Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta” by Rita.
Today I want to present a typical main course from my city Messina.
You should know that in our Strait of Messina, from May to September, swordfish are caught using characteristic boats with a catwalk and antenna.
This fish is the King of Messina’s cuisine, and there isn’t a family that hasn’t had a member on these boats in the past, present, or future.
My husband has been practicing this fishing for many generations.
The rolls or involtini can be simply grilled or “a Ghiotta”, the classic sauce with capers and olives. Besides the traditional cooking, you will also find the cooking method with Bimby.

Thought for you:

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 40 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Slow Cooking, Stove, Cooking with Kitchen Robot
Cuisine: Italian Regional
Region: Sicily
Seasonality: All Seasons

Ingredients

Let’s go shopping

10 oz swordfish (thin slices of belly)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp pine nuts
2 tsp salted capers (already desalted)
4 green olives in brine (pitted)
1.75 oz caciocavallo (ragusano dop)
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1 bunch chopped parsley
1 sprig wild fennel (chopped)
1 oz pecorino romano
2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1.4 oz Tropea red onion
2 tbsps salted capers (desalinated)
2 tbsps green olives in brine (pitted)
1 sprig wild fennel (chopped)
1 stalk celery
1 liter tomato sauce

Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta”

Tools

What we need

Bowl
Kitchen Robot
Skewers
Pan – non-stick (large)

Preparation: Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta” by Rita

Let’s prepare the skewers with the rolls

The first thing you need to do is make sure the fish is super fresh.
Have your trusted fishmonger serve you thin slices of belly, which is the part of the belly.
You will immediately recognize these slices because they have an almost triangular shape that facilitates wrapping on themselves.
Soak the capers and olives for 10 minutes and rinse them well to remove the excess salt, and wash the wild fennel.
Pour 2 tablespoons of EVO oil, 2 tablespoons of water, the pitted olives, capers, and a sprig of fennel into the robot and chop everything.
Set aside.
Season the filling: in a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs seasoned with: salt and pepper, chopped parsley, pine nuts, finely cut Ragusano DOP cheese.
Pour the mixture we chopped in the robot inside and mix. If it still seems dry, add a few more drops of water.
Spread out all the slices on a work surface.
On each, place a pile of stuffing, and starting from the widest part, fold the tips inward and roll.
If you want to know how I preserve fennel in all seasons click here to see
If you want to see how I preserve capers all year round click here
In a rather large pan, put the chopped onion, celery, and fennel, and the olives, add the EVO oil, and let it fry for 3 minutes.
After the time, pour in the sauce, mix and let it cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.
After 5 minutes, place the skewers in the sauce and let them cook for 2 minutes on each side.
After the time, you can serve them hot, and with the sauce, you can dress the pasta.
Here are the Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta” by Rita
Make the rolls as indicated above, and the rest you will do with the Bimby.
Put the onion, celery, and fennel pieces in the bowl and chop for 10 sec speed 5, then gather with the spatula, and add the capers, pitted olives, and oil. Cook for 3 min. at 100°C reverse speed 1
At this point, add the tomato sauce to the bowl, mix with the spatula.
Place the swordfish skewers in the varoma and cover.
Cook at varoma for 20 min. reverse speed 1.
At the end of cooking, place the skewers on a serving plate and cover with the sauce. Here are the Swordfish Rolls “a ghiotta” by Rita