Buridda

A fish stew built on dried mushrooms and their soaking water, with pine nuts through it.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1 kg stockfish or firm white fish, in large pieces
• 30 g dried porcini
• 400 ml warm water, for soaking the mushrooms
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 60 g pine nuts
• 40 g raisins
• 400 g tinned tomatoes, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a handful of parsley, chopped

Method

1. Soak the porcini in the warm water for 30 minutes. Lift them out, chop them, and KEEP THE SOAKING WATER — poured through a cloth to leave the grit behind, it is the liquid this stew is built on, and there is no fish stock in it at all.
2. Cook the onion in the oil over a low heat for 10 minutes, then add the anchovies and stir until they dissolve completely.
3. Add the mushrooms, pine nuts and raisins and cook 3 minutes. The pine nuts should colour slightly.
4. Add the tomatoes, the strained mushroom water and the salt, and simmer 20 minutes.
5. Lay the fish in, cover, and cook 15 minutes at a bare simmer without stirring.
6. Scatter the parsley over. It is better reheated the next day, which is unusual among fish stews and is the mushrooms' doing.

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