FISH IN ACQUA PAZZA

FISH IN ACQUA PAZZA image

Yield 2

Number Of Ingredients 12

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2 lovely fish, 1 lb or so each, scaled and gutted - bream, mullet, bass or grouper
2 celery stalks, sliced on the bias
A handful of black olives (stone-in)
1 red onion, cut in segments lengthways
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 promising tomatoes, chunked, or 16 cherry/baby plum tomatoes, halved
3 bay leaves
A handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
A handful of basil leaves
1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1/2 glass white wine
A few potatoes, peeled, chunked and par-boiled (optional)

Steps:

Slash the fish a few times (three or four on each side, diagonally), season well with salt (rub it into the cuts) and set aside. Put everything, bar the fish, in a pot. Add water to come to half the depth of the vegetables (about a glass), season well with salt and pepper and place over a high flame. As soon as it boils, turn off the heat. You now have two options. If you are hungry, pour the hot vegetable stew into a roasting pan. Put the fish on top, and nestle them into their flavorsome bed. Spoon a little of the juice over them, put them straight into a 425˚F oven, and bake until just cooked, when the flesh flakes easily from the bone - around 15 minutes. Or, if dinner is a while off, wait for the vegetables to cool. Arrange them and the fish in the roasting pan in the same way, but leave to marinate together for an hour or two before cooking in the oven: just as though you're in a hurry, as above, but for a little longer - 20-25 minutes.