loading

LifestyleGoing Out and Staying In

Meet Silvano Marchetto, the Mussel ManSilvano Marchetto, A-list chef and owner of Da Silvano, prepares a Tuscan seafood stew at home with his cartoonist wife, Marisa.

Silvano and Marisa make a salad of shelled fava beans and Parmesan shavings to accompany the Tegamone.

Photo: Steven Freeman

Silvano and Marisa make a salad of shelled fava beans and Parmesan shavings to accompany the Tegamone.

On a recent balmy Wednesday afternoon, the usual mix of ­actors, models and their look-alikes are congregating at the outdoor tables of Da Silvano on one of the city’s most A-list summer sidewalks. Silvano Marchetto, the gravel-voiced chef and owner of the trattoria, has been playing host to the stars on the corner of Sixth ­Avenue and Houston Street since he opened his restaurant in 1975.

“Before Silvano, Italian dining in New York was all red-and-white checkered tablecloths with drippy candles and red wine,” says his wife, Marisa, 47, a cartoonist for The New Yorker and the author of Cancer Vixen.

There, in his traditional dining room, the barrel-chested Tuscan can be seen ­everywhere at once; one moment he’s excitedly showing socialite Ann Dexter-Jones how to use his new iPhone as a flashlight, the next he’s dashing into the kitchen to oversee the plating of a fresh cod for a regular like Donatella Versace, Lindsay Lohan or Jay-Z. And he eats lunch and dinner there six days a week. “I went on vacation last month—to 61st Street,” he jokes.

But today, the consummate host is cooking a private lunch for Marisa in the open-plan kitchen of their airy ­one-­bedroom apartment on West Houston Street.

Take a tip from Silvano and improvise with the seafood you find at the grocery store. Squid (pictured here) makes a great addition.

Photo: Steven Freeman

Take a tip from Silvano and improvise with the seafood you find at the grocery store. Squid (pictured here) makes a great addition.

Silvano, 61, in a short-sleeve patterned shirt, khakis and sandals, puts on samba music and opens the patio doors as he un­corks a bottle of Prosecco and looks over his ingredients for Tegamone, a Tuscan seafood stew. “What can I do?” Marisa asks. Silvano grunts in response and pours her a glass of Prosecco. “Silvano takes control of the kitchen, whether we’re in the restaurant or at home,” says Marisa, dressed in a short red dress and hot-pink stilettos. “If he could have a king-size bed in the kitchen, he would. He doesn’t like to be away from his baby.”

The busy chef doesn’t often have time to stock his refrigerator with groceries, but he claims he didn’t swipe today’s bounty from the kitchen at Da Silvano. “Where should I say I get our seafood?” Silvano asks Marisa, as he instructs her to sprinkle parsley and red pepper onto the mussels and clams that are slowly cooking in the metal saucepan. “What about Gourmet Garage? No, no, let’s just say Citarella.”

Silvano throws bite-size chunks of swordfish into the saucepan, prodding them continuously with a fork and spoon. Then he adds pieces of cod, squid, salmon, stingray and cuttlefish. But Silvano says you shouldn’t restrict yourself to these ingredients. It’s best, he says, when you use whatever fresh fish is available that day.

His easy Italian flair translates into his cooking. Silvano doesn’t use a recipe, throwing half a glass of Prosecco into the saucepan and stirring patiently as it evaporates. “Usually I use white wine,” he says. “But we’re drinking Prosecco today, so why not?”

Silvano’s Tegamone “IT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE SUMMER DISHES,” SAYS SILVANO. “THE FASTER YOU CAN COOK IT, THE FASTER YOU CAN EAT IT.”

Silvano’s Tegamone

Photo: Steven Freeman

Ingredients (Serves 2)

· 6 oz. cod
· 6 oz. squid
· 6 oz. salmon
· 6 oz. striped stingray
· 6 oz. cuttlefish
· 2 oz. olive oil
· 3 garlic cloves
· 2 stalks of Italian parsley; one chopped and one left as leaves
· 20 crushed red pepper flakes
· 6 mussels (New Zealand)
· 10 clams
· Half a glass of very dry white wine
· 10 cherry tomatoes
· Half a cup of water
· 4 slices of country bread—prepared ahead of time by frying in 2 tbsp. of olive oil until the bread becomes yellow

Step 1: Cut the fish into bite-size pieces.
Step 2: Heat a metal saucepan on a high flame. Add 2 ounces of olive oil and three whole cloves of garlic and heat until the garlic turns brown. Remove garlic and add the chopped parsley, red pepper, mussels and clams. After simmering for about 2 minutes, the mussels should begin to turn orange and open, and the clams should begin to turn white and open. Add the remaining fish and seafood, and simmer for about 3 minutes.
Step 3: Add the wine. When it evaporates, add tomatoes and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add half a cup of water while simmering to keep the stew moist. Remove from the flame when you can see that the fish is cooked.
Step 4: Serve with the fried bread and ­garnish with parsley leaves. Sprinkle with black pepper and salt to taste. Enjoy.

PAGE SIX MAGAZINE and NYPOST.COM are registered trademarks of NYP Holdings, Inc.

Copyright 2012 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.