Tuesday 13 December
Years ago, when we were living in a (little, probably illegal) penthouse apartment in Rome, we depended on Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cookbook (volume 1, paperback) for ideas on what to buy and how to cook it. And that is why, when we got a couple of beautiful fresh trout that had just been fished out of a local stream by Anders, our director's son, we decided to gut them (outside at the sink on our terrace, which instantaneously brought every wasp in Rome flying in); fry them; and instead of eating them when they were fresh, put them aside and marinate them according to Marcella's recipe for "Cold Trout in Orange Marinade," to be eaten later. The results were okay (not, as she says, "so remarkably good"), and we learned a valuable lesson. First, when you have good fresh fish and good appetite, eat them immediately, don't make your own leftovers for the sake of some recipe. Second, wasps have amazing powers of detecting fish guts.
Nonetheless, in this case we had actual leftovers, a half pound of Saturday's fried smelts. So we sautéed a half a yellow onion, diced, in a pan until it was golden, then added a half cup of dry white Italian vermouth and the zest from a half an orange and let it bubble for a half minute or less. Into that we stirred the juice squeezed from half the orange, juice from half a lemon, salt, and pepper, and again let it bubble for a half a minute. At the last, some chopped parsley went in for color, and the whole thing got poured over the cold fish.
It was served on a bed of arugula, garnished as Marcella advised with sections from the orange (or at least, the half that didn't get squeezed).
We appreciated the recipe far more this time, though we'd give our eyeteeth to try it - or anything - in Rome again.
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