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1
Prepare the capers: rinse under cold running water, submerge in fresh cold water and soak for 10 minutes, then squeeze dry in a cloth. Scale the triglie and rinse briefly under cold water. Do not gut them — the liver remains inside. Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. The fish must be surface-dry before it meets the pan.
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2
Place a wide, heavy pan over a high flame. Add the olive oil and heat until the surface shimmers and a single drop of water evaporates on contact instantly — the pan must be very hot. Lay the triglie in without crowding. Fry 90 seconds per side without moving them. The fish is ready to turn when it releases cleanly from the pan and the underside is gold at the edges.
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3
This is where the dish lives or dies: the moment the fish are seared, add the sliced garlic and dried chilli directly to the oil around the fish and let them colour for no more than 20 seconds, then immediately pour the hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes over and around the fish — the tomato must arrest the garlic before it burns. Scatter the soaked capers in. The total time in tomato from this point is 6–8 minutes at a steady simmer; beyond 8 minutes the flesh of the red mullet disintegrates and the liver, which enriches the sauce as it dissolves, turns acrid. Taste the sauce at 6 minutes: it should be round, slightly bitter from the liver, and bright with tomato.
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4
At 4 minutes into the tomato stage, scatter the first handful of roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley into the sauce. At the moment of finishing — sauce thickened slightly, fish just holding its shape — remove from the heat. Add the second handful of raw parsley directly over the fish. The raw parsley is vivid green and fragrant where the cooked parsley has mellowed into the sauce.
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5
Serve immediately, directly from the pan or in warmed terracotta. Red mullet deteriorates within minutes of finishing; the dish must reach the table within 3 minutes.