Let’s discover the world that is inside the Vasto-style brodetto

Typical of Abruzzo, the brodetto alla vastese contains the flavors of the sea and the earth. Here’s how to prepare it with the original recipe.

Brodetto alla vastese is not a simple fish soup. In fact, it houses more than two centuries of history and peasant wisdom. Also known by the dialect term lu vrudàtte , it was created to reuse the smaller and unsold fish brought home by fishermen in the typical scafetta . Today the recipe for Vastese-style fish soup is strictly codified and includes both fish and vegetables.

The mezzotempo tomato (i.e. the Florentine ribbed tomato) together with pepper, chilli pepper, parsley and garlic represent the vegetable part of the dish, introduced by housewives to make it even tastier. As for fish, on the other hand, gurnard, scorpion fish, ray, cuttlefish, sole, monkfish, sea cicada, weever, mullet, cod are inevitable, while at discretion it is possible to add mussels and clams. There are some rules to follow to prepare a perfect Vasto fish soup: the first is never to cut the fish (except for the larger ones that just don’t fit in the pan), the second involves the use of an earthenware pan and finally the last and perhaps most important… that is, never mix. Ready to cook?

How to prepare the recipe for the Vastese broth

1. First clean the fish by gutting it and removing the scales. You can also ask the fishmonger to prepare the fish already cleaned.
2. In an earthenware pan, sauté garlic, oil and chopped black pepper with a knife.
3. Then add the peppers and tomatoes, washed and cut into pieces of about one centimeter.
4. Also add a pinch of salt and cook for 20 minutes .
5. It’s time to add the fish in order of cooking , bearing in mind that the total time will need to be 15-20 minutes so that they don’t overcook. Start with the sea cicadas, continue with the cuttlefish, monkfish, weever, mullet, sole and cod fillets (inevitably). Finally add the prawns and mussels and clams at your discretion.
6. When cooked, serve the broth with toasted bread croutons seasoned with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Staying on the subject of fish soups, we recommend that you also try the northernmost version of the one we have just proposed, that is the Brodetto alla Fano .

storage

Like all fish recipes, it is always better to avoid storing them for too long. Consume the fish broth within one, maximum two days , heating it in a pan. We do not recommend freezing in the freezer.