The essential ingredients for this fish sauce are a good swordfish and the extraordinary bergamot, a unique citrus fruit which grows in a very small area of the province of Reggio Calabria. In the absence of bergamot, a lemon or grapefruit can be used, but the effect would certainly be different. The mythical Xiphias, fished in the Strait since the mists of time, is the inspiration for this dish. We find traces of his legendary fishing in the Strait already in the fourth century BC, in what can be considered the first gastronomic guide of history, the Hedypatheia, or 'The delight of sweetness', then passed into history as the Deipnosophists, 'The wise men at banquet', of the Sicelian gastronome Archestrato of Gela.
This sauce is very simple and fast, ready in a few minutes, to be prepared in the time of cooking pasta. First of all, put on the fire the water for the pasta and prepare a mixed juice of citrus fruits: orange, lemon, bergamot. Pound in a mortar the peeled almonds and half of the pine nuts, keeping the other half of the pine nuts whole for the soffritto. In a non-stick pan fry in 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with a clove of garlic whole swordfish, cleaned from the outer skin and cut into cubes, and myrtle. After a good browning, blend in the wine and then the juice of the citrus fruits. Continue cooking, adding the almond flour and whole pine nuts, salt and pepper. Cook for another 3 minutes and turn off. When the water boils, add salt and cook the pasta. Drain the pasta until it is "al dente" and finish cooking it in the sauce adding a few ladles of cooking water. Serve very hot.
