By Faith Bahadurian Special Writer
This is sort of a fish story. When I write about a food event, the chefs often send me more recipes than I have room for, so I always have a little stockpile of recipes that “got away” by not being used. The recipes below, from Enzo Febbraro, chef/co-owner of D’Acqua Restaurant in Washington, D.C., were sent to me in November when I wrote about the Festa dei Sette Pesci, or “Feast of the Seven Fishes,” at Trenton’s Baldassari Regency, which took place in early December.
I got more recipes than I could use, and ever since then, this trio of fish appetizers has been on my mind, since Chef Febbraro is a master of seafood preparation, as evidenced by the success of D’Acqua (www.dacquadc.com), which focuses on seafood. It is a joint effort of Mr. Febbraro, a native of Naples, and Francesco Ricchi, a native of Florence, who also comes up to the Feast, thanks to Eddie Baldassari’s son, Paul, who lives in the D.C. area.
Chef Febbraro has been coming up to the Regency for many years to consult on the menus and to chef at private dinners. (If you want to plan one, contact the Regency at 609-392-1280.) He was one of the original chef participants in the feast, and says that coming to the Regency reminds him of his heritage and the true Italian experience that he strives to provide in his restaurant daily. The years I have attended the Feast, he has been largely responsible for the passed hors d’oeuvres, and I particularly remember a delicious tempura shrimp with balsamic reduction from a couple years back that is now on the menu at d’Acqua.
Chef Febbraro learned to cook at the side of his mother and grandmother. He finished culinary school at 16, then cooked around Europe before coming to the United States in 1993. He worked his way East, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, eventually alighting in Washington, where he honed his skills at Café Milano and Filomena before joining with “Cesco” Ricchi in opening d’Acqua.
The recipes below are taken from the restaurant’s menu, so the next time you go to Washington, make a beeline for this little bit of Italy’s seaside in our nation’s capital, just as Chef Febbraro visits our little bit of Italy at the Baldassari Regency up here.
All recipes adapted from Enzo Febbraro. Each one makes one full-size appetizer portion, or several smaller mini-portions, in case you are feeling ambitious and want to make more than one for a special dinner party.
PROSCIUTTO-WRAPPED SCALLOPS
WITH GARLIC SAUCE AND SABAS
Note: In this recipe garlic cloves are boiled three times; each successive milk “bath” makes the garlic milder in flavor
3 fresh diver scallops, U-10 size (i.e., 10 to a pound)
3 thin slices of Parma prosciutto
6 garlic cloves
1½ cups milk, divided use
1 tablespoon Saba sauce (aged, reduced, balsamic vinegar available in gourmet markets)
1 teaspoon finely chopped tomato
1 teaspoon finely chopped chives
Baby salad greens
Make garlic sauce by bringing garlic cloves to a boil with 1/3 of the milk in a small saucepan. As soon as it boils, strain milk (discard milk, save garlic), and repeat the process with the next 1/3 of the milk and the reserved garlic. Repeat once more, and when that mixture comes to boil, strain out the garlic (discard all milk), and purée the garlic cloves; you should have about a tablespoon of purée.
Season scallops with salt and pepper. Wrap prosciutto around circumference of scallops securing with a toothpick through the middle. Season scallops with salt and pepper then pan sear in olive oil in a non-stick pan for two minutes on each side. Place 1 tablespoon of garlic purée in the center of the plate, place scallops around the purée and pour Saba sauce on top and around scallops. Garnish with tomato, chives, and baby salad greens.
ASSAGI DI CARPACCIO
(Carpaccio “Sampler”)
Note: Quality is key here, buy the best you can find.
One ounce each of:
scallops
halibut
salmon
tuna
Slice scallops and fish paper thin and arrange on plate in a pretty pattern.
Drizzle fish with:
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon lemon juice
Sprinkle on:
¼ teaspoon each fresh minced chives and scallions
Salt and pepper to taste
HOUSE-CURED SMOKED SALMON
WITH PEAR AND MUSTARD SAUCE
Note: You’ll need a stovetop home smoker for this.
4 ounces salmon filet with skin on
1 ounce salt (2 tablespoons Kosher, 1½ if table salt)
2 ounces sugar (4 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill
To cure salmon mix salt, sugar and half the dill. Place a small amount of mixture in the bottom of a pan, place salmon flesh side down on that and cover salmon with remainder of curing mix. Refrigerate for one day then turn salmon over and refrigerate for one more day.
Place salmon in a pan with a perforated insert, place foil in the bottom of the pan with heated wood chips, cover and smoke for 15 minutes (follow directions on stovetop smoker).
For pear and mustard sauce:
Peel and seed 1 Anjou pear and cook in water until soft. Purée in blender and strain excess water through cheese cloth. Mix purée with 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard, 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
Slice the salmon filet into four to five 1/3-inch thick slices. Place them on a dish in a fan shape, place a teaspoon of pear and mustard sauce on each slice and garnish with a spring of fresh dill.
