Pesce Spada alla Calabrese
Reggio Calabria and the Strait of Messina, Calabria
Calabria's swordfish preparation in the Reggio style: thick steaks of swordfish (caught from the Strait of Messina where the current creates ideal conditions for the fish's passage) dressed with a salmoriglio sauce — olive oil, lemon juice, dried oregano, garlic, and flat-leaf parsley beaten together — applied both as a marinade before grilling and as a sauce poured over the hot fish at service. The salmoriglio is the Calabrian-Sicilian universal fish sauce: sharp, herbal, intensely aromatic.