Fish and seafood are among the main products in Italian cuisine, and the recipes with them are countless. The large coastline of the Apennine Peninsula allows for the preparation and consumption of fresh fish products.
All classic dishes from the healthy Mediterranean diet, such as pasta, pizza and risotto, have options with different types of sea creatures. Numerous Italian temptations with a sea flavor do not leave anyone indifferent, because in addition to being useful, they are fantastically delicious.
5 top offers for Italian dishes with fish products
1. Pasta with seafood
When it comes to favorite Italian dishes, we can’t help but start with pasta. Pasta products are prepared in many ways, including different types of fish , shrimp, mussels, etc.
The richest in flavors and aromas and the most popular is pasta frutti di mare , the name means seafood. That’s why we present one of the most commonly prepared recipes for spaghetti with seafood.
Seafood spaghetti
Products:
- 500 grams of mussels
- 100 ml of olive oil plus a little more
- 1 teaspoon hot red pepper if desired
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 300 grams of cherry tomatoes, peeled and cut in half
- 100 ml of white wine
- 350 g of spaghetti
- 250 g of shrimp
- 100 g baby squid, cleaned and cut into small pieces
- 200 g white fish, cut into cubes 3 by 3 cm
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh parsley
Preparation
Bring to a boil in a large saucepan with salt to taste. Put the mussels in boiling water. Stir the mussels gently from time to time until they all open. Take them out with a slotted spoon and set them aside . Strain the broth from the boiling through a fine strainer into a bowl to remove grit.
Place half of the mussels on a cutting board, remove the meat and discard the shells. Finely chop the mussels and set aside for the time being. Meanwhile put the mussel broth and wine in a small saucepan . Bring the mixture to a boil until reduced by half.
In a deep frying pan or saucepan over medium heat heat the olive oil and when warm add the chopped garlic and cayenne pepper. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes, stirring Put the chopped parsley and add the broth with the white wine.
Meanwhile add your spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for the time indicated on the package. Add the chopped mussels, shrimps, squid and fish to the tomato sauce and reduce the heat to low.
Stir occasionally for 5 to 10 minutes . Add the chopped mussels and mussels in shell, salt and sprinkle with black pepper.
Remove the spaghetti 1 minute before the end of cooking time, strain and add to the seafood sauce. Divide 4 plates of pasta, pour in nice olive oil and sprinkle with fresh black pepper.
2. Pizza Frutti di Mare
Another traditional Italian dish is performed under the Fruti di mare brand. Pizza with a sea flavor is on the menu of all pizzerias in the coastal regions of Botusha , and in many other Italian restaurants around the world.
Seafood baked with mozzarella cheese makes this pizza especially enjoyable.
Necessary products:
- 200 g mozzarella
- 80 g mussels
- 80 g of shrimp
- 50 g of squid
- Clove garlic
- fresh basil
- Sol
- Pepper
- Pizza dough
For the tomato sauce (per 100 g):
- 300 g fresh tomatoes (or canned tomatoes 250 g)
- 10 ml of olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- Dried oregano
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- Sol
- Pepper
For garlic oil:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Clove garlic
Method of preparation
To prepare the tomato sauce , first cut the fresh tomatoes in half. Put the garlic in the heated oil and fry until golden brown. Remove the garlic from the pan, add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium.
Stir the tomatoes until smooth and thickened. Add oregano to the sauce along with the tomato puree. Evaporate the sauce by a third. Pass the sauce through a sieve, if necessary. Season with salt, pepper and cool.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and place it in a round pan with a diameter of 25-30 cm.ri Spread the tomato sauce on the dough, sprinkle with chopped mozzarella.
Beat the butter and garlic in a blender Fry the mussels, shrimps and coarsely chopped squid in the resulting garlic oil. Place the seafood on the pizza and sprinkle with chopped garlic and oregano . Season with salt and pepper.
Bake the pizza in an oven preheated to 220 ° C for ten minutes. Garnish with basil leaves and serve.
3. Fish soup Zuppa di pesce
Zuppa di pesce is made from boiled fish and seafood and is an important part of the Italian table. It is typical for the traditional cuisine in the regions Liguria, Tuscany, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, Sicily and others. Recipes include different types of fish and seafood: duck, sea eel, mackerel, shark, mussels, shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, octopus.
Fish soups are typical not only for Italy, but also for other countries and regions of the Mediterranean . The Marseille bouillabaisse from France is very famous.
