Silvia's Brodetto
Just back from the US, where I was equally surprised at Silvia’s recovery rate from her surgery (says the proud daughter) and how un-acclimated I had become in a single year to hot weather. Sweating aside, Mom & I got some time together, in-between lazy sun-room naps and a couple tours of Richmond’s excellent breweries, to cook together. See,usually how blogging together works is that I record the recipes with mom over the phone and then test & photograph them here in the UK. Sure, I have to face-time her in pretty frequently for a web-diagnosis on the color, consistency, what a fist-full of some ingredient actually looks like etc, but I’ve made most of these recipes before, and at the very least grown up with them, so I know what they are suposed to taste like. I saved brodetto to make together because I’ve never made it, and, being a special occasion dish, I’ve only eaten it a handful of times. It’s a lot of work with a lot of steps, but don’t be intimidated. If you break it down, you’re making 2 types of super flavored fish stocks, and then gently cooking fish in that stock. I promise it’s worth it, but consider doing this recipe on, say, a saturday morning before a dinner party, and maybe when the dishwasher is empty. When it's all said and done with though, you should feel proud. Not only will you be full of delicious fish, but you'll have cooked old-country style, utilizing every piece (bones and all) and working hard to coax out the right flavors.
Brodetto originates from the adriatic coast of Italy and roughly translates to “little broth”. It is simply a selection of local fish, cooked and served in a bit of flavorful broth. But that's about as much consistency as we get on this recipe. As you travel down the coastline the Brodetto recipe changes along the way. Each town, nevermind region, has specific and serious rules around this dish, which are just as quickly broken as you move to the next town. This gorgeously written article will give you a little context to what I mean. Tomato, chilis, vinegar, safflower, the TYPES of fish: all of these are elements that generally define where you are based on what type of brodetto you are eating.
Silvia learned about brodetto in Alba Adriatica, a beach town in the region of Abruzzo where for many summers she would get into loads of trouble running off with the local kids, tagging along on boat trips without telling her parents, and watching fishermen cook brodetto with the leftover catch. That said, huge caveat, this is NOT a traditional brodetto recipe. This is my mom’s recipe, which she cobbled together from asking friends who grew up in the region, reading cookbooks, and adding ingredients throughout the years in an attempt to recreate exactly what vacation tasted like. But, since the rules are fast and loose on this, and this is the version WE grew up with, I’m confident we should share.
SERVING DETAILS
6 Servings
INGREDIENTS
- 4 ripe, medium-sized roma tomatoes, with an X cut into the bottom of each.
- ½ pound of shrimp, shell on
- 2.5 pounds of whole head-on fish, cleaned and scaled. Variety of fish depends on depending on what looks good, fresh and local. Here we used:
- 1 whole large snapper
- ¾ pound of skate wing
- 1 large red onion, diced, plus 1 quarter red onion diced, divided.
- 1 large sweet red pepper, cleaned of seeds and inner ribs, and sliced into small segments.
- ½ a can of chopped roma tomatoes (no additional flavorings)
- 2 anchovy filets
- ½ pound of squid bodies and tentacles, cleaned and bodies sliced into rings, reserving one whole body for the stock.
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 1 small pinch of nutmeg
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of parsley
- 2-3 pounds of clams, soaked in cold water and rinsed thoroughly.
- A splash of dry white wine
- 4 tablespoons vinegar
- Olive Oil, salt, pepper, white wine (optional) & red pepper flakes.
- Thick sliced bread like sourdough.
METHOD
The Two Broths:
- You need to make 2 broths: a clam broth and a fish broth, starting with the fish broth because it takes the longest.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the tomatoes and let them blanch for a few minutes, until the skin starts to peel away around the X. Drain and cool. Once cool, peel and chop the tomatoes, adding all to a bowl (including the juices) and set aside.
- Clean and peel the shrimp, reserving the shells in a large bowl, and shrimp in another, setting both aside.
- Remove the head and fins of the fish, and add to the bowl of shrimp shells. If very large, cut the body into two pieces and set aside.
- In a large dutch/french-oven style pot, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil and add the whole diced onion and season generously. Saute the onions over medium/ med-low heat until translucent but not brown
- Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, saute the peppers over high heat until very soft and slightly browned around the edges.
- Add the peppers to the onion mixture, along with the fish head(s)/ trimmings and shrimp shells. Add another pinch of salt and the canned tomato.
- Saute for 20 minutes over medium heat, smashing with the back of a spoon every now and then.
- Add the anchovy fillets, fresh tomatoes, the whole squid body, tomato paste a pinch of red pepper flakes and 3 cups of water to the pot. Season with a little salt & pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour, until it’s flavorful and a terracotta brick color. Add nutmeg, stir and turn off the heat. Set broth aside.
- Meanwhile, mince the parsley, a pinch of salt and the garlic together.
- Removing and setting aside about 10 clams, bring the rest of the clams to a boil in a large pan with with 1/4th a cup of the parsley mixture, a cup of water, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt & pepper, and a splash of white wine. Cook until opened.
- Set the cooked clams aside for use another time (we recommend a pasta with clams and garlic for lunch the next day, since you asked) strain the clam juice through a piece of cheesecloth or clean kitchen towel into a bowl and set aside.
- Once the fish broth has cooled, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing aggressively on the solids to make sure all the liquid is saved. I find working in batches is best here. Once strained, discard the solids and set the broth aside.
Brodetto:
- Season the whole fish pieces with salt & pepper.
- Optional: we like to do this, but it’s not necessary, it’s a nice to have. In a heavy-bottom high-sided pan, heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and sear the whole fish body for a few minutes until the skin is crisped, shaking the pan as you go. Make sure your pan is well oiled and really hot, otherwise the skin will stick. Set the fish aside.
- In that same pan, add other onions, the vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute over medium/ med-low heat for 5 minutes, until the onions are just soft, then add the rest of the parsley mixture, cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the squid and cook for about 1 -2 minutes, until just cooked through.
- In a dutch/ french- oven style pot, add the clam broth and fish broth and bring to slow simmer. Begin to layer in the fish depending on what takes the longest to cook, so we added the whole fish segments first, the squid, the fish fillets and the 10 raw clams, and then 8 minutes into cooking we added the shrimp. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, the clams should be open the and the fish should be cooked through.
- One last step before serving, very gently pull out the whole fish pieces (anything bone-in) and carefully remove the meat from the bones, ensuring no bones are left in each piece. Divide the fish meat into individual bowls and top with the rest of the brodetto fish, shellfish and broth.
- Serve with thick slices of toasted bread drizzled with olive oil.
