Seafood

Look for lobsters that are alive and kicking—the claws shouldn’t hang limp—and ones that feel heavy for their size. Cutting and cleaning a live lobster may seem difficult, but it is very easy to get the hang of it. (Placing the lobsters in the freezer for half an hour beforehand makes it even easier.) The lobsters will give off a lot of liquid as you clean them; make cleanup easier by spreading a kitchen towel or two under the cutting board to absorb whatever liquid drips off the board. I have stayed true to Italian-American cooking by seasoning this dish with dried oregano, but brought it into the present by adding a dose of fresh oregano as well. You may remember this as a very saucy dish, but I prefer to serve it Italian-style—not swimming in sauce, but condito, tossed with just enough sauce to dress the pasta.

Although this method for cooking capellini in a small amount of liquid is a little tricky—and somehow the opposite of everything I have told you about cooking pasta—the end result is a richly flavored pasta with a velvety texture. Be patient and thorough when you stir the capellini into the broth, making sure to separate the strands as they cook.

Picking the mussels from their shells before you toss the pasta together with the sauce means less work for your guests, but feel free to skip that step. If you do skip it, put the pasta on to boil just before you start the sauce. Both will be done at about the same time.

You can chop the garlic if you like, but I prefer slices. They are mellower in flavor and become part of the texture of the dish. In most pasta dishes the idea is to make just enough sauce to coat the pasta lightly. When clam sauce is served with linguine, however, there should be a little extra broth. Other hard-shelled clams, such as Manila or butter clams, make a good substitute, but I love littleneck clams for this sauce. With this dish, as with many pasta dishes using long, thin pasta shapes, I prefer to cook the pasta very al dente and finish it in the sauce. It’s a balancing act—determining when the pasta is ready and the sauce is the right consistency—but you can always hold the pasta or the sauce for a minute or two, while the other one catches up.

I prefer “jumbo lump” crabmeat picked from blue-claw crabs for this recipe. If you can’t find that, substitute “lump” crabmeat—smaller pieces from the same species of crab—or chunks of king-crab meat. Avoid fine-textured crabmeat, like snow crab or spider crab.

Some people dislike anchovies, but it would be a shame to leave them out of this dish. They add such wonderful flavor and, most likely, people won’t even know they are there. They dissolve during the cooking and add complexity to the other assertive flavors in this dish. I like to crush canned tomatoes with my hands, so I can feel when they are the right size and how tender or firm they are. That helps me to judge the cooking time better. If you prefer, you can mash them with a wire whisk or use a food processor. If you choose to process them, use just a few quick bursts—otherwise you’ll chop them too fine and incorporate a lot of air into the tomatoes, and they will turn pink. You can add basil to this sauce if you like, or stick to the traditional Italian-American accent of fresh parsley. I choose Pecorino Romano cheese for this dish. It is made from sheep’s milk and is much sharper than Parmigiano-Reggiano, which is made from cow’s milk. But if you prefer, you may use Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Usually, pasta recipes contain something substantial such as sliced mushrooms, vegetables, seafood, or meat. This recipe, like the aglio e olio on page 103, has a very simple sauce and will make 6 “Italian” portions. Simplicity goes a long way, especially with intense flavors such as anchovies and capers. If you’d like more substantial servings, increase the spaghetti to 1 1/ 2 pounds and the rest of the ingredients by one-half.

Pick the youngest, crunchiest romaine heads you can find. Keep them crisp, before and after cleaning, in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. Even if you pick young, crispy lettuce, you should use only the pale-green and yellow inner leaves for this salad. But don’t throw out the outer leaves. Shred them and stir them into soups, or into a panful of sautéed fresh peas. The dressing shouldn’t be too dense; it should be just thick enough to coat each leaf lightly. The cheese that is added at the end will thicken it a little. Oil and vinegar stirred in at the end is a little touch of mine. It’s how we serve the salad at Lidia’s Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Another little touch that looks nice on a plate is to set one or two whole romaine leaves on the plate and pile the cut leaves over it. Shaving Parmigiano-Reggiano over the finished salad looks nice and tastes nice, too. It’s a good thing to keep in mind for other salads as well. Traditionally, Caesar salad was made with a barely cooked egg. Here I use a hard-boiled egg, as I do in my restaurants, for safety reasons.

