Daughter-of-the-wind is her name in Arabic—Bent el-Rhia—the gorgeous island of Pantelleria sits seventy kilometers from Tunisia in the Egadian Archipelago. She is full of sea caves and strange, vaporous grottoes. She wears Neolithic ruins among her palms and oleander. And in the contrada, neighborhood, called Favarotta, we ate swordfish—thin steaks of it cut from the center of the just-caught fish, first rubbed with olive oil and then quickly roasted over a red-sparking grapevine fire. The fisherman/cook laid them over a cool tomato jam and we feasted. Too, we ate yellow-crumbed semolina bread roasted over the then quieter fire, and when its heat was nearly spent, we skewered figs—green ones and the first of the summer—onto grapevine twigs and held them near the fire until their juices were warmed and we ate them with the last sips of Pantelleria’s luscious moscato.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

　　1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus additional as needed

　　1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper

　　Juice of 1 lemon

　　3 pounds swordfish, cut into 1/3- to 1/2-inch steaks

　　2 fat cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced

　　3 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced

　　1 1/2 cups moscato di Pantelleria

　　1 pound green tomatoes, finely diced

　　1 pound very ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and finely diced

　　1/2 cup dark raisins, plumped in warm water

　　1/2 cup capers, preserved under salt—capperi di Pantelleria—rinsed

　　

Step 1

Construct a marinade with 1/2 cup of the olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, pepper, lemon juice, and massage it into the fish on both sides. Allow the fish to rest for 1 hour while you prepare a wood fire and an onion/tomato marmalade.

　　

Step 2

Over a medium flame, heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan and soften the garlic, taking care not to let it color. Add the onions. Soften them for 15 minutes or so, adding 1 tablespoon of the moscato each time the pan seems dry—about 1/2 cup total. Add the tomatoes, salting them generously, and the remaining cup of moscato. Slowly cook the mixture, stirring it every few minutes until it reduces and thickens almost to a jam—about 1/2 hour. Drain the plumped raisins and rinse the capers, adding both to the finished marmalade. Stir very well and set the marmalade aside.

　　

Step 3

When the embers of the fire are red/white-hot, char the swordfish steaks 45 seconds to 1 minute—30 seconds will be sufficient if your fire is hot enough—on each side, removing them to a plate onto which some of the marmalade has been spread. When all the steaks are grilled, spoon a bit more marmalade over them. The warm, charred fish forms a lush fusion with the jam.

　　A Taste of Southern Italy