For his latest culinary adventure, Gino D’Acampo travels to Sicily and Sardinia uncovering signature dishes and secret recipes that encapsulate the islands.

  • 1hr 10mins
  • 4
  • Easy

Ingredients

  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, peeled and chopped
  • 6 tbs chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 1 litre hot vegetable stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 250g large fish bones and tails
  • 300g couscous
  • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1kg mixed white fish fillets (eg halibut, haddock, cod, pollack, sea bass), cut into 5cm cubes
  • 10g flaked almonds
  • Salt and white pepper

Method

There are literally dozens of recipes for this classic Sicilian couscous dish, most of which have the addition of seafood and chilli – but here I’ve let the sweet white fish do the talking. The town of Trapani is famous for couscous, and there is an annual couscous festival there in September. Ask your fishmonger for end cuts and bones to flavour the sauc
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onions and parsley and fry for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Tip in the tomatoes, add the sugar and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Pour over the hot stock.
Remove the pan from the heat and blitz with a hand-held blender. Add the bay leaves and drop in the fish bones and tails. Return to the heat and gently simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the fish bones and tails and discard. Put the couscous in a medium saucepan. Measure 450ml of the prepared sauce and pour over the couscous. Stir in 100ml of boiling water and the cinnamon. Cover with a lid and place over a very low heat for five minutes.
Meanwhile, submerge the fish in the remaining prepared sauce. Cover and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes.
Remove the couscous from the heat and leave to stand, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork.
Lift the fish out of the pan and arrange on the couscous. Pour over some of the sauce and scatter over the remaining parsley and almonds. Put the remaining sauce in a jug and hand it round separately.

Gino’s Islands in the Sun by
Gino D’Acampo is published by Hodder & Stoughton, £20.

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