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Mix things up in the kitchen with these recipes from the talented team behind one Michelin-star Pietramare Natural Food, the refined restaurant of Praia Art Resort – a cool coastal boutique hotel on Calabria’s Ionian coast. No more excuses for disappointing date night dishes, simply halve the ingredients to serve two…

Recipe 1: Costa di Kalabria

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 250g bronze drawn spaghetti from Gragnano
  • 1kg of rock fish for soup
  • 250g bunch tomatoes
  • 500g ice
  • 100g cherry tomatoes
  • 200g red peppers
  • 150g black olives from Gaeta
  • 20g Pecorino cheese
  • 20g pine nuts
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Salt and pepper
  • Evo oil
  • A bunch of basil

Method

  1. Scale, eviscerate and remove all the eyes from the prawns, then place them on a perforated grate to dry them well.
  2. Cut the tomatoes into large pieces and once ready, fry in a steel saucepan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and two cloves of garlic.
  3. Once the garlic is browned, remove from the saucepan and add the fish, browning it slightly, then add the chopped tomatoes and ice. Let it cook for 3 hours over a low heat and, once ready, filter and cool.
  4. Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and remove the seeds, then place them on a plate with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and bake them for 1 hour at 80 degrees.
  5. Do the same with the peppers and once ready, together with the
    tomatoes, add garlic, pecorino cheese, pine nuts and basil, blend everything and cool in the fridge.
  6. Pit the olives and bake them for 1 hour at 120 degrees, once dehydrated, reduce them to powder with the help of a blender.
  7. Cook the pasta, then in a pot bring the soup to a boil and cook the broken pasta for 10 minutes.
  8. Once cooked, add basil cut into julienne and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Serve in a deep plate add the black olive powder, red pesto at room temperature and enjoy!

Recipe 2: Tortello Ripieno

For the egg pasta

  • 100g re-milled semolina
  • 100g flour
  • 6 egg yolks
  • A pinch of salt

For the stuffing

  • 1 kg podolica meat (“priest’s hat”)
  • 1kg red Tropea onion

For the fondue

  • 50g Crotone ricotta
  • 100g fresh cream

For the lobster

  • 1 lobster (500g)
  • 1 red Tropea onion
  • Licorice powder

Method

  1. Cut the onions into julienne strips and the meat into medium pieces, take a saucepan with a drizzle of oil and brown the meat. As soon as it is ready add the onion, season with salt and cook for 4 hours after which blend everything and let it cool and store in a piping bag.
  2. With the help of a planetary mixer, mix the flour, salt and eggs, reach a smooth consistency and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Then proceed by rolling out the dough very finely, fill with the Genoese and close like tortelli.
  4. In the meantime, proceed with the fondue, then bring the cream and grated ricotta to 60 degrees and blend everything.
  5. Blanch the lobster for 3 minutes in salted water, peel and season with salt and oil and set aside.
  6. Cut the onion into julienne strips and season with salt, extra virgin olive oil and pepper.
  7. Cook the pasta in boiling water, then place the hot ricotta on a plate, lay the pasta on it and complete with pieces of lobster, red onion and licorice powder. Serve piping hot.

Recipe 3: Dentice Scottato

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 500g curly endive / escarole
  • 1kg red snapper
  • 50g escalope of foie gras
  • 20g black chickpeas
  • Salt and pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. Start by cleaning the fish, then eviscerate, scale and portion the snapper, and place in the fridge.
  2. Proceed with the escarole taking the greenest parts and removing any excess, then cook in boiling water for 6 minutes, drain and blend, adding salt and pepper.
  3. For the black chickpeas, bring extra virgin olive oil to 180 degrees and fry for 2 minutes, drain and dry with absorbent paper.
  4. Sear the fish in a non-stick pan, then in the same way the thinly sliced foie gras.
  5. Once ready, arrange the escarole cream on a deep plate, place the fish and foie gras on it, garnish with the fried chickpeas and a few hints of raw escarole.

If you’re craving something sweet to finish, Chef Nicola Annunziata of Pietramare Natural Food shares her Moscatello pear babà recipe here.

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