When the Children are the Cooks....

...they know the food, they recognize the quality of the ingredients, they keep healthy and in shape, they are not scared of the bones in the fish.

These are the hands of Caleb and Alexa, starting the layers of the Tiramisù.

This is Caleb, 12 years old, folding the egg whites, after having pasteurized them, into the cream of Mascarpone.

This is Alexa, 9 years old, refining her Tiramisù. 

This is just the end, as their menu was very difficult.

They killed a lobster to make the sauce for their spaghetti. It is important to hit the alive lobster between the eyes for two reasons: the animal pains less than being boiled and you save its tasteful jus.

They made Spaghetti with clams, learning how to let them to clear off the sand.

They made the "Zuppa di Pesce", with little octopus, robin fish, priest fish, monk fish, scampis, shrimps and other species. A difficult dish to cook and to.. eat. But these kids had no problem with either one. 

THANK YOU JUN & SUMIKO, FOR THE PRETTY COLLAGES OF PHOTOS! THANK YOU CALEB & ALEXA: YOU MADE A DELICIOUS MEAL FOR ME!!!! 

ZUPPA DI  PESCE

Sumptuous dish, to be served to large friends company.

Special varieties of fish are needed, like Scorpion fish, Priest fish, Monk fish, Hen fish, Red mullet, but also squid, cuttle fish and crustaceons, like langustines and shrimps, and sea shells.

Ingredients for 4 pers:

Extra vergin olive oil  70 gr

2 garlic cloves

1 small onion

1 hot chili pepper

chopped parley

extra garlic to scrub on the bread

can tomatoes 500 gr

mix fish 1 kg

4 langustines

4 shrimps

4 small squids

20 mussels

Tuscan bread 500 gr

hot water

Scale, clean, rinse the fish. Clean the mussel and “open” them in a pan with a few olive oil, garlic and parsley: they will be ready in five minutes. Keep apert the shells and filter their water through a cotton cloth.

Chop onion, garlic and brown in a large pan with olive oil. Add the passed tomatoes and salt. Cook five minutes. Add the fish, the squids, the crustaceans, some chopped parsley. Cook adding hot water. Taste and add salt if needed. The sauce must be rather watery. Add the shells and the mussel water to taste.

Slice the bread and toast it. You can scrub a garlic clove upon the bread surface, if you like.

Serve in this way:

Put some slices of bread in 4 single bowls; place the crustaceans, the squids and the shells upon the dishes; pour out a good ladle of the cooking watery sauce. Sprinkle some parsley.

Put the bone-fish in four oval trays; pour out the sauce in 4 small bowls; place the left bread slices in small baskets.

Each guest will have a single bowl with crustaceans, squids and shells, a single tray with the bone fish, a bowl with extra sauce and a basket with extra bread.

Note: if you find big fish, slice them. Leave them whole if small.