Executive Chef Edward Pizzuti Cafe Giostra, Zangria, Brando's, Petaluma, CA.

Memories from Guglionesi
ITALIAN SEAFOOD FROM THE REGION OF MOLISE

By Ellen Walsh
Photos by Steve Aja

“I am always trying to duplicate the smells of my mother’s kitchen.”

In a little known region of Italy known as Molise, lies a tiny village known as Guglionesi. It has remained almost untouched for its entire 1200 years of existence, and remains the little village that overlooks the Adriatic Sea. “It’s in the heel of the boot, if you are looking at a map,” comments Executive Chef and restaurant Owner Edward Pizzuti. “You have to travel about 5 miles up that mountain to get to the town that I grew up in.” And in fact, this is not only the town that Ed grew up in, it is the town where he learned to cook, just as his mother had done, before him.

Today Edward and his wife Josie run Caffe Giostra, a small local hot spot that always needs reservations, in the northern California town of Petaluma. And just as you often hear in the childhood stories of the world’s great chefs, Ed learned to cook standing in the kitchen watching his mother prepare the food that he grew up with.

Click on Images for Captions / Recipes links below

“The fisherman used to come up a couple times a week in our town. I remember it as a kid - sometimes it was once a week, usually every Friday. My mother would buy fish from the market, and she would make pescatori – which was, in fact, an assortment and variety of fresh fish of everything that had been caught the night before. She would use tomato sauce and garlic as a base, and then make a pasta and seafood dish out of it. We used clams, mussels, squid, and a fish called skate ( only the wings are edible on this fish). Then there was a variety of shrimp called cicala that you don’t see around here. It’s very sweet, it adds a nice sweetness to the sauce. It is like a cross between a shrimp and a langostino.” Ed paused for a moment and smiled. “I am always trying to duplicate the smells of my mother’s kitchen.”

And today, more than 40 years later, he has made a business out of his childhood traditions, raising his family and running restaurants with the help of his beautiful Italian wife, Josie. “My mother actually taught Josie how to cook after we were married,” Ed says with a big, wide smile.

These are some of the Pizzuti’s favorite recipes from his home in Guglionesi. Olive oil, garlic, crushed red peppers, and some onions serve as the base for most of the flavors that permeate the cuisine. “Tomatoes are essential to the mix, so if fresh is out of season, canned is ok, ” comments Ed. The trademark of the region is a simple, brothy sauce – not a thick red sauce. Zuppa di pesce – a fish soup – evolved into pescatore – which means fisherman stew.

Chef Recipes:
Mozzarella D' Isufala
Fresh Sardines ( or Anchovies)
Jumbo Fresh Water Spot Prawns (whole)
Cracked Dungeness Crab
Lobster Diablo

More Chef Recipes:
Abalone D' Ore
Boquerones or Marinated Fresh Anchovies
Mussels in Saffron-Sherry Sauce
Paella Valenciana
Paella Codornices en Hoja de Parra
(Quails wrapped in grape leaves and pancetta)

Other Related Links:
The Abalone Farm
Memories from Guglionesi
Edward Pizzuti - Bio