Terracotta Oven-Cooked Eels
This is a Venetian recipe and eel is eaten widely in the whole Veneto region. My mother-in-law
in Tulse Hill cooks it occasionally but is finding it more and more difficult to obtain eels in Britain,
the home of the jellied eel – which alas is a tradition almost lost. Serves 4
Ingredients:
800 g eel (preferably river eel with a white
stomach)
2–3 cloves of garlic, chopped
a sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
a bunch of parsley
a handful of thyme
1 glass dry white wine
1 glass extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ask your fishmonger to gut and prepare the eel for you. Wash and dry it carefully. The original
recipe calls for the eel to be cooked for about an hour in a metal pan on dying embers. You can
put a little oil in a pan and cook the eel on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, then turn down
the heat and continue to cook for another 45 minutes, checking from time to time to make sure
it doesn’t overcook or burn.
Transfer the eel to a suitable terracotta dish. Cover with the garlic, herbs, white wine and
oil and season. Put into a medium oven, Gas Mark 3/170°C, for about an hour (a wood oven
is traditionally used). When the meat is pure white, the eel is ready to be served in slices,
accompanied by white polenta.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster