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Yomiuri Shimbun
10-08-2025
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Try Making Traditional Sicilian Dish Sarde a Beccafico to Fully Enjoy Savory Sardine Flavor
Italian cuisine chef Yoshinaga Jinbo rolls fatty seasonal sardines with breadcrumbs and raisins, and bakes them in the oven together with oranges. These sardines are part of sarde a beccafico, a delicious stuffed sardine dish enjoyed in Sicily, Italy. Beccafico literally translates as 'fig-pecker' and refers to a small songbird. The dish is a baked delicacy in which a rolled sardine with its tail standing straight resembles the shape of a small bird. Sicilian nobles are said to have baked the stuffed birds they had hunted. The common people, unable to afford the birds, are believed to have substituted the dish with sardines instead, which became popular. 'In Sicily, they make breadcrumbs from hardened bread or use familiar fruits. The dish reflects their culinary culture,' Jinbo said. Sardines are rich and fatty. You can fully enjoy the flavor as the fat, which oozes out while cooking in the oven, is absorbed into the breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs need to be thoroughly toasted and dried beforehand. 'After toasting the breadcrumbs, lightly press them with your palm to check the temperature,' he said. They should be warm but dry enough not to stick to your palm. Mix raisins and other ingredients, then spread plenty of the mixture on the sardines and roll. Sprinkle the spilled mixture on top when baking. Bake the sardines until their tails become crispy and golden brown. The strong aroma of baked sardines should fill the air as soon as you open the oven. Squeeze some lemon juice over the dish and enjoy while hot. The aroma of oranges, the savoriness of the sardines, the sweetness of the raisins and the saltiness of the anchovy create a complex and profound flavor. 'It's best enjoyed while hot and would pair great with chilled white wine,' Jinbo said. Sarde a beccafico Ingredients (serves 2): 6 sardines ½ orange 50 grams breadcrumbs ½ clove garlic 15 grams pine nuts 15 grams raisins 1 anchovy fillet A handful of Italian parsley 2 bay leaves ¼ lemonDirections: 1. Make a cut in the belly of each sardine, remove the innards and cut off the head. Cut along the backbone to butterfly the fish. Carefully remove the backbone using a pair of scissors, being careful not to break the flesh. Slice the orange without peeling. 2. Mix the breadcrumbs, minced garlic, pine nuts and a little salt in a frying pan, and toast until the breadcrumbs become dry. Press the breadcrumbs with your palm to check the dryness. Move the mixture to a bowl and leave to cool. 3. Add coarsely chopped raisins, minced anchovy and Italian parsley to the mixture, and mix. 4. Lightly sprinkle salt over the sardine fillets and spread the mixture evenly over them. Roll each fillet toward the tail. Seal with a toothpick. Make six pieces. 5. Place ½ tablespoon of olive oil in a heat-resistant dish, place orange slices on the bottom, while leaving some aside. Put the rolled sardines on top. Sprinkle the remaining mixture over the sardines. Cut the remaining orange slices into small pieces and add. Add bay leaves, pour over 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bake in an oven preheated at 180 C for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over the dish to finish. The Yomiuri ShimbunCarefully remove the backbone using a pair of Yomiuri ShimbunLightly press breadcrumbs with your palm to check the temperature and Yomiuri ShimbunRoll the sardine fillets toward the Yomiuri ShimbunPlace rolled sardines on top of orange slices.
