The Food of Italy: Calabria and Puglia

Ciao Darlings!

Today in cooking class, we explored Calabria and Puglia, two regions in the south of Italy where a Mediterranean diet is consumed. Our menu for the day was orecchiette con calamari e zucchine which translates to "little ears" pasta with calamari and zucchini and involtini di pesce spada ai carciofi  which ia swordfish rolls stuffed with artichokes.

Oecchiette con Clamari e Zucchine

Ingredients

500gr fresh "orecchette" pasta

500gr small calamari

250gr zucchini

1 shallot

Margoram

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Chop the shallot and the zucchini and saute the shallot in oil. Add the zucchini and cook for five minutes and add salt. Chop the body of the calamari into rings and cook the head first in a pan with oil for two minutes. Then add the body cut in rings. Cook for 3 minutes and add salt and the zucchini. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water and then drain the pasta. Saute it in the zucchini and calamari with some marjoram leaves, and serve!

Involtini di Pesce Spada ai Carciofi

Ingredients

5 slices of swordfish

2 fairly large potatoes

3 artichokes

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

Sugar

Wild fennel

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Chop the shallot and the wild fennel and place on top of the fish, with a pinch of salt, sugar and a drizzle of oil. Let it marinate in the fridge for an hour. Clean and slice the artichokes then saute in oil with a whole garlic clove. Peel and slice the potatoes and saute them with oil and salt in another pan until they are golden. Once the potatoes are done, place them in a baking pan. One at a time, place the fish fennel-side down on a plate. Put some artichokes on top at the bigger end, and roll up the fish. Place them on top of the potatoes and bake 15 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Buon Appetito!

Eternally yours,

Stephanie

Photo Source: Katie S.