Italy in five pasta dishes Part 2, Catania Sicily 2022
Il Gambero Pazzo's Spaghetti al frutti di mare
We’re staying just a few minutes walk from the crowds on the Piazza Duomo and the city’s much photographed Fontana dell’Elefante, but somehow our neighbourhood is blissfully free of tourists, apart from the odd visitor to Castello Ursino- its moat still half full of petrified lava from Etna’s last major eruption in 1669. Maybe it’s the dilapidated state of our area’s apartment blocks and palazzi, the many fine examples of graffiti art which festoon them, or the railway cutting which runs through it, which apparently puts off all but the most curious map or guidebook-toting wanderer, so that we find ourselves in an Instagram free zone.
Just about everything we could possibly wish for is a short stroll away- the bounty of the daily fish, produce markets and juice stands, the coolest, cheapest aperitif spot in the city, a clutch of amazing restaurants which include an always packed barbecue joint where the locals feast on vast platters of mixed grill (horse meat, veal and sausages) while we devour their charcoal grilled squid, giant prawns and swordfish, a couple of pizza restaurants and some stellar fish and seafood places. There’s even a bus station, for our occasional out of town adventures up and down the coast. The only thing missing is a really good café serving granitas and brioche- for that we have to walk twenty minutes to Plaza Bellini, where Comis Ice does the best almond and pistachio granitas we’ve come across in town.
Sabrina, who is gluten-free these days but loves pasta, was understandably apprehensive about coming here, but GF pasta and even pizza options are easy to find and we have notched up more indelible food memories in a few weeks here than anywhere else in Italy. Of the many exceptional pasta dishes, two stand out.
Sicily’s signature pasta dish Casarecce alla Norma, at arguably its most famous location Trattoria de Di Fiore in Catania, was enjoyably earthy and prepared by chef Rosanna, who has been lovingly re-creating her great grandmother’s recipes here for a half century. The origin story of her version of the dish is delightful. Rosanna’s great grandmother referred to it as ‘Pasta Mungibeddu’ (the old Sicilian name for Mt Etna), with the dish’s tomatoes representing the red lava, aubergines the black cinders, ricotta the snow and basil leaves, the mountain’s vegetation.
Leaving the best to last, very occasionally there is a dish so delicious that Sabrina’s eyes are literally shining as she eats and invariably we find ourselves returning to the same restaurant to recreate that moment several times. Thus it was with the Spaghetti al frutti di mare at Il Gambero Pazzo, an unassuming family restaurant that is literally across the street from our rented apartment.
Il Gambero Pazzo’s Spaghetti al frutti di mare: Serves 4
This interpretation is a thing of beauty and most remarkably of all it was every bit as delicious, each time we visited. By the third time, I was on first name terms with the chef!
I order Seafood spaghetti whenever I see it on a menu, so there’s no higher praise I can give than to say Il Gambero Pazzo’s is the best of the best.
2 lbs mixed seafood (mussels, clams, prawns, 8 whole tiger prawns, squid)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
250 gms or half a pound of spaghetti
150 gms or a quarter of a pound of samphire
EV olive oil
Black pepper to taste
Heat a large pot of water for the spaghetti and add salt; once the water is boiled add the spaghetti and cook until it is al dente.
Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil, add the garlic, mussels, clams and white wine; cover and steam until the shells have opened. Add the squid and prawns, toss until cooked, then add the samphire and toss again. When pasta is al dente drain it and add it to the seafood and samphire. Toss to coat the spaghetti with the juices. To finish, pour a decent glug of EV olive oil onto the dish and toss everything one final time, then transfer it to a serving dish along with any remaining juices.
I didn’t discover the delights of pasta until I was an adult. Surprising as my Mother was in Italy for a year withe the occupation forces in 1946. Luckily canned spaghetti was banned at home and I hated the catering cans that my school dished up. So it was a revelation to find real pasta in my twenties in Italy and strangely Japan where they have a love of pasta (and noodles).
Will definitely try this recipe and maybe even start 'right moving' in Catania.