.

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We interviewed via email Tony and Cathy, and asked them a couple of questions about their Chef and wine experience and their love for Italian food.

Chef Tony Mantuano wanted to be a Chef because he “loves to cook“, as simple as that. According Chef tony Mantuano, “the secret of being a top Chef is being smart enough to know to leave out an ingredient. The most important ingredient in any dish is the one you leave out“, he said to us.

Chef Tony Mantuano’s favorite food is Cape Cod Potato Chips and his favorite cooking style is “Regional Italian food that respects tradition“. His definition of Italian cuisine is “Food that has respect for Italian culture and tradition“, while his definition of Italian gourmet is “Traditional food presented in a modern fashion for today’s palate“.

Check out this video we found on Google Video, if you want to get more Italian Chef insight, knowledge and philosophy from Chef Tony Mantuano!

We also interviewed wine expert Cathy Mantuano, and she told us that her favorite food is “pasta because there are so many kinds of pasta and so many different sauces and preparations for it“, while talking about her cooking style she stated that she is “a fan of any cuisine that uses fresh, seasonal products as a base for its dishes. I like spicy dishes, as in Thai and Chinese food. I also like Japanese food. I love the spices of Middle Eastern cuisine“.

When asked about her definition of Italian cuisine Cathy Mantuano said that “Italian cuisine highlights top quality ingredients in season, prepared simply, using few ingredients“, while her definition of Italian gourmet is “freshly picked produce, handmade pasta, farm raised poultry and meat, artisanal cheese, estate wines“.

As we reported on our latest post, Cathy and Tony Mantuano are co-authors of the Italian cookbooks “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match” and “The Spiaggia Cookbook: Eleganza Italiana in Cucina“, both available online at Barnes and Noble’s and Amazon.com’s online stores. Wine Bar Food is also available at CrateandBarrel.com.

Some of the recipes from Cathy and Tony’s cookbooks feature Academia Barilla products (as well as in their Chicago restaurants Spiaggia, Café Spiaggia, and Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia) and we got permission from the authors to share with you some of their Italian gourmet creations - so here we go with the first one… only that we want to publish the recipe on a clean new post, so you can print it and take it with you to the kitchen - stay tuned for the recipe post coming up tomorrow!