Grilled Vegetables With Spicy Italian Neonata Recipe (2024)

Let this recipe inspire you but don't sweat modifications, because this isn’t what Calabrian, Sicilian or Ionian cooks call "neonata" di pesce, "newborn fish": tiny baby fish, caught in early spring, then fermented.Therefore, if vegetarian, just choose flavors you enjoy. Approximate anchovies’ fermented "funk" via Bragg's,dark misos, Gojuchang, nutritional yeast,long-roasted garlic, caramelized onions, or (veg.) Worcestireshire sauce; the latter approximates ancient Roman garum, fermented fish

I made this but didn’t use the olives or celery (I was out) and it was delicious. I like olives but sometimes they overwhelm a dish. I would make it again without celery or olives because everyone loved it this way.For vegetarians, I think omitting the salami would still produce a delicious result but omitting the anchovies would completely change this. Maybe you could use seaweed salt to get the saltiness but the consistency would not be the same.

Recipe instructions call for anchovies, but these are not listed in the ingredients.

As someone who often makes substitutions based on my pantry contents, this worked nicely. My hubby grilled peppers and zucchini. The olive oil sauce had prosciutto and marinated artichokes with the garlic and dried parsley. Great accompaniment to grilled sausages!

I didn't love the radicchio, just a bit too bitter but everything else was fantastic. I served this with burrata and it was the perfect foil for the spicy sauce.

I wanted to love this but just didn't. Made as directed and found it too hot. The cherry peppers totally took over from the other assertive seasonings. Tried to tone it down with chopped bread and butter pickles, a tablespoon their brine and a bit more garlic. I might make it again with just 1 tablespoon of cherry peppers since I very much like all the other seasonings.

You can buy real neonata at Eataly and other stores that carry Italian specialty foods. It is nothing like what is described in the recipe. Try the Tutto Calabria Rosa Marina brand.

This was divine! I estimated the sauce because I made about half the vegetables. Enjoyed as a side for 4th of July cookout and then made everyone jealous at work when I brought in for lunch stuffed in a pita and just as a side. Salami anchovies olives capers = yes, please!

This neonata was delicious.I used the leftover the day after on a grilled vegetable/'nduja ciabata sandwich. It's a keeper for me as it can be used in multiple ways. Yum!

I used capers instead of olives — excellent!

Grilled vegetables- made the Neonata with modifications: used kalamata and large green olives from the salad bar, used prosciutto instead of salami and used ground hot peppers (it’s what I had on hand) So very very good! I’m glad I made extra. This is going to be a staple condiment.

I made the recipe as written and found it a bit too bitter; so I added 1/4 cup of finely diced bread and butter pickles. The end product is amazing. I can live on this stuff :)

Use capers instead of anchovies.

Thank you Diana. My husband's Calabrese (we live near Milan) and no one has ever heard of neonata sauce.We're going down in a couple of weeks so I'll ask my sisters-in-law.

Could you use anchovie paste here instead of real anchovies? Always buying a can for a recipe and then having to throw out the rest, as we have no other use for them beyond maybe a Caesar salad dressing.

Any ideas if jarred spicy cherry tomatoes *vary* in salt content?Had all the ingredients except those, made as written MINUS the tomatoes, tasted TERRIFIC. Then found the spicy cherry tomatoes at a local Italian store and and added them.INEDIBLE mix. I rarely toss a dish, this one.... Yep. Yes, I can obviously leave it off or use less next time, but wondering about brands. This one doesn't have a salt content in it ( even after translating )

Calabrian Neonata typically contains neonata (teeny tiny translucent baby fish -- not anchovies) and Calabrian chilies. I have no problem with re-interpretations but to call it "neonata" when these wonderful wee babies are not even in the list of ingredients is a bit odd.