Brodetto Vastese di Pesce Misto

Ingredients

• 400 g San Marzano tomatoes, peeled
• 120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 dried chillies, or to heat preference
• For the thirteen fish — firm-fleshed (first addition)
• 300 g gronco (conger eel), cut into large sections
• 300 g razza (ray), cut into large sections
• 300 g scorfano (scorpionfish), whole or halved
• 250 g gallinella (gurnard), whole
• For the thirteen fish — second addition
• 250 g calamari (squid), cleaned, left whole if small
• 200 g triglie (red mullet), whole, scaled and gutted
• 200 g palombo (smooth-hound shark) or altro pesce sodo, large pieces
• 200 g seppie (cuttlefish), cleaned, scored
• 200 g mazzancolle or gamberi (large prawns), shell on
• 200 g cefalo (grey mullet) or pagello (sea bream), whole or halved
• 200 g merluzzo (hake) or nasello, large sections
• 200 g vongole (clams) or cozze (mussels), scrubbed
• 200 g occhiata (saddled bream) or altro pesce bianco, whole if small
• To serve
• 8 slices pane cafone, toasted

Method

1. 1
   Place the iron tiella di ferro over a moderate flame. Pour in the olive oil and warm it. Add the garlic and chilli. Cook until the garlic is pale gold and fragrant — it must not brown.
2. 2
   Add the peeled San Marzano tomatoes directly to the iron pot. Crush them lightly with a spoon. Allow the sauce to reduce and concentrate for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it deepens in colour and the raw tomato smell has entirely cooked out.
3. 3
   Lay in the firm-fleshed fish only — conger eel, ray, scorpionfish, and gurnard — in a single, even layer over the tomato base. Add no water. The fish will begin to release their own liquid. Cover the tiella and cook for 10 minutes. The broth forming in the pan should smell deeply of the sea and iron.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: add the remaining nine species — calamari, red mullet, cuttlefish, prawns, grey mullet, hake, clams, bream, and the balance of the thirteen — arranged over the first fish without disturbing them. The sequence of addition is the structural principle of the Vasto tradition; all delicate fish added from this point forward. Cover, reduce heat, and cook for a further 8–10 minutes.
5. 5
   Remove the lid. Inspect the broth: if it runs thin and watery, raise the heat and allow it to reduce uncovered until it becomes glossy and concentrated, clinging to the back of a spoon. No water is ever added. The broth is ready when it coats a piece of bread held briefly in it without immediately soaking through.
6. 6
   Place two slices of toasted pane cafone in each wide bowl. Ladle the brodetto over the bread — fish and broth together — ensuring each portion contains specimens from all cooking stages. The bread should absorb the broth at the base while remaining textured above.