Zuppa di Pesce Mediterranea con Cozze, Vongole, Gamberi e Crostoni all'Aglio (Italian Mediterranean Fish Soup with Mussels, Clams, Shrimp and Garlic Crostini) A zuppa di pesce is not a recipe so much as a method of accounting. Every Italian port has its own, and all of them answer the same question: what do you do with the mixed catch nobody will buy by the kilo. This Mediterranean version keeps the structure of the southern Tyrrhenian ports, a thin tomato broth carrying shel

Pancotto is one of southern Italy’s great examples of cucina povera: stale bread is transformed with water, vegetables, olive oil and whatever the territory provides. On the Gargano peninsula in Puglia, the proximity of the Adriatic naturally invites a coastal version enriched with mussels.

Tiella Barese di Riso Patate e Cozze (Italian Bari Rice Potatoes and Mussels) Tiella Barese is what Bari cooks when it wants to feed a table without standing over a stove. Raw rice goes into a wide shallow dish between two layers of thinly sliced potato, with mussels opened over their own liquor, tomato, onion, parsley, pecorino and olive oil. It goes into a hot oven and is not touched again. No stirring, no stock ladled in. The rice cooks in shellfish water and potato starch