Sea Bass in Acqua Pazza the simplest and most delicious recipe to prepare fish. I ate fish prepared this way for the first time about 30 years ago in a restaurant with Neapolitan cuisine. The recipe is really very simple and the little sauce that forms is truly delicious — it will be impossible not to scoop up every last trace of sauce from the pan with a slice of bread. This recipe works both for cooking in a pan and for baking in the oven, choose whichever you prefer, I assure you it turns out great both ways. Acqua pazza is a classic method for poaching fish. The fish is cooked simply with aromatic herbs, white wine and cherry tomatoes. With this recipe, besides sea bass (branzino), you can use gilt-head bream, mullet or John Dory. A typical Mediterranean dish that with few simple ingredients enhances the flavor of the fish. The origin of the name of this recipe goes back to fishermen of the Tyrrhenian Sea, more precisely from Campania and Lazio, who used seawater to cook fish, also due to the high taxes imposed on salt in the 1800s. The seawater with its little foam made the fish water a bit ‘crazy’. So let’s run to the kitchen and prepare together a delicious Sea Bass in Acqua Pazza
DON’T MISS THESE RECIPES TOO:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: For 2 people:
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 228.05 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 4.62 (g) of which sugars 4.83 (g)
- Proteins 33.53 (g)
- Fat 7.85 (g) of which saturated 1.68 (g)of which unsaturated 2.01 (g)
- Fibers 0.64 (g)
- Sodium 452.68 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Sea Bass in a Pan
- 1 sea bass (branzino) (about 1 1/2–1 3/4 lbs)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 glass white wine
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 sprig parsley
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- to taste salt
How to prepare Sea Bass in Acqua Pazza
Clean the fish, rinse it under running water and scale it. Place inside each sea bass a few pieces of garlic, a pinch of salt, some parsley and 2 cherry tomatoes cut in half. I prefer to make 2-3 slits on the back of the fish so it cooks better inside.
Now put the fish in a large pan, add the garlic clove, the white wine, 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the cherry tomatoes cut in half, the chopped parsley, a pinch of oregano and a little salt.
Also add half a glass of water and bring to a boil. Now let the fish cook for about 20 minutes over low heat with a lid. Do not keep the heat high to avoid the fish skin breaking during cooking.
For oven cooking prepare the fish in the same way and then place it with all the ingredients in a baking dish, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil or parchment paper and let it cook in a preheated oven at 374°F for about 15 minutes, then uncover and let it cook for another 3-4 minutes.
See you tomorrow with a new recipe, hugs, Loredana
Loredana’s Tips
Sea bass can be stored in a container in the fridge for one day
With the sauce you can also dress a plate of spaghetti
You can also use sea bass fillets; in that case the cooking times will be halved
Don’t miss also the recipe for my Salted cod in tomato sauce with olives and raisins