Yomiuri Shimbun
13-07-2025
- General
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Lemon-Marinated Octopus and Celery; The Perfect Dish During Rainy Season
Cultivated widely along the Mediterranean coast, lemons are a familiar fruit on Italian tables. Lemon-marinated octopus and celery, introduced by Italian cuisine chef Yoshinaga Jinbo, is a refreshing cold dish with a tart flavor. To prepare the dish, seafood and vegetables are immersed in a marinade and oil. The key to a tasty marinade is capturing the essence of the ingredients and blending them together harmoniously. Lemon, octopus and celery are a popular combination in Italy, according to Jinbo. Although it is a lemon-based marinade, Jinbo suggests to 'make aglio, olio e pepperoncino, which is considered the foundation of Italian cuisine, first.' I thought this Italian name was related to pasta, but aglio, olio and pepperoncino actually mean garlic, olive oil and chili pepper, respectively. So, it's 'not pasta, but the name of a sauce,' Jinbo said. The sauce forms a key part of the finished marinade. 'Celery is a fragrant vegetable. The acidity of the lemon alone would not stand out against the strong scent of the celery. So, I add this seasoned oil to harmonize the overall flavor.' The celery is lightly boiled to reduce its sharp flavor and bring out its sweetness. It is then quickly rinsed in ice water to preserve its vivid green color. 'Don't soak it too long or the celery will become bland,' he said. The celery stalks and octopus are cut diagonally to increase the surface area exposed to the marinade. Jinbo used a grater to zest a lemon and sliced the fruit before mixing the zest with the marinade until creamy. He then added the fruit and other ingredients into the marinade. The dish looks cool and refreshing. The subtle garlic flavor, lemon aroma and mild acidity are harmonized in the final dish. The chewy octopus and celery give the dish a rich flavor. Lemon-marinated octopus and celery Ingredients (serves 2): 150 grams boiled octopus 150 grams celery 1 clove garlic 1/2 red chili pepper 50 grams pitted olives 1/2 lemon Italian parsley (to taste) 1 tbsp white wine vinegarDirections: 1. To make aglio, olio e pepperoncino, thinly slice garlic and place in a small saucepan with red chili pepper and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook over low heat until the garlic begins to brown, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool. 2. Separate the celery into stems and leaves. Remove any strings from the stems as needed and slice diagonally into 7-millimeter-wide pieces. Tear the leaves into rough pieces. Bring a large pot of water with a pinch of salt to a boil, add the celery stems and boil for about 30 seconds, then add the leaves and boil briefly. Rinse them in ice water and drain well. 3. Slice the boiled octopus diagonally into 7-milimeter-wide pieces. Cut olives in half. 4. Zest a lemon. Cut the lemon flesh into 2- to 3-millimeter-thick wedges. 5. In a bowl, mix the zest, aglio, olio e pepperoncino, white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice water and whisk well to chill the mixture. 6. Add the boiled octopus, lemon flesh, celery stems, olives and celery leaves to the marinade in that order, tossing gently each time. Chill in a refrigerator for about one hour. 7. Serve on a plate, sprinkle with chopped Italian parsley and drizzle with olive oil to taste. The Yomiuri ShimbunStrings are removed from celery Yomiuri ShimbunA grater is used to zest a Yomiuri ShimbunThe marinade is whisked well in a cold bowl that is placed in a larger bowl filled with ice water.
Yomiuri Shimbun
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Italianesque Fresh Spring Rolls Add Bright Colors to Dinner; Tomatoes, Cheese Give New Take on Classic Dish
The Yomiuri Shimbun Fresh, Italian-style spring rolls Italian cuisine chef Yoshinaga Jinbo wraps tomatoes and cheese in rice paper and serves them with two dipping sauces for fresh, Italian-style spring rolls. They make a refreshing snack for casual nibbling. Thinking about fresh spring rolls likely brings up images of Asian food for most people. However, for this recipe, Jinbo said, 'I used tomato, avocado, arugula, basil and other ingredients to make something more like salad rolls.' Dishes he serves at his restaurant in Tokyo are all colorful, beautiful and edible works of art. They are a feast for the eyes and tastebuds alike. 'I've liked drawing ever since I was a child,' Jinbo said. 'When I think of new recipes, I work up plans while writing down the elements of ingredient flavors, one by one, and the color combinations they make.' For the fresh spring rolls, he prepared paper-thin omelets and rolled each of them together with a piece of rice paper so the yellow color of the egg is visible through it. The red, yellow, green and white ingredient colors make a great match. They look beautiful when cut with a knife. The fresh spring rolls also make for a feast with a variety of flavors, such as the salty taste of uncured ham, the succulent sensation of tomato, the mild taste of avocado and the distinct aroma of arugula. As for the textures, chunky sticks of mozzarella cheese are nice and chewy, while the tomato and avocado, cut into wedges, give a more substantial feel. They are accompanied by two types of dipping sauce. A small amount of pepper sauce gives depth to the balsamic sauce. Add pine nuts to the basil sauce to enhance its flavor. Basil leaves can lose their fresh green color when their temperature rises due to the mixing process in a blender. To avoid this, cool the blender's jar in a refrigerator beforehand. The balsamic sauce can be addictive, with its richly sour taste and hint of spiciness. The basil sauce is aromatic. With perfectly balanced tastes, textures and nutrition, these fresh spring rolls will be a fantastic addition to your dinner table in early summer. Italian-style spring rolls Ingredients (serves 3 to 4):
