Acqua Pazza

Acqua Pazza (lit. crazy water in Italian) is used in Italian cuisine to refer to a recipe for poached white fish or to simply refer to the lightly herbed broth used to poach it.

While the dish originated from fishermen of the Neapolitan area, who would sautée the catch of the day in seawater together with tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil, the term itself most likely originated from Tuscany; Mezzadria peasants would make wine, but had to give most to the landlord, leaving little left for them to drink. The peasants were resourceful, however, and mixed the stems, seeds, and pomace leftover from the wine production with large quantities of water, brought it to a boil, then hermetically sealed in a terracotta vase and fermented it for several days. Called l'acquarello or l'acqua pazza, the result was a water barely colored with wine, which the fisherman may have been reminded of when seeing the broth of the dish, colored slightly red by the tomatoes and oil.

Acqua Pazza

 Ingredients

• 186    g trout (or swordfish)
• 1/2    cup onion, chopped
• 1    tsp olive oil
• 2    cloves garlic
• 2     anchovy fillets
• 1    cup tomatoes, diced
• 50    g carrot, diced
• 50    g green pepper, diced
• 4     button mushrooms, chopped
• 2    tbsp fresh parsley
• 1/4    cup wine (red or white)
• 1    cup water
• 1     salt & pepper to taste
• 1    wedge lemon

Method

• Saute the onion, garlic and anchovy in olive oil.
• Add tomatoes, carrot, pepper, & mushrooms, Cook until just tender.
• Splash in the wine and water, allow to come to a boil.
• Lay fish in water, cover and allow to sinner until cooked through.
• Top with parsley and season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon.