As a new Christmas Eve entree this year, we wanted easy and highly flavorful. This dish definitely fit the ticket. Acqua pazza means “crazy water” in Italian and essentially, you just make a chunky broth and then you pour it over the fish and bake it. The fish comes out extremely moist, delicate, flaky and really delicious. You keep things very simple with this recipe and you can move quickly with it if you need to eat in a hurry. If you have some time, you can prepare your acqua pazza up front and then just dump it over the fish and bake about 25 minutes before you’re ready to eat.
This dish was made with Chilean Sea Bass because that was what was provided to me. If you want to keep your cost down, you can choose orange roughy, grouper, tilapia or even trout. With a thinner fish, you won’t need nearly as long of a bake time.
I think this dish will become a new Christmas Eve staple for my family. Pesce all'acqua pazza meaning crazy water is a simplistic and delicious way to prepare fish.
Ingredients
- 1 lb flaky white fish (sea bass, roughy)
- 1/2 white onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 lb cherry tomatoes
- 4 oz stock
- 4 oz white wine
- 1 handful parsley
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400.
- Finely chop carrot, onion, celery and garlic. Halve cherry tomatoes.
- Set a pot over medium heat and when hot, add 3 tbsp olive oil and the carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and saute until fragrant, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add wine and scrape up brown bits from bottom. When loosened, add stock, tomatoes and capers. Cover and bring to a simmer. When simmering, mash up tomatoes a bit with the back of a spoon or a masher. Check for seasoning.
- Check for seasoning and remove from heat. Add in chopped parsley.
- Lightly oil a baking dish large enough to hold fish and sauce. Put fish in, skin side down and season with salt and pepper.
- Pour sauce over fish and bake for 20-25 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
- Serve alongside rice or pasta.
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- All the ingredients
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- Sauteing veggies
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- Add tomatoes, stock, capers
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- Pour into dish
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- Baked fish
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- Pesce all’Acqua Pazza
Parrellab
December 28, 2011 at 6:38 pm
This dish turned out great. Sea bass was cooked to perfection and the flavors of the vegetables added to the overall great taste. And, preparation was easy. Great recipe for feeding guests.
Mom
December 28, 2011 at 6:44 pm
This selection for Christmas Eve was tremendous. Sea bass came out perfect. Vegetables added to the great flavors. Easy meal to serve guests.
Mom
January 4, 2012 at 5:46 pm
Today I made this recipe with cod. Well, not to be repetitive, it came delicious. Prep was easy. After veggies were done, I had two pounds of cod which I placed, in a glass casserole, over a small amount of olive oil. Poured the veggies over the fish and placed in a 350 degree convect oven. I cooked it for about 15 minutes until I saw that the cod was flaky. A good cook can actually smell when the dish is done. End result, my husband and I finished all but a dish which I saved for my sister. Try this dish, you will be surprised how easy it is and how delicious it is.