Acqua Pazza

Whole fish poached in a thin broth of water, wine and tomato, which becomes the sauce.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 2 whole sea bass or bream, about 500 g each, cleaned
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 250 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 small dried chilli, crumbled
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 300 ml water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a large handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Warm the oil in a pan wide enough to hold both fish flat, add the garlic and chilli, and cook 1 minute until the garlic is pale gold at the edges.
2. Add the tomatoes and press some of them with a spoon. Cook 3 minutes until they slump and start to colour the oil.
3. Pour in the wine and let it boil hard for a minute, then add the water and the salt.
4. THE LIQUID IS MEANT TO BE THIN. It is not a tomato sauce and should not be reduced to one: it poaches the fish, takes flavour from the bones, and is served as broth. Water is an ingredient here rather than a shortcut.
5. Slide the fish in, bring it back to a bare simmer, cover, and cook 12 to 14 minutes for fish this size. Spoon the broth over them twice while they cook.
6. Test at the thickest part behind the head: the flesh should part from the bone.
7. Scatter the parsley over and serve the fish in bowls with the broth poured round, and bread to soak it up.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes