26-09-2016
The author of this piece tasted this beautiful dish of Spaghetti with sea lemons and wild fennel at Bikini in Vico Equense. It was a good occasion to speak about this tunicate with special features, which very common in the waters in front of Sorrento’s peninsula, yet scarcely used. Photo by Tanio Liotta
Gran pranzo al Bikini. Appetizer: calzoncino ripieno di fiordilatte, polpetta di melanzana e alice ripiena. Le foto sono di Tanio Liotta
Crudo e cotto di schianto
Totanetto ripieno di provola affumicata e patate, salsa di prezzemolo e parmigiana di melanzane e Trancetto di provolone del Monaco, porcino del monte Faito, salsa di barbabietola e rucola selvatica
Spaghetti con limoni di mare e finocchietto
Mezzi occhi di lupo di Gragnano con sconcigli, (ossia murici: «una volta li regalavano, ora costano 6-7 euro al chilo»)
Merluzzo, ricciola e totanetti con spuma di patate e tarallo di Agerola
Concassé di anguria al maraschino con sorbetto alla mela
Deliziosa anche la parte dolce del pranzo al Bikini, a cura di Gregorio Ioveno, 24 anni. Qui Melanzana al cioccolato con crumble di noci e gelato di nocciola
Scarselli con i due De Simone qualche anno fa a Identità Milano
The media overexposure of the food industry is not always matched by enough awareness and competence (let’s point two things out. First, we don’t refer so much to knowing a product or a recipe, nor to someone’s creative skills, but to being able to have a wider take on the basic, social or environmental themes connected with this world. Second, this lack is not specific of this sector, but can be noticed everywhere, with architects or dentists, plumbers or journalists).
Among the not very many people who do think, there’s a certain Giorgio Scarselli, as demonstrated in this recent interview by Gabriele Zanatta for Identità Golose. The latter thus presented him: “Born in 1969, he’s the director of restaurant Bikini, a beach resort founded by his grandfather Franco 60 years ago in Vico Equense in Sorrento’s peninsula (Naples). Third generation of fishermen, he fights to elevate fish culture, stressing the importance of seasonality and promoting less used species”.
Giorgio Scarselli at his Bikini
Sea lemons (microcosmus sulcatus) are called “carnummole” in Naples or "spuenzi" in Taranto. People usually eat them raw with a squeeze of real lemons. They’re slightly bigger than a mussel, live on the sandy, rich in detritus sea bottom, stuck to rocks, in colonies that can sometimes be very populated and in settings dominated by corals and soft corals, or deeper, until below 100 metres. They owe their name not to a citric hint in the taste, but to the fact you eat the yellowish intestine, wrapped in a red or orange muscle tissue. They’re very had to spot as they’re usually covered in seaweeds, other tunicates or sponges. They have two siphons: one draws water, the other expels it after it has travelled through the branchial basket depositing some small particles of food. For this reason they also accumulate heavy metals and radioactive isotopes: this is why it is essential they come from perfectly clean waters.
A sea lemon
Domenico De Simone, chef at Bikini. Behind him, his sous chef Antonino De Simone
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief