TYPICAL FISH IN SICILY

The fish market in Trapani ( Pescheria ), is a meeting-place where you can buy all kinds of fish and sea-food.

Here are the most common fish.

Swordfish is greatly appreciated by local people and tourists.

Good sword needs nothing but  a simple olive oil-based marinade. After that, you can put it on the grill for a time and serve it with lemon, salt and herbs. You should taste it. It is delicious! .

Apart from sword, you can also buy  shrimps, prawns, sardines , etc…

Here is a way how to cook delicious prawns….

Spicy Sicilian prawns:

Put your prawns in a large bowl together with rosemary, garlic, orange zest, peppers and oil. Let them marinate for at least 2 hours or over night.
You have to preheat your oven to 450 F/ 230 C degrees. After that, put your prawns on a baking pan evenly, sprinkle with salt. Bake prawns until pink, about 8 minutes. Squeeze the orange juice all over the hot prawns and serve immediately!

You can’t miss mussels. They are very tasty!

Here is a simple recipe: Sicilian mussels with citrus tomatoes & chili.

Scrub your mussels clean and remove the beards.

Throw the tinned tomatoes into a food processor and process until pureed. Juice your lemon. Finely chop the chilli and put all of them aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy pot.

Finely chop your onion, garlic, and rosemary.

Throw the onion into the pot and let them cook for a few minutes until they are soft.

Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.

Add the mussels, rosemary, honey, vinegar, and white wine.

Cover and cook . When the mussels open remove them from the pot and put them aside.

Add the 3/4 cup of white wine, the pureed tomatoes, orange juice, lemon juice, and chilli to the pot. Cover and boil for five minutes.

Put the mussels into the pot once again, season with the freshly ground pepper and cover simmering for another minute.  Serve the mussels in deep bowls with the sauce poured over the top and lashings of fresh coriander.

The province of Trapani is full of old buildings,called “tonnare” (tuna factories) .Nowadays they are abandoned. On the contrary, in the past fishermen, after spending few days on the hunt, they went back home ready to prepare tunas. Trapanians like to call tuna “the sea pig”. Why? Because nothing of it is  wasted !

As a matter of fact, you can eat the tuna fin, the tuna head , the tuna heart and the liver, etc…..