Tiny gnocchi from Emilia-Romagna made with breadcrumbs and grated cheese mixed with braised beans and served in a tomato sauce.
Monkfish (US: angler fish). A fish with a sweet flavour and succulent firm flesh but with the ugliest appearance imaginable. It is found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, in coastal waters of north western Europe. It can be recognised by its large head and fan-shaped fins. The fins and the operculum are spiny. It can be eaten fried or in soup. The larger fish often have better flavour. It has a hideous head, which is why it is usually displayed without it, and a muddy colour. It is known as the anglerfish as it bears on its head a 'rod' and 'lure' which attract its prey. The meat of the tail is sweet and succulent - almost like lobster meat, entirely compensating for is appearance. The flavour may well be assisted by its own diet which is high in shellfish. The best monkfish are Lophius piscatorius and the similar Lophius budegassa, the favourite of the Spanish. American monkfish or goosefish (Lophius americanus) is considered inferior, while New Zealand monkfish (Kathetostoma giganteum) is related to the stargazer and is only fit for soup.
A fresh, unsalted cow’s milk cheese, left to sour at room temperature, covered with a moist cloth to stop the formation of a crust, or placed in a ceramic bowl and left to ferment in its own whey. This cheese, if fermented correctly, in contact with heat melts into a cream.
A name in Palermo for dogfish, also known as the rough hound (US: small cat). Slightly better eating than the nurse-hound.
"Fish of eggs." A dish from Sicily of a little savoury, egg-battered fritters made with breadcrumbs and pecorino cheese and fried in batches, like small fish.
