It is the main fish course in Marche with many variations – from the north to the south, Fano, Ancona, Porto Recanati and San Benedetto.
Brodetto Marche-style, we love it
Ingredients for 6 servings
Time 1 hour 30 mins
400 g peeled tomatoes
200 g smoothhound
8 mantis shrimp
4 red mullet
4 scampi
4 hake
4 small sole
3 clean cuttlefish
1 small scorpionfish
1 tub gurnard
1 grey mullet
1 mackerel
1 onion
parsley
garlic
white vinegar
sliced bread
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
Marche-style fish soup step by step
1. Scale, gut, cut the head and chop the scorpionfish, tub gurnard and grey mullet. Gut, cut the head and chop the mackerel; gut and cut the head of the hake; skin and gut the sole and scale and gut the red mullet. Set the scraps aside for the broth. Lightly fry the cleaned and sliced onion in a drizzle of olive oil and add a bunch of chopped parsley and garlic slices.
2. Add the fish scrap, tomatoes, 500 g water and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 30’ to obtain a ‘brodetto’ (broth).
3. Strain the broth or pass it through a vegetable mill, so only the liquid part is left and bring once again to the boil with the lid on.
4. Add the cuttlefish to the broth, followed by the mantis shrimp and the scampi after 10’, the mullet and the mackerel after 5’ and the sole and red mullet after another 2’. Cook for 5’ and then add the scorpionfish, tub gurnard, hake and smoothhound. When it returns to the boil, add 60 g vinegar, remove the lid and cook for another 15’. Pour the soup into a bowl and serve on top of slices of home-style bread.