Pezzogna all'Acqua Pazza recipe

My Amalfi Coast friends are very familiar with this dish. This is the area's signature fish recipe, made with all-local ingredients. White fish cooked all'acqua pazza, literally, in 'crazy water,' is one of the simplest ways of preparing fresh fish.

Photo courtesy of ioviaggio.it

The origin of acqua pazza dates back to 1800, this cooking technique was practiced mostly by the less fortunate fishermen of Campania, Lazio, Sicily, Calabria and Puglia. These seafarers prepared their lunches on board their boats and instead of seasoning their seafood recipes with salt––which was too expensive––they used sea water, in addition to tomatoes, garlic and olive oil. So fresh fish, and unpolluted sea water, were a must. The unique flavor of acqua pazza lies in the simple combination of salted water, the fluids released by the fish and the tomatoes. The best to use here are the the terrific pomodorini al piennolo, a variety of local teardrop-shaped vine tomatoes which are harvested in clusters and hung on beams and trellises to ripen.

The ideal fish to use for this recipe is the Mediterranean pezzogna (or pagello), which goes by the English name bluespotted, red or blackspot Seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo). This is a salt water fish that swims in the deep Sorrento peninsula and Amalfi coastal waters around the islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida. It's very similar to pandora or snapper.

Here's the recipe for "crazy water"

Any one of the above mentioned fish, weighing 1kg (2 lbs)
250 g (1 cup) organic, possibly vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, quartered
2 garlic cloves
A small bunch of Italian flat leaf parsley, finely chopped - I use basil instead
Slices of sourdough or country-style bread for bruschetta
Extra virgin olive oil

1 glass of dry, white wine
Salt

Soak the tomatoes in water and baking soda to remove any traces of dirt, then rinse well and pat dry.

Clean and scale the fish. Put it in a pan with two cloves of garlic, parsley and the tomatoes. Add the glass of wine and enough water to soak the fish half way. Cover the pot, bring the water to a boil, and simmer the fish until done, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, make bruschetta: lightly toast your bread, rub the slices with the remaining garlic clove, and season them with a thin drizzle of olive oil. Divide the fish into 4-5 portions, arrange them on the plates, and serve with the bruschetta, and plenty acqua pazza sauce on the side.

I love this recipe's simplicity. It can also be enriched with the addition of clams or mussels, to be added 2 minutes before serving so as not to overcook them.

Tip: Make sure the fish cooks only half soaked in the crazy water, too much would drown it.