1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (61 page)

Most Americans hear the word
scampi
and immediately conjure up the garlic-doused shrimp that’s been a favorite on Italian American menus for decades. To start, a far more accurate way of describing that dish would be “shrimp, scampi-style.” True scampi is actually the Norway lobster (
Nephrops norvegicus
), a prawnlike crustacean abundant in the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

Technically small lobsters, scampi dwell in the muddy soil at the bottom of the ocean, only coming up to feed at night. Mostly caught by trawling, they are meaty, succulent, and sweet. Because they thrive in the waters near Venice, they are forever associated with that city and its legendary fish market, La Pescaria. There, the lobsterettes, as they’re sometimes called, are prepared very simply: Butterflied and packed tightly on skewers, they are brushed with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic, and then grilled or roasted. Frequent bastings with yet more garlic-spiked butter ensure a result that is wildly delicious. Alternatively, they are sautéed with olive oil and lemon juice.

Although not made with true scampi, American shrimp scampi is an obvious homage with a charm of its own—especially when you’re a long way from Venice.

Where:
In Venice
, Corte Sconta, tel 39/041-522-7024,
cortescontavenezia.it
; Rao’s,
in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas
,
raosrestaurant.com
;
in New York
, Patsy’s, tel 212-247-3491,
patsys.com
;
Further information and recipes:
Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen
by Lidia Bastianich (2001);
The Classic Italian Cookbook
by Marcella Hazan (1976);
foodandwine.com
(search classic shrimp scampi).

Rialto Market buzzes with activity at daybreak.

“The rationalist mind has always had its doubts about Venice,” wrote Mary McCarthy in her classic book
Venice Observed.
Considering all of the opulent wonders of that mythical floating city, it’s no wonder visitors sometimes have a hard time believing even as they see. With its elaborate, confectionery architecture, its dazzling museums of classical and modern art, its operatic street life, its winding bridge-laced alleyways, and its real-life gondoliers in traditional costume, Venice is a place that does defy rationality.

Much the same can be said of one of its main gastronomic specialties: the impeccable fish and seafood drawn fresh daily from the
surrounding waters. Deposited in the morning at the Rialto fish market at the foot of the famed bridge that crosses the Grand Canal, today’s catch might include creamy, saline
calamari
; tomorrow’s, the true, seasonal scampi to be grilled on skewers in a haze of garlic butter; or the giant, hard-shelled
granceole
crabs, which Venetians love to eat chilled under a light glossing of olive-oil-scented mayonnaise.

In this market, neatly arrayed from one stall to another, lies a virtual menu of the city’s best offerings: the tiny pink mullet known as
triglie
; silvery bass (
dentice
); ivory chunks of monkfish (
coda de rospo
); and prized swimmers such as
spigola
and orata. Most breathtaking, however, is the assortment of mollusks and crustaceans, each with its own moniker, from standard mussels named
cozze
to the clamlike varieties that suggest straight-edged razors (
dateri
).

It’s a place where to believe what one sees, one must eat it. And for ultimate satisfaction in this realm, one must make a lunch reservation at Corte Sconta. Casually chic in a typically Italian way, this “hidden court” can produce a meal that incorporates just about everything on display in the fish market, from the squid sperm to the lightly fried squid rings and tentacles to the squid ink that is not to be missed on either linguine or risotto. There are some raw starters of mollusks, more seafood-informed pastas, and, for the main course, various fish broiled, fried, or poached in the way that makes the most of their natural texture and flavor. Corte Sconta serves a dinner that is equally delightful, but nothing beats lunch as a follow-up to a morning stroll through that fabled market.

Where:
In Venice
, Corte Sconta, tel 39/04-1522-7024,
cortescontavenezia.it
; Ristorante da Fiore, tel 39/041-721308,
dafiore.net
; Rialto Fish Market, daily 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
veniceconnected.com
(search rialto market).
Further information and recipes:
The Da Fiore Cookbook
by Damiano Martin (2003);
Venetian Cooking
by H. F. Bruning, Jr. and Cav. Umberto Bullo (1973).

Sweet-flavored ricotta spills from crisp pastry.

This puffy golden pastry, shaped like a rounded triangle or clamshell, derives its name from
una sfoglia
, a leaf—a reference to the dozens of thinly translucent pastry leaves (or sheets) that enfold its custardy cheese filling. As in its French
puff-pastry counterpart, the mille-feuille, in this Neapolitan dessert the sheets of dough are layered, brushed with butter, and baked into a crust that takes on a buttery, palate-teasing crackle. With their filling flavored with candied peels of orange, lemon, and citron, cherries, cinnamon, and, in the most elegant examples, whiffs of rosewater,
sfogliatelle
are classics of the traditional Neapolitan
pasticceria
, much loved for the contrast of crisp pastry and succulently cool, soft filling.

