Cùscusu con Pesce
Cùscusu con Pesce
Couscous with Fish Stew
Western Sicily is known for its pasta culture, a fact that makes total sense when you consider that some of the first dried pasta in Europe was made there in the Middle Ages. At that time, Arab conquerors introduced their cooking and food preservation techniques to the island, including couscous (cùscusu in Trapani’s dialect). Developed by nomadic Berber tribes in Africa in the Middle Ages, this shelf-stable pasta was popularized in the ninth century in Sicily and remains a major culinary staple and point of regional pride. There’s even an annual festival in San Vito Lo Capo, a peninsula near Palermo and Trapani, that celebrates couscous and its cosmopolitan history. There, and elsewhere in western Sicily, you’ll find couscous served with a flavorful fish stew and its broth on the side. If you don’t feel like making your own couscous, simply prepare 1½ cups of instant couscous according to the cooking instructions to serve with the fish and broth.
Ingredients (11)
Ingredients (11)
Instructions
Fill the lower chamber of a steamer pot with water and place a steaming basket with small perforations on top. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer.
Combine the cùscusu, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, quartered onion, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, and a heavy pinch of salt in a large bowl.
Transfer to the steamer and cook, covered, until the cùscusu is tender.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining ¼ cup of the olive oil in a large pot over low heat.
When the oil begins to shimmer, add the carrots, celery, diced onion, and garlic, and season with salt. Cook until the onion is translucent and all the ingredients are very soft.
Add the tomato paste and remaining parsley and cook until the paste is brick colored.
Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid begins to concentrate.
Add the fish and simmer over low heat until the flesh is opaque and cooked through.
Transfer the cùscusu to a platter. Top with the fish and drizzle over some broth, serving any remaining broth on the side.
Garnish with parsley.
Notes
Notes
Steaming Suggestion
As they do in North Africa, Sicilians steam couscous in a couscoussier, a vessel in which water or broth is heated in a lower chamber, generating steam that cooks the couscous in the chamber above. If you don’t have one, use a perforated steamer or fine stainless-steel colander that fits snugly over a pot instead. If you have bread dough on hand, do as the Sicilians do and use some of it to seal the seam between the vessels to prevent steam from escaping.
This recipe is part of the Food of the Italian Islands digital cookbook, and is only available once you've purchased the cookbook.
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