“The Complete Fish and Shellfish”

with Stefano Borella

Thursday 17th June 2021, 10am - pm
at La Cucina Caldesi

Carpaccio di orata con insalata di finocchi e arance

Marinated carpaccio of black bream dressing with fennel and orange salad

Calamari fritti
Deep fried calamari

Stufato di calamari con pomodoro e peperocino

Slow-cooked calamari in tomato and chilli sauce

Pasta con le vongole di Sabia

Sabia’s pasta with clams

Saltimbocca di Spigola
Sea Bass with Parma Ham and Sage Leaves

Crespelle ripiene di granchio e besciamella di spinaci

Pancakes filled with crab in spinach sauce

Fumetto di Pesce
White fish stock

Spinaci saltati con aglio

Sautéed spinach with chilli and garlic

Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi run two Italian restaurants – Caldesi in Marylebone at 118
Marylebone Lane, London W1U 2QF and Caldesi in Campagna in Bray, Old Mill Lane, Bray
SL6 2BG. La Cucina Caldesi Ltd is an Italian cookery school with sites in Marylebone,
Gerrards Cross and Bray.

See further details see www.caldesi.com. To receive recipes, offers and information on
events sign up on our home page.
Carpaccio di orata con insalata di finocchi e arance
Marinated carpaccio of black bream dressing with fennel and orange salad

Serves 4 as a starter

350g black bream or other white fish fillets

For the marinade:

125ml light extra virgin olive oil
25ml lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme
1 tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Good pinch of salt

For the fennel and orange salad:

Two bulbs of fennel
3 oranges
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Discard the outer leaves from the fennel and slice into four quarters. Chop out the woody
inside stem and then slice the fennel into thin slices.
Peel the orange using a sharp knife removing any white pith that remains.
Slice the orange into circles. Cut each circle into two.
Make the dressing by adding the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and adjust to
taste.
Toss the fennel and orange in the dressing and set aside.

Slice the fish as thinly as possible (it helps to chill it in the freezer before you slice it). Lay
them onto a board and cover with cling film. Use a meat tenderiser to bat out the slices until
they are around 2mm thick. Lay the pieces of fish over a plate in a single layer. Mix together
the ingredients for the marinade and pour over the fish.
Serve straight away with the fennel and orange salad and crusty bread.
Calamari fritti
Deep fried calamari

500g Calamari
Flour for dredging
150ml milk
Salt
Sunflower oil frying

Cut squid into rings measuring approximately 2-3 cm. Place the rings in milk and then into
flour, sieve off excess flour.
Fry the rings in a fryer or in a saucepan with hot sunflower oil until golden brown. Then
remove them from the pan, pat dry excess oil, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Stufato di calamari con pomodoro e peperocino

Slow-cooked calamari in tomato and chilli sauce

Calamari has to be cooked either very quickly or very, very slowly. Here, slow cooking
transforms the squid into soft, melting mouthfuls.

Serves 4

500g squid
100ml olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 onions, finely sliced
1 hot fresh red chilli
Salt and pepper
200ml dry white wine
400g Italian tinned plum tomatoes, crushed

First prepare the calamari, taking care to remove the grey membrane and cut the tentacles
into rings of about 1cm wide.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, onions, chilli and salt and pepper. Cook
over a high heat for around 7–10 minutes, stirring to prevent it from burning, until the onion is
golden and soft.

Add the squid to the pan and let it cook so the water is released. After about 10 minutes,
when the calamari has a ‘bouncy’ appearance, add the white wine, bring back to heat to
reduce the wine for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes. Bring to a bubbling heat, stirring
occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes.Then lower the heat and simmer for at least 11/2
hours. Serve on warm plates with hot, crusty bread.
Pasta con le vongole di Sabia
Sabia’s pasta with clams

Sabia is the mother of our School Administrator, Matteo at La Cucina Caldesi. They are from
Abruzzo. Sabia often makes fresh pasta on a chitarra which is a wooden block with fine
strings stretched across it. The pasta is pushed through it with a rolling pin. Substitutes are
dried spaghetti or linguine. It is a good idea to purge the clams in cold salted water overnight
to get rid of any sand. If any clams don’t open in the cooking, discard them.

Serves 4

50ml extra-virgin olive oil

350g spaghetti or linguine
600g fresh clams, cleaned
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Handful of chopped parsley
50ml white wine
3 tablespoons cherry tomatoes, halved
Good pinch of salt

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and put in the pasta, cook until al dente. Pour
the oil into a large frying pan and when it is hot add the clams, garlic and parsley. The shells
will start to open in just a few minutes. When they are all open, add the wine and let it reduce.
Then add the cherry tomatoes and salt. Drain the pasta and toss in the sauce. Serve on hot
plates.
Saltimbocca di Spigola
Sea Bass with Parma Ham and Sage Leaves

This is another of our friend Stefania’s ‘supper in 3 ingredients’ recipes. She likes to have
everything ready around her, including a side dish of potatoes or Green Beans with Lemon,
as it is a quick dish to cook.

