Second course:

Pike with Mantua style sauce

From Recipe Book “Seasonal Flavours – Recipes from Lombardy” (ERSAF – Ente Regionale per i Servizi all’Agricoltura ed alle Foreste)
Chef Massimo Bellini  – Associazione provinciale cuochi Mantova

Serves 4
1 pike (2 kg)
80 g carrots
80 g onions
80 g celery stalks
½ lt Garda Colli Mantovani DOC wine
2 g juniper berries
100 g sweet and sour onions
100 g sweet and sour peppers
80 g anchovies
80 g capers
100 g chopped parsley
300 g Garda DOP extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation time: 3 hours
Level of difficulty: average

Clean the pike and put it in a baking tin with cold water, adding the white wine, chopped vegetables, juniper berries and salt.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Leave to cool, remove the bones of the pike.  In the meantime, purée the peppers, onions, capers, anchovies and olive oil in a mixer.
Warm the sauce in a pan, without bringing it to the boil.
Add the previously prepared and cooled pike.  Continue cooking for a while, blending in all the ingredients.
Add the chopped parsley and serve the pike lukewarm in its sauce, garnished with fresh or grilled polenta.

Wine pairing: Garda Colli Mantovani DOC Chiaretto

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