Scapece alla Vastese

Fried fish layered with saffron breadcrumbs and left to marinate for days.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg skate wings or dogfish, in pieces
• 200 g plain flour
• 600 ml white wine vinegar, the marinade, which is not eaten
• 2 generous pinches saffron
• 200 g coarse breadcrumbs
• 700 ml sunflower oil, for frying, which is poured off
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. Salt the fish pieces and leave them 30 minutes, then dry them and flour them.
2. Fry them in the oil until deep gold and cooked through, and drain them on a rack.
3. Steep the saffron in the vinegar, warmed but not boiled, for 20 minutes. It should go bright yellow.
4. Toast the breadcrumbs dry in a pan, then moisten them with some of the saffron vinegar to a loose paste.
5. Layer in a deep dish: saffron crumbs, fish, crumbs, fish, finishing with crumbs, and pour the remaining vinegar over to come level with the top layer.
6. COVER IT AND LEAVE IT THREE DAYS IN A COOL PLACE before eating. This is a preserving dish — the vinegar is doing the work and on day one it tastes only of vinegar. By day three the fish has firmed and gone sweet-sour through.
7. LIFT THE FISH AND CRUMBS OUT OF THE VINEGAR TO SERVE. The marinade is the preserving medium and is not eaten -- it stays in the dish, and the fish keeps in it for a fortnight.
8. Serve it cold. Pour the frying oil off once cooled.

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