Cieche alla Pisana (quickly sautéed baby eels)
by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
June 26, 2007
LA CANTINA TOSCANA
1109 1st Ave
(60th & 61st Sts)
New York, NY 10022
212-754-5454
$$
You don’t see baby eels on the menu often, and this is quite different from the eels you find on the menus at Japanese or Chinese restaurants. However, the baby eels at La Cantina Toscana, remind me of a Shanghainese eel dish I grew up eating. Though the texture of the baby eels at this Upper East Side Florentine trattoria is much more refined, and the preparation with just olive oil and a few fresh leaves of sage makes it pure and light. Quickly sautéed baby eels are a traditional favorite from the Tyrrhenian coast. It’s now forbidden to catch baby eels in Italy, but since La Cantina Toscana gets its baby eels from Costa Brava in Spain, they’re on the menu year-round. Whew! I’d hate to have to wait a year to catch a craving.
