Deep Freeze in Venice

You may have read about the extremely cold weather hitting Europe. It even snowed in Rome. Venice is no exception. Although we have had a fall and winter relatively free of high water and bad weather, it is now quite cold. If you came here during the summer when the weather is akin to Houston or Miami, you may not believe it. But here are a few pictures to prove it. I took all these the day before yesterday, except for the ones of the canal, which I took this morning.

Cooking Triglia (Red Mullet)

All Cleaned and ready to go. (I apologize for quality of the pictures, I took them with my iphone in dim light)

One of our favorite fishes normally consumed here is Triglia (pronounced "Trillia," also known as Red Mullet). Unlike the Bronzino (Sea Bass or Striped Bass) or the Orata (Bream or Gilthead), the Triglia has a firm and tasty flesh, similar to Cod. It would stand up in a stew, for example, when Bronzino or Orata would disintegrate.  


It's quite easy to cook a whole fish.


Make sure the fish man cleans and scales them. Wash them thoroughly before cooking.

Thyme, garlic, lemon zest, and salt and pepper.
I mix the salt and pepper together because my
hands will get covered in fish gunk. I don't want
to be going back and forth between the shakers.

I stuff them with a bit of lemon zest, sliced garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper, and a little extra virgin olive oil. You could put orange zest, onions, peppers, or whatever, and it all could go outside the fish in the foil, rather than inside, because you make a little semi-airtight packet for each fish. You could even put white wine in there.


Once they are stuffed, I wrap them in foil, or in oven paper. Foil works just as well, it won't burn, and Giada says that she prefers it. That's good enough for me. 


I wrap them up, pinch the edges to seal it, and put them in an oven at about 350F. The great part is, they will steam in their own juices (although you can add water or wine) and it's nearly impossible to over-cook them. These are small fish, so I bake them for about 20 minutes. That may be tool long in some people's book, but I like them to fall apart.

All stuffed and ready to go.

With it we served steamed  broccoli, but that's what we saw good at the market. You could serve about any vegetable. It would also be good with rice, but we didn't serve a starch.


Let it sit for a few minutes after it comes out of the oven, and be careful when you open the package, that steam is hot!

The fish all wrapped in their foil packets, ready for the oven.

We plated it up with the broccoli with grated parm, and that was dinner. I drank a dry white wine, and Karen (hold your hand over your mouth, or get to a sink) drank tea with milk.

Plated, with some parm grated over the broccoli.

The after picture

These are peppers I grew in the garden
(They have nothing to do with this recipe)