Brodetto alla Marchigiana — Adriatic Fish Stew

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg mixed Adriatic fish (ideally 13 varieties: monkfish, cuttlefish, dogfish, sea bream, red mullet, langoustines, mantis shrimp, clams, mussels, and supplementary varieties as available), cleaned; cuttlefish with ink sac kept intact if possible
• For the base
• 1 large white onion, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 pinch saffron, dissolved in 80 ml warm water
• 300 g fresh tomatoes or passata, not concentrated
• To serve
• 4 slices coarse country bread, grilled over charcoal if possible, rubbed with garlic

Method

1. 1
   Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over a medium flame. Add the onion and garlic and soften without colouring until the onion is translucent and yielding — 10 to 12 minutes. The onion must not brown: the base of a Marchigiani brodetto is pale, not caramelised.
2. 2
   Add the white wine vinegar and let it reduce for 30 seconds. Add the saffron dissolved in its warm water and the tomato. Stir to combine and bring to a lively simmer. The base should be golden-orange, faintly acidic on the nose, and thin — this is a clean broth, not a thick sauce.
3. 3
   Add the firm fish first: monkfish, cuttlefish, and dogfish. If the cuttlefish ink sac is intact, pierce it directly into the broth. Do not stir. Shake the pan to settle the fish into the liquid. Cook at a steady simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until the monkfish offers slight resistance when pressed at its thickest point.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: add the medium-firm fish — sea bream and red mullet — followed 3 to 4 minutes later by the delicate fish and shellfish: langoustines, mantis shrimp, clams, and mussels. Do not stir at any stage; shake the pan only. The total time from the first fish to service is 20 to 25 minutes. The sequence is absolute — collapsing it into a single addition will overcook the delicate shellfish before the firm fish is tender, and the complexity of the broth, built from the simultaneous release of many different stocks, will be lost.
5. 5
   The stew is ready when the clams and mussels have fully opened, the langoustines are opaque through their flesh, and the broth is golden-orange with a clean, saline, faintly acid aroma. Any bivalve that has not opened must be discarded.
6. 6
   Place a slice of grilled, garlic-rubbed bread in each wide shallow bowl. Ladle the fish and broth over the bread together, distributing varieties evenly across portions. The bread will absorb the broth; this is intended.