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1
Select a wide, lidded pan — a sauteuse or shallow casserole — large enough to hold the fish in a single layer without crowding. Pour in the olive oil, white wine, and water. Add the halved cherry tomatoes, crushed garlic, dried chilli, and parsley stalks. Set over a medium flame and bring the liquid to a temperature of 85 °C — a bare, trembling simmer at which isolated bubbles rise but no rolling boil forms. The broth is ready when its surface shimmers with oil swirls that have not emulsified into the water; this separation is correct.
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2
Lower the scaled, ungutted fish into the barely simmering acqua pazza. The fish must be submerged to at least half their depth. Cover the pan immediately with a tight-fitting lid. This covered environment poaches the fish from below and steams it from above simultaneously. Maintain the temperature strictly at 85 °C throughout — adjust the flame as needed. This is where the dish lives or dies: a boil toughens the flesh, breaks the skin, and collapses the aromatic broth; a correct bare simmer yields flesh that is just-set, skin that is intact, and a broth that remains clean and distinct. Cook for 12–15 minutes for a fish of approximately 500 g.
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3
At the end of cooking, lift the lid and test the fish at its thickest point — the flesh behind the gill plate — by pressing gently with a fingertip. It must yield with the faintest resistance, neither hard nor collapsing. The skin should be intact and the broth beneath the fish should have absorbed the juices released from the visceral cavity, deepening in colour and flavour.
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4
Transfer the fish carefully to warmed shallow bowls or a serving dish. Pass the broth through a fine sieve directly over the fish, pressing the tomatoes lightly to extract their juice. Scatter the reserved raw parsley leaves generously over the fish at the moment of service — the raw parsley note must contrast the cooked herbs in the broth. Pour the broth generously; it is as important as the fish. Serve immediately with bread for dipping.