brodetto di pesce | italian fish stew in tomato broth with artichokes
Today, which lost me an hour of sleep and laid waste to America’s circadian rhythm in the process of “springing forward,” is also the unofficial start to the season in Los Angeles otherwise known as “is it early summer or is it fall?": when the days alternate between 70ºF sun and gloomy wet despair, and when the nights trigger the heat to kick on and thunderstorms wake you up out of nowhere at 3am.
This kind of weather is when stews feel suddenly too heavy but grilling still feels months out of reach, making this the narrow window when this dish—an oxymoronic “lightweight stew” that’s the equivalent of coastal mediterranean fishermen peasant food—goes from sounding kinda bizarre to sounding like exactly what you’re in the mood for.
It isn’t at all what I thought I would be making when I scored a giant fresh wild caught halibut filet at Whole Foods earlier today. It also wasn’t something that, until today, I knew had a name and history more relevant to me than I’d ever realized.
I came up with the concept for the dish before researching whether the Italians had invented it first, but that was the wrong order. Turns out, Brodetto di Pesce (literally, Broth of Fish) is another one of those Italian template dishes with no protocol. You can allegedly find a version in every town up and down the eastern coast, from Venice all the way to Abruzzo and south to Bari, where my grandmother’s family was from. But deeper in the wikipedia k-hole, I found there is a twin dish across the sea from Italy in Croatia that may actually be The Original; it similarly has different versions up and down its Adriatic side from Dalmatia to Istria and down into Montenegro.
Stating the obvious here, but the cultural venn diagram of Italian and Balkan has only a very small center overlap, and let me just say that I am living proof these two ingredients can prove somewhat difficult emulsify in the same vessel. But I’m also living proof that, sometimes, it works—and so is this dish.
Any way you cut it, it’s the same basic premise: a fisherman’s stew, with meaty cubes of poached white fish; lots of garlic, tomato and white wine give it a kind of a mussels-in-broth vibe to the prep. A pinch of chilis add heat; chopped herbs give it freshness. I added artichokes because I recently found an unused can from early quarantine last year, but also because they felt right, lemony and textural. While Brudet/Brodetto can be made “correctly” in about as many ways as there are tiny Adriatic towns, with the addition of shrimp or squid or olives or whatever else all valid, two things are always consistent: there is always wine, and the maximum number of pots it is made in is always one.
I planned to make enough of this to, in theory, leave us leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch. We did not have leftovers. Let that tell you what you need to know.
RECIPE
A regional dish of both Italian and Balkan communities along the Adriatic coast they share, this fish stew features meaty cubes of white fish simmered gently in a fragrant garlic and white wine tomato broth and is best served, of course, with crusty bread.
Effortful time: <10 minutes
Total time: <30 minutes
Serves: 2
YOU NEED
1 lb. super fresh white fish, cut into 1.5” cubes; I like meaty ones that make big flakes, like halibut, but monkfish, rockfish, cod, black cod, or snapper would all work
6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 can quartered artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
1 cup dry white wine; I keep these lil minis in the pantry for such situations
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth; I mixed 1/2 tsp. of chicken Better Than Bouillon into a half cup of water and recommend doing the same
14 oz. can cherry tmoatoes; recently I’ve been able to find these at Whole Foods (or online always), but if you can’t, whole canned plum tomatoes will work—just cut them up in the can first with a pair of kitchen scissors
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pinch of chili flakes, optional
1/2 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Crusty bread for serving, if you’re so inclined
MAKE IT
Prep your ingredients. This dish goes fast. I chop my parsley and garlic, put in a small prep cup, then cube the fish. This way you only have to wash one knife and one cutting board.
Begin making your flavor base. In a high-sided skillet or Dutch oven with a lid, gently heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Throw in the artichoke hearts and cook without disturbing for 2 minutes, then shake and cook for another 2 minutes or until beginning to get caramelized on the outside. Then lower the heat to low, then add your garlic and sauté, stirring often, until soft and fragrant, about a minute (a little longer if your slices are thicker).
Deglaze and build your broth. Pour in the white wine and stir to quickly deglaze. Then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and chili flakes, and stir to combine. Simmer the stew base on low for about 10 minutes, or until just beginning to reduce.
Poach the fish. Cube your fish and lightly salt. Then add the fish pieces to the stew, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes to poach. Check the fish—it should be 130ºF and easily flaked. If it’s not, cover and cook a minute longer, check again, and repeat as needed.
Serve. Pull off the heat and stir in parsley, then crack some black pepper on top. Serve in shallow bowls, optionally with bread, ideally one that’s mostly crust.