With a beautiful spring day in full bloom, I finally had time to plant my new little herb garden – basil, oregano, parley, tarragon, mint, rosemary and more.  As I planted each little plant, I smiled at the various food memories from years past – the overgrown mint patch in my mother’s backyard; basil-scented breezes on a long-ago trip to Cinqueterre; Grandmom’s roasted rosemary potatoes; grilled swordfish with parsley and oregano sauce seaside in Sicily. 

Continue reading Food Memories: Grilled Swordfish with Chickpea Puree and Salmoriglio Sauce at Our Italian Table.

The Sicilians don’t have the corner on cooking with swordfish (pesce spada) – the Calabrians, who share the same sea with Sicily, have their own swordfish culture. And while grilling fish (in this case, swordfish) scares people to death – it’s really easy here because of the salmorigilo sauce. Salmoriglio sauce, which IS from Sicily, derives from the Sicilian word salmurigghiu, which means a light brine, and there is, indeed, some salt in it, though the primary ingredient is lemon juice.

Continue reading Swordfish involtini on the grill (Involtini di pesce spade alla griglia) at Our Italian Table.

Grilled fresh sardines. One of life’s simple delectable pleasures. I actually never tasted grilled sardines until I started traveling to Sicilia. We would spend afternoons at la spiaggia baking in the hot summer sun with all the Italians and when we had had enough, we would saunter up to the restaurant just alongside for vino and a bite to eat.  At first, I would turn up my nose with memories of those awfully salty canned things we had as children.

Continue reading Grilled Sardines with Salmoriglio Sauce (Sardine alle Griglia con Salsa al Salmoriglio) at Our Italian Table.

This is a classic Sicilian dish that is perfect for the summer. It’s adapted from Evan Kleiman’s 1993 cookbook “Cucina del Mare” which remains a go-to source of Italian seafood recipes.

A lot of people are scared to grill fish because of its potential to stick. This problem can be nearly eliminated with a really hot grill and oiling the grill right before placing down the fish.

You can use this recipe with other firm fish such as tuna or mahi-mahi.

Continue reading Swordfish with lemon-oregano bath (Pesce spada al salmoriglio) at Our Italian Table.