Florida Black Grouper All Acqua Pazza Recipes

AQUA PAZZA

Steps:

• Heat a large straight-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, garlic, fennel, onion, and pepper flakes to the skillet. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, with a wooden spoon until the vegetables are soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Deglaze with the wine and stir, scraping up any bits form the bottom of the scraping. Add the tomatoes, water and capers. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, sprinkle the filets with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Slide the fish filets into the broth and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook until the fish is firm and opaque all the way through, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the lid and spoon some of the sauce over the fish. Sprinkle with parsley, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve with plenty of crusty bread to soak up the broth.

PESCE ALL'ACQUA PAZZA (FISH IN CRAZY WATER)

Steps:

• In a large skillet with high sides, combine the olive oil, garlic, fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes. Set over medium-low and cook, swirling occasionally, until sizzling and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add 2 1/2 cups water, the tomatoes and 2 teaspoons salt to the skillet. Bring to a boil over high, then cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the tomatoes are softened and the water is bright red and tastes like tomato, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Pat the fish dry and season with salt. Lay the fish into the tomato water, cover and cook until the fish is opaque and flakes easily, 4 to 8 minutes.
• Taste the water and adjust seasonings with salt and red-pepper flakes. If the liquid has reduced so much that it resembles sauce, add a little water until it looks like tomatoes suspended in red-tinted water. Serve the fish and tomato water in shallow bowls, with a drizzle of olive oil and bread for dunking.

FLORIDA GROUPER WITH CUCUMBER SLAW AND KEY LIME BUTTER SAUCE

Steps:

• For the slaw: Toss together the cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, rice vinegar, lime juice, cilantro, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
• For the key lime butter sauce: Bring the wine, shallots and bay leaves to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, add the heavy cream and lime zest and juice. Bring back to a boil and cook until reduced by half. Mix the cornstarch and water together and slowly whisk into the reduced cream.
• Once the mixture thickens turn the heat to low and add the butter a little at a time, whisking each time until fully incorporated. Run through a fine strainer and keep warm until serving.
• For the grouper: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it just begins to smoke. Season the grouper filets with salt and pepper, put in the skillet top-side down and cook until the flesh begins to crisp, about 2 minutes. Do not flip; transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the grouper flakes easily, 5 to 6 minutes.
• To serve, spoon some Key Lime Butter Sauce on each of 4 plates and top with a grouper filet browned-side up. Top each filet with some Cucumber Slaw and serve.

SEA BREAM IN CRAZY WATER (ORATA ALL'ACQUA PAZZA)

Steps:

• Heat half the oil in a large, lidded frying pan. Carefully slip the fish into the sizzling oil and cook for 4-5 mins until starting to brown. Flip over and scatter the garlic around the fish. Sizzle for 1 min more, then add the chilli and scatter over the tomatoes. Pour over the wine and let it bubble for 1 min, then pour over 100ml water and season generously with sea salt and pepper.
• Put on the lid, turn up the heat and simmer for 15 mins until the fish is cooked through - you can tell when the eyes turn bright white and the flesh feels softer.
• Lift each fish out the pan onto a serving plate and put the pan back on the heat. Add the capers and parsley, and boil hard for 1 min. You can now serve the fish and the sauce separately or slip them back into the pan, spoon some of the sauce over and bring the pan to the table. Drizzle with a little more oil just before serving.