Most traditionally a croissant-size delight, sfogliatelle are now often turned out as one-bite miniatures that may be consumed by the half-dozen. Both versions are generally sprinkled with confectioners’ sugar just before they’re served. Beware: On rainy or otherwise humid days, the pastry can become tough and soggy.

On the other end of the spectrum, mirroring the propensity of so many foods to reconfiguration in monster portions these days, the sfogliatelle, too, has morphed into the obscene extravaganza known as the lobster claw—with the same layerings of puff pastry formed into a giant tapering cone, more or less shaped like said claw and usually filled with whipped cream, sometimes chocolate-flecked, or pastry cream flavored with vanilla or chocolate. This exaggerated
dolce
is surely enough for two, if not three; a single diner may find out just how deadly a lobster’s claw really can be.

Where:
In Naples
, La Sfogliatella Mary, tel 081-402218;
in New York
, Veniero’s, tel 212-674-7070,
venierospastry.com
;
in Boston
, Mike’s Pastry Shop, tel 617-742-3050,
mikespastry.com
;
in San Francisco
, Stella Pastry Café, tel 415-986-2914,
stellapastry.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Naples at Table
by Arthur Schwartz (1998);
epicurious.com
(search sfogliatelle).

Never underestimate the power of oregano (
Origanum vulgare
), the herb so inextricably associated with Italian American cooking. A wild perennial of the mint family, it is beloved for its versatility and for its deeply woodsy, earthy flavor. While it can be overused to deleterious and palate-numbing effect, in shellfish
arreganata
(often dubbed
oreganata
) it is employed as the deliciously comforting base note in a fragrant, garlicky harmony.

One of the oregano-laced preparations most associated with Italian American restaurants, the dish has managed to retain its status as a classic without becoming dated. And it’s no wonder. With fresh lobster, shrimp, or clams heady with garlic and oregano and sprinkled liberally with toasty bread crumbs, what’s not to like about this crunchy and downright addictive dish? Baked, the topping forms a
delectably crusty contrast to the tender, olive-oil-laced seafood still nested in its shells.

When made with shrimp or clams, it’s usually served as an appetizer—and these wonderfully salty morsels of seafood that happen to pair so perfectly with drinks do make for a great way to begin a meal. Based on lobster, it’s a substantial (and pretty expensive) main course.

The key to delicious shellfish arreganata is to apply the bread crumbs to the still-raw seafood. Clams should be on the half-shell, freshly opened. Shrimp should be peeled and deveined. More challengingly, lobster should be split live.

Where:
Rao’s,
in New York
, tel 212-722-6709;
in Las Vegas
, tel 877-346-4642,
in Los Angeles
, tel 323-962-7267,
raosrestaurants.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Rao’s Cookbook
by Frank Pellegrino (1998);
Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen
by Lidia Bastianich (2001);
foodnetwork.com
(search baked clams oreganata).
Tip:
The best oregano is either Italian or Greek and is sold dried and still on the branch.

In 1985, the German artist Joseph Beuys exhibited a new minimalist work called
Capri Batterie.
It was a yellow lightbulb plugged into a big lemon. The caption explained that the sun’s energy, absorbed by the lemon, gave it enough power to light the bulb. The work was billed as an
ommagio
to Capri, which is the site of the lemon grove, or
limoneto
, where the exquisitely yellow citrus grows. Sorrento, which gives its name to the variety of lemon, is nearby.

Gastronomes would have made the connection via the elongated oval lemon’s beguiling liquid-sunshine flavor—cool and sweetly fresh, with that teasing sour sting. Sorrento lemons have a sweeter, cleaner, brighter flavor than other varieties. They would know the juice of this knobby, thick-skinned fruit, recalling its animating presence in salads, risotto, fettuccine, and frosty granita ices; its perfumed leaves adding interest to the cheeses they enfold as well as to the snowy custard that is
panna cotta
—cooked milk. They would know the preciousness of its grated rind, wasted at the diner’s own peril, lest it fail to enliven meatballs and pasta or live out its usefulness as the basis for the liqueur Limoncello.

One sublime Italian salad that shows off this lemon at its best is prepared by peeling off the rind, then cutting the inner flesh into almost invisibly sheer round slices and arranging them on individual salad plates, to be topped with chopped pistachios, a few grains of granulated sugar, and a spritz of olive oil. One lemon makes a portion that is best prepared about fifteen minutes before serving time, as a vibrantly astringent refresher between courses or as a side dish to roast pork, duck, or goose.