Serves 4

8 small skin-on sea bass or sea bream fillets (approx. 180 g/6 oz each)
4 slices prosciutto
8 large sage leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
50 ml (2 fl oz) white wine
30 g (1 oz) butter
Plain (all-purpose) or ‘00’ flour for dusting
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toothpicks for securing the ham and sage

Season both sides of the fish. Cut the prosciutto in half width ways so you have 8 slices. Lay
a slice of prosciutto and a sage leaf on top of the skinless side of the fish and fix them into
place with a toothpick. Repeat this for each fillet. Put some flour into a bowl and dust each
piece of fish in flour; shake off the excess and put them on a plate.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Fry the fish prosciutto side down for 2 minutes and
then turn over when just browned. Fry the skin side for another 2–3 minutes or until the fish is
cooked through. Add the wine and allow to evaporate. Stir in the butter to thicken the sauce.
Remove from the heat and serve the fish straight away drizzled with the sauce.
Crespelle ripiene di granchio e besciamella di spinaci
Pancakes filled with crab in spinach sauce

The tradition in Florence is to fill pancakes with spinach and ricotta. Here is a variation on
that theme, which has been adopted by our restaurant Caldesi Tuscan for many years now.
When we tried to take it off the menu our customers complained so it became a permanent
fixture.

Makes 12 pancakes (serves 6)

For the filling

200g fresh white crab meat
200ml béchamel (you need 800ml for the sauce so use the recipe for 1 litre béchamel)
1 level tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pancakes

160g ‘00’ or plain flour
Pinch of salt
3 medium eggs
25g butter, melted
300ml milk
Butter, for frying

For the sauce

100g spinach, cooked and squeezed dry
800ml béchamel
25g Parmesan, finely grated

To prepare the filling, combine the ingredients, taste for seasoning and set aside.

To make the pancakes, sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add
the eggs and butter and start to whisk them gradually incorporating the flour. Pour in the milk
adding a little at a time, still whisking, or use a food processor. Heat a knob of butter in a
small (about 20cm) non-stick frying pan. When it foams, pour in a pool of batter big enough to
coat the base of the pan, swirling it around until the base is covered. Keep over the heat until
the underside is golden brown. Now toss the pancake or flip it with a slice and cook the other
side until golden. Transfer to a warm plate while you cook 11 more pancakes; interleave
them with squares of baking parchment.

To stuff the pancakes put 1 heaped tablespoon of the crab filling onto each pancake and
spread it out lengthways. Roll them up and lay in an ovenproof dish. (I put mine into an oval
lasagne dish on an angle.) Combine the spinach and béchamel, season to taste and pour
over the pancakes. Sprinkle over the Parmesan and grill for 1 minute.
Béchamel
Béchamel sauce

The Italians and French will forever argue as to who invented béchamel sauce as we know it.
The Florentines claim it is their recipe, take to France by Catherine de Medici and her cooks
when she married Henry II of F

Make 1 litre

1 litre of milk
1 small onion, peeled and cut in half
1 bay leaf
A good pinch each of nutmeg,
Salt and black pepper
100g butter
70g plain flour

Put the milk, onion, bay leaves, nutmeg, salt and black pepper into a medium saucepan over
the heat and bring to a gentle boil.

Meanwhile, make a roux: melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the flour. Cook the
butter and flour for a few minutes over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove the bay
leaves and onion from the milk, then add the roux, whisking furiously. Cook until it thickens,
adjust the seasoning to taste and remove from the heat. Cover the surface of the béchamel
with clingfilm or a circle of dampened baking parchment to stop a skin forming.

Tip: if, when you come to use the béchamel, you find it too thick, add a little milk to thin out.
Reheating also helps.
Fumetto di pesce
White fish stock

Fish heads give lots of flavour: I keep a stock of them and fish bones in the freezer

Makes 1.75 litres

1 fish head and bones from 2 fish

1 celery stalk and 1 celery heart, chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 white onion, cut in half
1 fat garlic clove, lightly crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lemon, cut in half
10 black peppercorns
2 tomatoes
2 bay leaves
Small bunch of fresh parsley
3 litres water

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the fish heads and bones, celery, carrot, onion and
garlic. Fry for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, squeezing in the lemon juice out and
adding the skins. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour, skimming off
the foam regularly. Strain through muslin or a fine sieve, then leave to rest for 1 hour until the
sediment settles. Ladle off the stock, discarding the sediment. Use immediately or leave to
cool.
Spinaci saltati con aglio
Sautéed spinach with chilli and garlic

4kg fresh spinach, wash and remove the large stalks from the spinach
3 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
½ to 1 red chilli, roughly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, when hot add the garlic, chilli, salt and pepper. Fry for a
couple of minutes until they soften but watch they don’t burn. Add the spinach and gentle
heat for two to three minutes stirring occasionally. The spinach should wilt and be fully
coated and ready to eat.