Aldo Zilli's Cooking Cabin

Aldo, dressed in jeans and t-shirt tells us he has some fresh sea bream and mackerel that he will be cooking today. He starts to make a paste for the sea bream using chilli oil, fresh thyme, lemon juice sea salt and garlic. He coats the fish in the paste, scores the skin and pushes some slithers of garlic into the fish. The mackerel he stuffs with butter, herbs, chilli and lemon which he then ties tightly with string so the fish doesn’t open up when cooking.

Aldo says, “I love fish, the flavours are fantastic, and it’s great for cooking on the barbecue. We’ve had some great parties in here and it’s super that I can cook and be part of the party without being stuck in the kitchen, it’s very sociable to cook in the cabin. It’s a multi-functional space, you can chat, cook, party, read a book, eat or just sit and be mesmerised by the flickering of the flames”.

Aldo places the fish on the grill and puts it over the now glowing coals in the barbecue. “Ten minutes on both sides and the fish will be delicious” he states. Ten minutes later he expertly flips the grill to cook the other side of the fish. There are no roaring flames, smoke or hint of burning, like you so often get from the traditional barbecues!

Aldo whips up a dressing of oil, chilli’s and fresh tomatoes that he pops in a pan to cook down on the small grill on the barbecue, he also warms fresh a loaf of ciabatta bread to serve with the fish. The smells and the atmosphere in the cabin is wonderful. We can see lunch taking shape, as we sip our drinks and chat away. Aldo says “the cabin is a great place to escape to, it’s quiet and peaceful, you feel like you could be anywhere, but you are only steps from home, it’s a real haven.”