2 whole small sea bream or 1 large sea bass, cleaned and deboned
‘00’ or plain flour, to coat the fish
6tbsp olive oil
½ red chilli, depending on strength, finely chopped
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
600ml hot water or fish stock handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
Put 1 whole clove of garlic inside the cavity of each fish and finely slice the other cloves for the sauce. Season and flour the fish and tap off the excess flour. Heat half the oil in a frying pan and fry the fish for about 5 minutes on each side, remove the fish, then discard the oil from the pan.
Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the sliced garlic, chilli and cherry tomatoes for 2 minutes, making sure that the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the hot water or fish stock and bring to the boil. Allow it to boil viciously until the liquor reduces. Garnish with the parsley and serve immediately.
Home-made shellfish stock
5tbsp olive oil
300g lobster, crab or prawn heads and shells, or a mixture
1 white onion, cut into eighths
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped (add the leaves and ends too, if you like)
1 large tomato, quartered handful of parsley stalks
3 litres cold water
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry all the ingredients together over a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until they brown and start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Be brave and let them burn – it will add more flavour. Add the water and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for a further 10 minutes.
For a subtle stock, strain off the fish and vegetables and keep the liquor only. For a stronger flavour, pick out any lobster shells, leaving only the vegetables and prawn shells. Put all of this through a passatutto, or food mill, and grind. If you do not have one, use a sieve instead and push the soft vegetables through with a ladle. The stock will be thicker and more flavourful.
Recipes and photographs taken from The Amalfi Coast: A Collection of Italian Recipes by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, photography by Helen Cathcart (Hardie Grant, £25).