In Tuscany, cannellini beans would be paired with tuna for a similar dish. I don’t see why black-eyed peas or kidney beans couldn’t be used as well. Just make sure the beans are tender—almost to the point of breaking—so that they absorb the tuna flavor and stay put on the toasted bread, if that’s how youchoose to serve them. Don’t be afraid to crush them lightly!

This is one of those dishes you can take in any direction you like. You can use whatever seafood is available—scungilli (sea conch), crabmeat, scallops, or any firm fish fillets. You can use lemon juice in place of part or all of the vinegar and dress the salad up with capers, black or green olives, roasted peppers, or diced tomatoes. However you make it, it’s best prepared about 1/2 hour before you serve it, to give the flavors a chance to develop. You can refrigerate the salad, but not for too long. And be sure to bring it to room temperature and check the seasonings before you serve it.

I love this salad—it’s so fresh and clean-tasting. Sometimes I make a meal of it. Because I really want you to make this salad, I’m calling for store-bought fillets. But if you have a whole striped bass that you’ve filleted, this salad is a great way to use odds and ends from the fish. Poach the fish head and the belly parts you’ve trimmed from the fillets in the court bouillon. Remove the meat from the cheeks and along the top of the head, and trim the bellies of bones and skin. I like the crushed red pepper to be conspicuous in this salad, so don’t be afraid to use it. Start with about 1/2 teaspoon and go from there. And don’t throw the cooking liquid out: save it to make the salad nice and juicy. You could use crabmeat or even chicken instead, I guess, but white fish, like the bass, is perfect prepared this way.

We made this dish at Ristorante Buonavia in the early 1970s with white bread. Now I find I like the flavor and texture of wheat bread, and I like it even more if the bread is lightly toasted before you put the sandwiches together.Vegetable stock is nice here—it cuts the acidity of the white wine without adding a definitive flavor. If you don’t have vegetable stock, use water or, if you want to add a richer flavor, chicken stock.

The flavorings in this dish are zesty—a combination of the traditional and a few touches of my own. The anchovies add a lot of flavor, but if you don’t like them, don’t use them. Lemon zest lightens the flavor of this hearty dish a little. (You might find that adding just a little bit of zest to other robust dishes will do the same for them.) It may seem strange to chop the crushed red pepper—especially as they fly around the chopping board a bit while you’re trying to do so—but it prevents you from biting down on a big flake of pepper in the stuffing. If you have vegetable stock or chicken stock, you may use it in place of the water called for in the recipe. It will surely add flavor.

You can prepare the clams right in their baking dish up to several hours in advance and bake them just before you serve them.

In this dish, high heat and speed are essential. Make sure the pan is good and hot when you add the shrimp and that it is wide enough to hold all the shrimp pieces in a single layer (so the pan doesn’t cool down as the shrimp go in). And be sure to have all your ingredients right by the stove—once the shrimp go into the pan, it’s “full speed ahead.”

I always add diced fresh tomato to this dish, because I think it contributes a little freshness. Now is the time to try to find the Greek or Sicilian oregano dried right on the branch—it makes a difference. Many Greek and Italian groceries will have it. You can buy powdered hot red pepper, but I like to chop up the flakes myself.

This dish can wear many hats. As is, it makes a light appetizer. Served with a zoccolo (fried bread “clog”—see the recipe that follows), it becomes a more substantial main course. Or you can prepare the mussels as described and toss them with freshly cooked linguine. This recipe will make enough sauce for a pound of linguine—six generous servings.