This recipe amazes even guests who say "Nah....I don't like fish". Use any
fish firm enough to poach without falling apart. Recipe includes text from
the original book. I usually quadruple the garlic, but experiment first.
Also works nicely with shrimp or scallops.

Fish in Crazy Water

PESCE ALL'ACQUA PAZZA

Recipe from "Marcella Cucina" by Marcella Hazan



1 1/2 pounds fresh, ripe tomatoes

4 cups of water

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thin

2 tablespoons very finely chopped parsley

Chopped red chili pepper, 1/8 teaspoon or to taste, or dried red pepper
flakes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt

A 1 1/2- to 2-pound red snapper, filleted with its skin left on

Optional: 4 slices of

day-old or grilled sourdough bread

For 4 persons



One of the most frequently recurring conversational expressions in the
dialect of my native Romagna is anicreid, "I don't believe it." That
skepticism is a characteristic I share with people of my region. When a dish
has a fanciful name, I resist trying it, feeling that it has been dressed up
to cover up a lack of substance. Had it been up to me, I never would have
sampled that Neapolitan creation, fish in crazy water. "What's crazy water
go to do with cooking and anyway, who wants to eat fish in water?" Such were
my thoughts, until my friend from Amalfi, Pierino Jovine, one day simply
brought the dish to the table without asking or telling. Now, I am the one
who goes crazy over it. Water is what brings together all the seasoning
ingredients, the tomatoes, garlic, parsley, chili pepper, salt, and olive
oil. They simmer in it for a full 45 minutes, exchanging and compounding
their flavors, producing a substance that is denser than a broth, looser,
more vivacious, and fresher in taste than any sauce, in which you then cook
the fish.



1.Peel the tomatoes raw using a swiveling-blade vegetable peeler, and chop
them roughly with all their juice and seeds. The yield should be about 2
cups.



2.Choose a saute pan in which the fish fillets can be subsequently fit
flat without overlapping. Put in the water, garlic, chopped tomatoes,
parsley, chili pepper, olive oil, and salt. Cover the pan, turn the heat to
medium, for 45 minutes.



3.Uncover the pan, turn up the heat, and boil the liquid until it has been
reduced to half its original volume.



4.Add the fish, skin facing up. Cook for 2 minutes, then gently turn it
over, using two spatulas. Add a little more salt and cook for another 12
minutes or so. Serve promptly over the optional bread slice.