Pantescan gastronomy reveals the traces and tastes of the various peoples who have inhabited the island and includes several absolute musts. From the island itself come the delicately flavoured ricotta and mint ravioli and the aromatic 'pesto pantesco'. This sauce, composed of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, dasil and peppers, accompanies equally happily spaghetti, meat or fish. The justifiably famous Pantescan capers are to be found everywhere, and along with the heady local origan give the cuisine its very particular touch.

From nearby Africa comes the fish couscous, always served with a variety of vegetables and usually as a main dish. 'Sciakisciuka' is a hot, spicy Mediterranean vegetable stew;  the dominant ingredient of 'Cuccurumma' is local zucchini. From the sea come fish so fresh and tasty as to merit the simplest of preparations; it is either grilled or baked. These fish go by the evocative local names  of 'Ricciole', 'Dentici', 'Cernie', 'Saraghi', 'Pesce Spada', 'Aragoste', and along with the reefs' abundance of lobster, crabs, sea urchins, anemones and so on enrich even further the local cuisine. From the Orient comes the 'Cannateddro' the traditional Easter sweet, wheras the Arab tradition has contributed delights like the lacy 'Mustazzola', as beautiful as they are delicious, perfect with a glass of Passito.

 Fish Couscous Pantescan way  
Recipe for 15 people

Ingredients:
- 1Kg. Of hard grain semola
- 1.5 Kg of soup fish (such as cernia, scorfano, fagiano, lugaro)
- 1.5 Kg of vegetables (read and yellow peppers, zucchini from Pantelleria, eggplant, potatoes, peas)

For the browning:
150 g. of onion
3 pieces of garlic
tomato paste
parsley
chili pepper
salt and pepper

The first phase of preparing the cous-cous is the ‘incocciatura’: this consists in placing the semola in a speficic container called ‘marafalda’ and moving it with the palm of the hand together with some oil, warm water, salt and pepper. By doing this we will obtain small spheres of semola which will then be kept to dry for 24 hours prior to the cooking.

The second phase is the preparation of the soup: after cleaning the fish, we will fry it with some olive oil, and once it’s ready it will be set aside. After this we will brown the chopped garlic and onion, we will add the tomato paste and some chili pepper. Once this is ready, we will add 3 liters of warm water and once it’s boiling we will add the fried fish, letting it boil for about 30 minutes.

After this we will start cooking the couscous: the semola will be placed in a specific terracotta container called ‘couscousera’; this will be placed above a saucepan full of boiling water and flavoured with parsley, onion, laurel, and pieces of fish.The ‘couscousera’ has to fit well above the saucepan to assure a perfect steam cooking. After about 30 minutes, the couscous will be steered (always following the same direction) to allow a uniform cooking and obtain an increase of the size of the semola (up to 3 times its original size).

Meanwhile, the vegetables will be washed and chopped up in dices, and browned with olive oil. After this we will pour the soup over the semola (leaving some for the final garnish). Then we will clean the fish and place it on the already cooked couscous together with the fried vegetables. The couscous should rest for about 30 minutes before serving it, warm in terracotta bowls, with a sauce made of the soup and a lot of chili pepper.