Food Sail Love - First Season

- We're here in the small fishing town

of Chioggia,

at the southern end of the Venetian Lagoon.

My name's Narelle, and together with my husband Patrick,

the skipper, we've been running and maintaining

this vintage yacht for over 25 years.

The yacht will be our home as we, and Shadow, our dog,

take you away on this exciting odyssey of food and culture.

While Barinia's annual makeover is being finished,

we have enough time to acquaint you

with this lovely town of Chioggia,

and with some of the colorful characters

we've come to know here.

- Chioggia is the busiest fishing port

on all of mainland Italy,

and the fish markets are its heartbeat.

Today, we are visiting the wholesale fish market

and meeting up with the director, Dr. Venerucci.

We're here today to meet a local restaurateur

and his buyer.

They're from El Gato,

considered one of Chioggia's finest restaurants.

The variety of produce here on the floor is mind boggling.

But believe me, the Venetians never run out

of the creative ideas on how to use it all.

This impressive gallinella fish,

or what we call gurnard,

is a great favorite with the locals.

It's on the menu today here at El Gato.

Before we are shown how to cook the gallinella

for the main course,

the sous chef is showing us an idea for a starter.

A selection of local seafood on a bed of asparagus puree.

Okay, so what are you gonna make?

It is a Asparagi.

- He's finely slicing the asparagus on an angle,

leaving the spearhead whole.

In the pan with some olive oil and garlic.

It's a aglio olio.

Okay, olive oil and garlic.

Heat that, yes.

Then he adds a capesante, or a scallop as we call it.

Monkfish.

A mussel, a scampi, and a prawn.

Put in prosecco? - Prosecco.

- He pours prosecco over it and lets it simmer.

Seasons it with black pepper, then adds a splash of water

and simmers until the sauce thickens a little

Five.

Until it evaporates a little.

Oh, the smell's wonderful.

The seafood for this dish should only take minutes to cook.

The exact timing is really down to the eye

to make sure that the flesh remains tender.

Really beautiful.

Now you'd have this, it makes a beautiful first course.

And to drink, what would you drink with it?

Vino, a prosecco

Prosecco, of course.

A prosecco, okay. Beautiful.

So monkfish.

- capesante - capesante, scallop

Scampi

A scampi.

And a prawn.

He spreads a generous tablespoon

of the puree of asparagus, which was cooked and blended.

Okay, the monkfish first.

Carefully places the monk fish, scampi,

scallop, and the prawn,

then arranges the finely chopped asparagus on top.

And to finish, he tops the dish with the mussel,

placing the asparagus spearhead in the shell.

With the asparagus, too. Oh that is so beautiful.

Bravo. Really beautiful.

Not only is this a unique combination of delicate flavors,

it's simple, healthy, and perfect for the weight conscious.

Now it's time to prepare the fish of the day, the galinella.

This gallinella is somewhat smaller

than the one we saw in the market,

but it's perfect to serve one or two people.

You could substitute the gallinella

with any firm white fleshed fish from your local market.

Salt, a little olive oil.

The head chef here cooks it twice.

Ah, you do turn it over, okay.

First on the grill to give it a smokey flavor.

Olive oil and garlic.

Bring that to the heat, into the pan.

Then it is simmered in Prosecco

with a delicious cherry tomato, olive oil,

and vinegar reduction to soften it,

and infuse flavor into the flesh.

Salt, and now the vinegar.

A white wine vinegar, okay.

This is simply delicious.

The Mediterranean on a plate.

No preservatives.

No additives.

Just good, natural, healthy ingredients

cooked to perfection.

Food trends may come and go, but this is a perfect example

of how a classic combination of ingredients and flavors

will simply never die.

A vital link in the local food culture are the fishermen.

I'd like you to meet a local fisherman

who fishes for a delicacy called Moeche,

a softshell crab.

Manuel is part of an ancient tradition

of net and pole fishing on the Venetian lagoon.

It started over 1500 years ago.

These fishermen are called the Moecanti.

In the early hours,

we joined them on their small fishing boat

and head out into the lagoon.

This is a small time cottage industry

carried out by artisans.

- It's the first of the buyers checking

and bidding on his day's catch.

Do you like this work, Christian?

Yes, yes.

And you like working with your father?

Yes, yes.

- You come every day. - Every day.

- The Moecanti's detailed knowledge

of the crab's lifecycle is extremely important

in the process of selection.

Christian is sorting the crabs by their sex

and by the stage they've reached

in the shedding of their shell.

The Moecanti keep those that are ready to shed

in containers called vieri,

waiting to capitalize on the moment

when the young crabs lose their shell

and just before they grow a new one.

This is when it becomes a Moeche

and it's immediately taken to market and sold alive.

This requires knowledge and experience

which take many years to acquire

and are typically passed from father to son.

Today there are only a couple of hundred Moecantis

still working on the lagoon.

Manuel and Christian have invited us to join them

and the other fishermen to try some of the catch of the day

barbecued in their hut.

It looks like we're in for a cooking frenzy,

and it seems that half the fishing fleet

are here to join in.

Their makeshift kitchen is producing results

that could rival any gourmet restaurant.

As you can see, sardines cooked on a hot plate

continue to be a staple of local cuisine.

The best way to eat these humble fish is hot,

straight off the grill.

I notice them cooking capesante, the local scallops.

He places them on the piping hot barbecue

with a drizzle of olive oil, Parmesan, parsley,

a sprinkling of garlic and a splash of Grappa

to flambé them.

But as if this isn't enough, he adds a good slug of Prosecco

in the tray below to steam them.

It's time to relax for a sundowner with Manuel and Christian

and thank them for their generous insight

into Chioggioto life.

This is our friend Amadeus Senoretto

As you can see, the seafood of this town

is even reflected in the art.

After finishing the painting,

he invites us upstairs for lunch

to cook the sardines he's just immortalized on canvas.

Chioggia's about one hour's drive over land from Venice,

or an hour and 15 minutes by water on the Vaporetto.

Like Venice, Chioggia is an island in the lagoon

built around canals and boats.

This canal is called Vena, which means vein.

It originally carried the town's lifeblood

in the form of fresh water from the Brenta River.

Chioggia has often been described

as the poor man's Venice,

but it's more an image of what Venice might have been

if it had remained a fishing settlement

and had never discovered the riches of trade.

Of course, its seafood cuisine is legendary.

To close a perfect day,

we're taken sailing on Chioggia's Harbor

on a traditional boat called a bragozzo.

Designed both for fishing and for cargo carrying,

these vessels with their wide hub and flat bottom

are perfectly suited to the shallow waters of the lagoon.

Nowadays, they're maintained by enthusiasts for pleasure

and are almost symbolic of Chioggia,