Saturday, October 8, 2016

Fish in Crazy Water - Pesce all-Acqua Pazza

The Sorrentine Peninsula of Italy is an incredibly beautiful place and one of its iconic dishes is Pezzogna all'Acqua Pazza - Sea Bream in Crazy Water. It is often called by the more generic name - Pesce all'Acqua Pasta - Fish in Crazy Water. I enjoyed this dish when we visited Sorrento and decided to try making it this evening. I was very happy with the results. I could not find sea bream, so I used flounder. The recipe is very easy to make.

There are many different versions of this recipe. The one I made tonight is a combination of two of those recipes and some modifications of my own. One source is the website Summer in Italy - https://www.summerinitaly.com/guide/pesce-all-acqua-pazza. The second is from the cookbook, Naples at Table, Cooking in Campania, which includes recipes from all over the Campania Region of southwest Italy.

This recipe serves two.

Ingredients

- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white wine 
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 2/3 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced. I used mini San Marzano tomatoes
- 1/2 cup sliced olives (optional) I used Castelvetrano olives imported from Sicily and sold at Publix
- 1 tbsp capers (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
- 2 fillets of a fish like sea bass, branzino, halibut, or snapper

Directions

1. Put olive oil, water, wine, salt, red pepper, flakes, and cherry tomatoes into a large skillet and boil for 5 minutes.

2. Add fish, olives, and capers; and cook for six minutes. After the first 3 minutes, use a pair of wide spatulas to gently turn the fish fillets over.

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