Characteristic of the Andalusian and Catalan versions, called suquet, is that the fish is first fried . Other parts of the world also enjoy a variety of fish soups. In Japan they prepare dashas, in Ecuador – faneska, the Hungarians like their halasle, and the Russians cook the ear.
Fish soups in Italy are also varied, with the most popular being Cacciucco from the Livorno region. Cachuco is a rich, thick soup made from fish broth, red wine and tomato sauce with various types of fish and seafood.
Cachuco seafood soup
Necessary products:
- Several species of fish
- mussels, squid, shrimp, cuttlefish, crabs
- 1 onion
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- carrots
- hot peppers or hot red pepper
- fennel
- Grated tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Sea salt
- Parsley and basil
Preparation
The fish is cut into pieces. Seafood is prepared by first washing very well. Cut onions, carrots and a little fennel into small cubes. Grate and mash the tomatoes and chop the garlic.
Heat olive oil in a saucepan and stew the vegetables. Add the grated tomatoes, then the tomato puree and salt. You can also add red wine.
Cuttlefish, squid and mussel meat are added first from the seafood, after five minutes the fish is added and after another three or four minutes the shrimps, crabs and mussels are added in shells.
It is not recommended to cook fish and seafood for a long time. Season with parsley and basil. Kachuko can be served both as a soup and as a main dish.
4. Risotto with seafood
Another favorite Italian classic – risotto, there is a variant with a breath of the sea . For a good seafood risotto you need fish, shrimp, mussels and other seafood of your choice, and to make the aroma and taste rich, prepare fish broth. Here is the recipe itself.
Products:
- 400 g of rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 liters of fish broth
- 1-2 onions
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 stalk of celery
- 10 mussels in shell
- 150 g fish fillet
- 8 peeled shrimps
- Parsley and oregano
- fresh oregano
Method of preparation
Heat fish stock in a saucepan and simmer under a lid. Heat olive oil in a deep frying pan and fry finely chopped onions and garlic 2-3 minutes. Add celery and 2 tablespoons water, stew under a lid for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring. Slowly add 150 ml of hot broth, stirring constantly over low heat until all the broth has boiled. Add one hundred ml of broth until the rice is cooked.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan , boil water. Put the mussels and cook 4-5 minutes Shake the pot until the mussels open.
Add the chopped fish, peeled shrimp and the remaining hot broth to the rice. Stir and cook for 5-10 minutes . Remove from the heat, add the mussels, cover the dish and leave for 5 minutes. Finally sprinkle with parsley and oregano.
5. Lasagna with fish
Lasagna is a slightly more special type of pasta, as it is leaves, not small or large figures. Most often the traditional Italian dish is prepared in the version Bolognese or with chicken.
This time we will offer you Lasagna with fish, tomatoes, soft and hard cheese and bechamel sauce. It is no less delicious than the classic. Fish lasagna can be prepared with white fish, pike or other fish.
Necessary products:
- 600 g fish fillet
- 8 pcs. lasagna sheets
- 1 tomato
- 100 g soft cheese
- 80 g hard cheese
- For the béchamel sauce:
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 50 g butter
- 500 ml. milk
- sol
- pepper
- a pinch of nutmeg
- For the marinade:
- 5 tsp sol
- 2 pinches of black pepper
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp oil to grease the pan
Method of preparation
Cut the fish fillet and marinate it . Put the pieces in a bowl, salt, sprinkle with pepper and lemon juice. Leave in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
While the fish is marinating, prepare the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a pan or saucepan over medium heat. Add flour to the melted butter, stirring constantly.
Gradually pour in the milk, stirring the sauce constantly to make it smooth. Cook 5 minutes on low heat. Season with black pepper, nutmeg and salt. Divide the finished sauce into four parts.
Grease the baking dish with oil and place two lasagna sheets on the bottom (or as many as are needed to cover the bottom). Spread 1/4 of the béchamel on the leaves.
Spread half the pieces of marinated fish on top. Put two lasagna leaves on the fish, and on them add the next portion of sauce. Cut the tomatoes into slices and arrange them on top.
Place slices of soft cheese on the tomatoes . Sprinkle with black pepper. Put the lasagna sheets again, spread the sauce on them and add the rest of the fish. The top layer are lasagna sheets drizzled with the rest of the sauce. Place the dish in a preheated 180 degree oven for 30-35 minutes. Then sprinkle the lasagna with grated twi and put in the oven for another ten minutes.