Seafood on the grill

Grigliata di pesce

By: Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi
From: Venice
Serves: 4-6
Photographer: Helen Cathcart

As the seafood is so fresh in Venice little needs to be done to it. Crisp baby squid, sardines, cuttlefish and tuna are grilled very briefly and served up anointed with green olive oil before being served to the awaiting customers. This is the way our head chef Gregorio Piazza grills fish. He uses a griddle pan to get the flavour and black lines on the seafood and then finishes cooking it in the oven. Marinating is great for infusing flavour into fish. As the seafood will cook quickly, have everything ready to go before you start. The thinnest seafood will take the least amount of time. Calamari and fish will become opaque and firm to the touch when done. Thicker fish such as tuna and stone bass will take a few minutes longer but will also be firm to the touch when cooked through.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
1kg	seafood, such as fillets of mackerel, sole, stone bass, prawns in their shells, squid
1/2	lemon, finely zested and juiced
1/2	orange, finely zested and juiced
	parsley stalks, crushed in a pestle and mortar
few sprigs	thyme
	fine salt
3 tablespoons	extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
small handful	parsley leaves, roughly chopped, to serve

Method

If using squid open them up and make criss-crosses lightly in one side of the flesh, cut into pieces around 5 cm wide (baby ones can be left whole, if preferred). Mix together the lemon and orange zests and juices, parsley stalks, thyme, salt and olive oil. Lay all the seafood in a shallow dish and pour over the marinade. Cover and leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Heat a barbecue, hotplate or a large griddle pan over a high heat and when it’s really hot lay the seafood on to it starting with the thickest pieces first and putting on the quickest cooking seafood last; fish should be laid skin-side down. When each piece is done on one side turn over and cook the other side. The squid will only take 1 minute or so, the prawns (unless they are large and have shells on) will also be quick, but ensure you cook them until completely pink. Leave the fish until just over half of it has become opaque then turn and cook briefly on the other side, for example white fish fillets will take around 5 minutes in total and a salmon steak will take 8–10 minutes. For rare tuna cook for just 1–2 minutes on each side. Set the fish aside as it is done on a warmed serving dish. Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with the parsley.