Venture into an American city that is new to you and you will more than likely encounter ethnic neighborhoods with distinctive cultures all their own. As new waves of immigrant groups replace the ones that come before, the neighborhoods develop a whole new character, and the food takes on a whole new flavor.

“The Hill” in St. Louis, MO bucks the trend. Since the days Italian immigrants first settled in St. Louis, The Hill has been the center of the community. To this day, there are many restaurants, delis, churches, and businesses that speak with a distinct Italian accent.

Katie’s family is a part of this proud tradition. Favazza’s restaurant has been a Hill mainstay for more than 30 years, and it continues to serve some of the best Italian-American dishes in town. Katie is justifiably proud of this history, and she’ll readily admit to missing it when she’s in Washington.

In that spirit, tonight’s Foodventure is a tribute to Favazza’s on the Hill. Meat-free Lent calls for a fish dish, and Katie instantly suggested sole piccata, sauted sole or other firm, white, fish topped with a lemon butter sauce. I am familiar with chicken and veal piccata, but this technique with fish was new to me.

For a side, we strayed from The Hill and opted for Mark Bittman’s linguini with slow-cooked onions, pulled from the pages of How to Cook Everything. Katie was skeptical that this would be good, but I prevailed and it made the menu.

Knowing that we’d be hungry while we cooked, Katie lobbied for a mainstay from the Favazza’s appetizer menu,  fried artichoke hearts. These are a favorite of mine too, so it was a pretty easy sell for her.

The basic ingredients were gathered at Safeway, and then it was off to the Fish Market to grab the “sole.” Katie called her brother Mark, the head chef at Favazza’s, for a pre-meal consultation, and he informed us that sole piccata is hardly ever made with sole, but usually cod. Cod was easy to find at the Fish Market and at about $7 per pound, a pretty good deal. A filet weighing in at about 1.25 pounds went for $10 even, and I’ll probably get two more meals this week out of it.

The artichokes came first. We brought a few inches of canola oil to 350 degrees in a saucepan, and drained a can of artichoke hearts. The artichokes were then rolled in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs before a swim in the hot oil. Drained and topped with Parmasean and a squeeze of lemon, they were the perfect pre-meal snack.

Meanwhile, we tackled the pasta with slow-cooked onions. Bittman always requires a leap of faith, and the idea of putting onions in a stainless skillet without any oil was a little frightening, but the low heat drew the moisture out slowly so nothing stuck. When the onions were soft and starting to brown, a little olive oil was introduced to make the onions brown further and really caramelize the sugar.

I’ve had great success with Cooks Illustrated’s chicken piccata recipe, and I figured that the cod would make a pretty fair substitute. The cod is dredged in flour and seared on all sides in olive oil.

When the fish is brown on all sides, stash it in a warm oven to hold while you build a pan sauce of stock (veggie in this case, thanks to Lent), lemon juice, a dash of vermouth (at Katie’s insistence), and to finish, butter.

This was a big success from start to finish. The fish came out perfect, and the sauce was balanced, with the freshness of the lemon stealing the show. The pasta was exceptional as well. The sweetness of the onions was a nice counterpoint to the tartness of the piccata sauce, and the two mixed together nicely on the plate.

Sole piccata may not be as familiar as its poultry cousin, but it was a big hit tonight. Does anybody have any stories of a major substitution coming in big in the clutch?

Related posts:

1. Leftover Monday: Cod with Lemon Butter Sauce