Sorrento: Barbeque Feast

Sorrento will always have a special place in my heart. It will forever be my favourite European city with the general Tuscany region coming in a close second. Us boys were in Sorrento for a few days, the second stop on our tour around Europe last summer. We stayed on a campsite located on the top of the Amalfi Coast, just a 20 minute walk away from the town centre. The camp has it's own beach down the hill. We usually go there in the scorching afternoons to cool off as the cabins tend to get a little stuffy then.

While exploring the town on day I noticed a few shops selling fresh seafood products. They were closed at the time and using the very limited amount of Italian I knew, found out from the locals that I would have to come early in the morning. My friends would know how much I struggle with mornings. But wake up I did. It was our final night in Sorrento and we agreed to split the cost with two other friendly travellers we met, Ana and Matthew. 

I dragged myself down to the market that morning begrudgingly. There was this truck outside the shop unloading the seafood caught by fisherman early that morning. I started becoming really excited and made my way around the shop pointing at things. Luckily they use the same measuring system so it made it easier to tell them how much I want. A good 45 minutes later I exited the shop triumphantly with three bags of fresh seafood filled to the brim with mussels, prawns, two fishes. Got them for such good value. I think I got 2kg of mussels for about 5 euros. Everything came to about thirty-ish.

We cooked everything over the fire. I stuck to the what I've learnt from years of watching the food and travel channels on tv. The common thing that everyone could agree on, from Nigella to Jamie is that Italian cooking is meant to be kept simple, allowing the core ingredients to take the limelight. The Italians take pride in the quality of their products and we aim to retain that by not over-complicating the cooking process.

Garlic, parsley, salt and olive oil. That was all we used. Well, except for the occasional cheeky splash of white wine. Dinner was amazing. It's hard to go wrong when you have such good ingredients and basic cooking instructions. We ate and drank our fill, way into the night. I still have dreams about those prawns. Their heads were bursting with flavourful juices and you can suck on them all night. This is how I imagine life to be after retirement. Bliss.