Rock salt fish recipe

Although everything in the book is based on seafood, there are salads, including a Baccala Salad with Blood Orange and Pomegranate Seeds and a chapter on desserts like Lemon Granita and Marsala Raisin Cake.

There is also an invaluable chapter for any seafood lover on the proper way to buy, handle and cook each type of seafood and acceptable substitutes to use. Her best tip - whenever possible, buy a whole fish, even if you plan to filet it later. You are more apt to get a fresher fish and the taste will be better.

To that end, I have made her recipe for a whole fish baked in a crust of salt. This method is common in Sicily and produces a really moist, perfectly seasoned fish. Most Americans do not cook fish whole, but if you love fish, this is a technique you should try. Not only is it remarkably simple, it is almost foolproof, resulting in a perfectly cooked fish with little effort.