Brodetto di Pesce alla Vastese con Peperoni Dolci
Abruzzo (Vasto), central Italy
Vasto's fish stew is distinguished from all other Adriatic brodetti by one irreplaceable ingredient: sweet bell peppers (peperoni dolci) cooked into the base — not as garnish but as a structural flavour component. A soffritto of olive oil, onion and garlic is built, then sliced sweet peppers are cooked until completely soft and beginning to caramelise. White wine deglazes, followed by crushed tomatoes. The fish is added in sequence by cooking time — first firm-fleshed cuttlefish or squid, then monkfish or bream, then clams and mussels added last. The stew simmers uncovered over medium heat, each fish type added at precisely the right moment. No bread thickening, no cream — the sweet pepper caramelisation and reduced fish juices provide all the body.