With its long coastline, Apulia (Puglia), in the heel of the Italian boot, has an abundance of seafood. Today's fish dinner was inspired by a conversation with Giuseppe Alemanno, a native of the Apulian town of Lecce.

Alemanno likes grilled fish with his pasta and always adds fresh, seasonal vegetables. ''No sauce,'' he says. ``Only a little olive oil and salt after the fish is cooked.''

Ricotta salata is a hard sheep's milk cheese. Orecchiette, a type of pasta produced in Apulia, is shaped like little ears. Rapini (also called broccoli raab), has a nutty, slightly bitter taste and is best when small or young.

This meal contains 571 calories per serving with 31 percent of calories from fat.

• Fred Tasker's wine suggestion: Try a soave, an Italian white that may require a trip to a wine shop. It's worth it.

HELPFUL HINTS

• You may substitute feta or Parmesan for the ricotta salata, another short-cut pasta for the orecchiette and/or green beans for the rapini.

• To save prep time, buy diced tomatoes from the produce department.

• Any type of fish fillet can be used. It can be sautéed rather than grilled for the same amount of time.

COUNTDOWN

• Place water for pasta on to boil.

• Microwave rapini.

• Cook snapper.

• Finish side dish.

SHOPPING LIST

To buy: ¾ pound snapper fillet, 1 package orecchiette, ¼ pound rapini, 1 container diced tomatoes, 1 package fresh basil, 1 can olive oil spray, 1 small package ricotta salata (1 ounce needed).

Staples: Olive oil, garlic, salt, black peppercorns.

Linda Gassenheimer's latest book is The Portion Plan: How to Eat the Foods You Love and Still Lose Weight. Her website is dinnerinminutes.com.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@