Cacciucco Livornese Tradizionale con Cinque Pesci

Ingredients

• 300 g scorpionfish (scorfano), cleaned, cut into large pieces
• 300 g monkfish, cleaned, cut into large pieces
• 200 g conger eel, cleaned, cut into large pieces
• 200 g red mullet (triglie), cleaned, left whole or halved
• 200 g gurnard (gallinella), cleaned, left whole or halved
• 200 g mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 200 g clams, purged of sand
• For the soffritto
• 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, 2 for the soffritto, lightly crushed; 2 reserved for rubbing the bread
• 6 fresh sage leaves
• 1 dried whole chilli
• 250 ml red wine, Tuscan, full-bodied
• 500 ml tomato passata
• For the bread
• 8 slices stale bread, cut thick, toasted until hard

Method

1. 1
   Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the lightly crushed garlic, sage leaves, and whole dried chilli. Cook until the garlic turns pale gold and the oil is fragrant with sage — the kitchen will smell of the Livornese port market. Remove the garlic and chilli only if they threaten to burn; in the traditional preparation they remain.
2. 2
   Raise the heat to high. Pour in the red wine and allow it to deglaze the soffritto completely, scraping any deposit from the base of the pot. Cook until the sharp alcohol smell dissipates and the liquid reduces by roughly half, leaving a dark, glossy reduction — this is where the dish lives or dies: the red wine, not white, gives the stew its defining deep red-brown colour and tannin backbone; substituting white wine produces a fundamentally different dish.
3. 3
   Add the tomato passata. Stir to combine with the reduction. Bring to a steady simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the passata has concentrated into a thick, deeply coloured base that coats the back of a spoon — it must not be watery.
4. 4
   Add the firm fish first: the scorpionfish, monkfish, and conger eel, along with the mussels and clams. Press them gently into the broth. Cover and cook over medium heat until the shellfish have opened and the firm flesh offers only slight resistance when pressed — approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Discard any shellfish that remain closed.
5. 5
   Lay the delicate fish — the red mullet and gurnard — over the surface of the stew. Replace the lid and cook only until their flesh turns opaque and just begins to flake at the thickest point when probed with the tip of a knife — no more than 5 to 6 minutes. Overcooking disintegrates these species.
6. 6
   While the final fish poach, toast the bread slices until completely hard through. While still warm, rub each slice on both sides with the cut face of the reserved garlic cloves. Place two slices in each warmed bowl.
7. 7
   Ladle the thick broth over the bread first and allow it to soak for a moment — this is the first of the two traditional Livornese courses. Then arrange the fish and shellfish over and around the soaked bread. The finished surface should be deep garnet, glossy, and dense; a watery surface indicates insufficient reduction.