Bagnun

A thin anchovy and tomato soup poured over hard biscuit, cooked in the time it takes to soften an onion.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 600 g fresh anchovies, heads off and gutted
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 400 g ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 400 ml water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 pieces hard ship's biscuit, or stale toasted bread
• a handful of parsley, chopped

Method

1. Pull the heads off the anchovies and the guts come with them. Open each one along the belly and lift the backbone out — it comes away in one piece from the head end.
2. Cook the onion in the oil over a low heat for 10 minutes until soft and clear.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes, then the wine, then the water and salt. Simmer 10 minutes.
4. Put the anchovies in and cook FOUR MINUTES. No longer: fresh anchovies are done almost on contact and go to shreds and cotton wool if treated like a stewing fish.
5. Put a piece of biscuit in each bowl and ladle the soup over, fish and all.
6. Leave it two minutes before eating so the biscuit takes up the broth, and scatter the parsley over.

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