Baccalà all'Orvietana
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One dish on my list of foods to find in Orvieto was Baccalà all'Orvietana. I came across a recipe for it while planning my trip a few months ago. I made it at home back in July to get an idea of what it was all about and my intention then was to find one in Orvieto and compare.
Again, just like the Etruscans tried to stay self-sufficient on their mountaintop citadel from Roman sieges by having fresh water wells and raising pigeons, later Orvietans found salt-cod to be handy for the same reasons. Only by this time it wasn’t the Romans attacking but other neighboring tribes like the Lombards, Goths, the French — you name it. Salt Cod, though not indigenous to the area, was a non-perishable protein that the Orvietans could store in their zillions of dark caves.
It wasn’t hard to find, Baccalà all'Orvietana. It’s on loads of menus there, as well as a handful of other salt-cod preparations. The main difference between the one I had in Orvieto and the one I made at home was that mine was very scant with the tomato, more of a tomato broth than a sauce, mine also had olives. Other than that they were very similar, although, I dare say I like mine better!
First picture is my own Baccalà all'Orvietana that I made at home before ever going to Orvieto. Second picture is the one I found in Orvieto. Both were tasty but mine looked better.
Pesce all' Acqua Pazza
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Occasionally something so simple, so unpretentious and humble can be very striking. One of the more memorable dinners I had on my recent trip to Sicily was a whole fish gently poached in Acqua Pazza, which means "Crazy Water". I remember thinking that maybe it's because it's so uncomplicated that you never encounter it in the States, but now that I think of it, generally fish preparations in the United States are even more simple, sometimes just grilled with some ill-suited sauce, or fried with no sauce at all.
Poached fish recipes that I remember from training in French restaurants are similar but the aromatic vegetables and herbs are strained and discarded before serving. I've also noticed that poached fish, which is really a perfect way of cooking something so delicate, is overlooked and ignored by today's gourmands.
𝘗𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭’𝘈𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘢 𝘗𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘢 is one of those preparations that you can find from Almafi coast down to Sicily and then back up the Italian boot up the other side at least through the region of Abruzzo. The origins called for seawater though I wouldn't recommend that today. Instead just simmer whichever aromatic vegetables and herbs you like, in my case here I used fennel, red onion, carrots, celery, capers, olives, tomato, basil, thyme, parsley, garlic, peppercorns, lemon and white wine, then lower whatever whitefish you want, Rock Cod in my case, simmer lazily, gently lift it out onto a plate and drench with the poaching liquid. I used potatoes too that I cooked separately in salted water with herbs. Drizzle the best olive oil you can afford and have some hand torn chewy bread nearby. The clean, bright flavor you won't soon forget, at least, I haven't.