I leave Stella Casabono after having served breakfast for our guests who wanted a good first course, while I go to the market in Piazza Maggiore, the air is crisp and also very humid due to these rainy days that accompany us by now for almost 50 days. Walking among the fruit and vegetable stalls, I find beautiful and juicy peppers without imperfections and I feel like buying them, then I see the fish counter. There is a wide range of fresh seafood. The squids are the protagonists, with their long and delicate tentacles. I take some, making sure they are fresh and smell like the sea, I also take some prawns. I look carefully choosing the medium-sized ones, with their bright pink hue and crunchy shells.
With fresh ingredients in hand, we're ready to head back to the kitchen at Stella CasaBono to whip up my dish.
I clean the fish, put the heads and shells aside to prepare a bisque, cut the peppers into thin strips, I also prepare some pachino tomatoes, oven-cooked olives cut into slices, parsley stalks, chilli pepper and capers and the ever-present red garlic from Sulmona .
I turn on the stove and let our pan heat up. I add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, garlic and sauté for a few minutes, and the time for the peppers and cherry tomatoes cut into concasse I blend with white wine, I could have also used a drop of vinegar, I add the broth and I'm almost cooked in the end I add the squid first and last the prawns, releasing an inviting scent that fills the kitchen.
With a pinch of salt and pepper, I cook everything until the flavors are well blended but still distinct. The end result will be a tasty and colorful dish, with a combination of flavors that blend harmoniously.
Now, all that remains is to throw the pasta into the boiling water, today I had wholemeal fusilli from Molisana, I drain them still very al dente, almost raw, add them to the sauce and finish cooking by adding broth with the inevitable movement of the spade. The cooking is the right one, I just have to enjoy my plate of peppers, squid and prawns, perhaps accompanied by a good glass of wine from our Bono Vinoecaffe wine shop.
Buon appettito
Robert Bono
