Cooking with Ortygia Chef Gaetano Cannata | Trip to Sicily inspires creativity
On our most recent trip to Sicily, we rented an apartment with a private courtyard in a timeworn hidden section of Ortygia close to the center of town. Down the street on the corner overlooking the Ionian Sea, a small chef-run osteria had some of the most creative Sicilian food I have ever eaten.
The food at Il Blu was Sicilian, but not all the offerings were traditional, as in most of the restaurants on the island. Sebastiano, our chef, created dishes, such as roasted tuna with blueberries and pistachios which were creatively delicious on the one hand, but that exasperated die-hard old-school Sicilian traditionalists on the other.
Regardless of what the natives thought about his food, we ate there repeatedly and also frequented incredible traditional Sicilian restaurants as well.
One of the dishes he served us was simple, but employed two non-traditional methods typical of a Sicilian chef. One way in which it was unusual was that the dish was served Milanese style, not an approach commonly used on the island.
The manner in which the dish was prepared
was unconventional as well. Typically, when one is cooking Milanese style, the meat -- usually veal or beef -- is pounded out thin before the actual cooking process and all bones, if any, are removed. Sebastiano prepared Milanese with an un-pounded bone-in T-bone steak. It was unusual, but fabulous.
Taking his lead, when I returned home I decided to prepare my variation of a Milanese-style dish using fish instead of veal. I modified further by topping it with a spicy arugula salad. My Sicilian grandparents would have frowned upon it, but I think Sebastiano would approve.
Mahi-Mahi Milanese
12 ounces of mahi-mahi, butterflied then cut into 2 pieces
Flour for dredging
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup of panko style bread crumbs
Course sea salt
Quarter cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of unsalted butter
For the salad
Organic baby arugula
Fresh lemon and extra virgin olive oil to taste
Put the filets between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound gently with a kitchen mallet until it is 1/8-inch thick. Dredge lightly in flour, then dip in the beaten egg. Cover both sides in panko, season with salt and pepper and let rest for about 15 minutes. Heat butter and olive oil in pan on medium heat and when it begins to sizzle, add the fish and cook for about 3 minutes until golden brown. Flip over and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove to a warmed plate. Mix the arugula together with the olive oil, lemon and salt to taste. Top the fish with the salad, open up a chilled bottle of your favorite white wine and enjoy.
Chef Gaetano Cannata, owner of Ortygia Restaurant in Bradenton's Village of the Arts, can be reached at guy@ortygiarestaurant.com.
This story was originally published November 26, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Cooking with Ortygia Chef Gaetano Cannata | Trip to Sicily inspires creativity."