Carnival and orata al cartoccio - Sea bream wrapped and baked in foil

Yesterday was Martedì Grasso, better known as Mardi Gras or Fat/Shrove Tuesday in English. Cities dressed up and partied all over the world and people feasted, drank and danced to their heart's delight.

Having grown up in Venice, Carnival triggers a lot of memories of childhood pranks, costumes, dancing in the squares of the floating city, fingers sticky from fried, sugary delights throwing confetti up into the air.

In Milan, Carnival starts later than the rest of the world because the city follows the Ambrosian rite (named after Saint Ambrose, the fourth Century bishop of Milan who is also the city's patron saint) instead of the Roman rite. There are several differences in the liturgical year, one of them being that Lent starts four days later than in the Roman rite so that there is no Ash Wednesday, and Carnival continues until sabato grasso (literally Fat Saturday in Italian). In the past, much of Northern Italy celebrated Carnival following the Ambrosian rite, but nowadays only Milan and a few nearby towns and cities follow this tradition.

That is why my daughter's carnival party in kindergarden is today. Her class' theme is wild animals and she chose to be a lion. Teachers insist on not buying costumes (we are only allowed to recycle material) and taking the time to work on a family project together. A terrific idea, except I am the world's worst sewer. My fingers are crossed that the mane does not fall of the mask we painted together (I actually only helped with some of the black outlines) and that the tail I made with fabric and yarn does not unravel on her walk to school.

She painted it all by herself.

As many of you already know, I go to the office at the crack of dawn, so my husband F has morning duty with the kids taking them to school whilst I have afternoon duty picking them up. It ensues that a mask was a must, it was inconceivable that my husband paint my daughter's face at 8:00am. We thought it would at least be nice - and easy - to draw a little nose and some whiskers on her cheeks as she will not be wearing her mask the whole day.

So last night we had dress rehearsals and I showed my husband again how to snap on the very basic fur tunic I made (a crooked rectangle of fabric with no hems and one lone snap), how to tie on the tail (a strip of fabric that is supposed to be a belt with another long strip of fabric stiched onto it). Believe me when I say it is rustic. I then proceeded to draw a nose and whiskers on my daughter and told him where the eyepencil was in case I forgot to leave it out in my sleepy 6:00am mode.

Surely enough, this morning I got a phone call in the office. It was my husband hollering in my ear that he couldn't find the brown pencil, that he hates doing this stuff, that he knows nothing about make up etc. 

My mistake, I said I would leave it out for him. I used it and put it back into the glass where I keep such things. (I would love to mention that there are only 2 glasses in the bathroom, not 10. In them are eye pencils, scissors, mascara, an eyelash curler that I haven't used since 1987 and an eyebrow brush. Nothing more and nothing less. I also would be tempted to tell you that I remembered a whole other bunch of things at 6:15am like preparing the boy's clean bibs for daycare and his change of clothes. And last but not least I wish I could point out that my DH rolled his eyes when I told him where the pencil was last night. But I won't because I am a loving wife).

So as my daughter runs around roaring at her friends and my husband relaxes in front of his computer after another crazy morning of parenting (he is a wonderful dad and I am eternally grateful that he is not the stereotypical Italian man) I give you the simplest of ideas. A different way to cook fish now that Lent has started if you want to be traditional, or a healthy alternative to your usual recipes.

For those of you who do not know what pesce (fish) al cartoccio means, it is the process of cooking a whole small to medium-sized fish or individual filets wrapped in parchment paper or aluminum foil with seasoning and some form of liquid, allowing it to cook in the aromatic steam.

Ingredients

2 sea breams, 550gr each

1 orange

a knob of ginger

salt

pepper

rosemary

olive oil

parchment paper or aluminum foil

Wash the inside and outside of the fish thoroughly. Place on a piece of aluminum foil/parchment paper. Sprinkle with salt and rosemary (I used a lovely organic salt with rosemary and lemon zest my stepmother made me for Christmas). Cut a knob of ginger into pieces without peeling and scatter around fish. Cut half of an orange into thin slices and place on top and inside the fish, then sprinkle over the juice of the remaining half and drizzle with olive oil. You can get creative and make endless combinations. Substitute the traditional white wine used for pesce al cartoccio with another cooking liquid such as lemon juice, grapefruit juice or lime. Add a few drops of sesame oil instead of olive oil, or some garlic cloves or thin slices of onion or some lemon grass. When in season, a few lightly squashed cherry tomatoes are a must. Thinly sliced fennel also works great. These are just a few ideas. Close the paper like an envelope, making sure you seal all sides so the liquid doesn't spill out. Place in your preheated oven at 220°C and bake according to size (approximately 20 minutes). Watch out for the hot steam when you open the pouch! Clean the fish and serve. I like to serve it with rice or potatoes so they can soak up the delicious cooking juices. If the fish is small enough you can serve it individually on plates directly in the opened pouch (in this case I suggest using parchment paper).