A fish first course played on the mantecatura in broth, which best amplifies the aromas of the raw material. Eliche, Fish Soup, Red Pesto, and Black Olive Powder. A recipe by Nicola Annunziata.

Ingredients for 4

For the soup

1 kg clean soup fish
500 g "Piennolo" tomato pulp
Garlic, basil, and chili pepper to taste
Ice

Method

Sauté garlic, basil, and chili pepper, add the fish in order of size to the bottom and brown well (preferably section the fish before cooking to get maximum extraction).

Add the tomato pulp (strictly made from emptied cherry tomatoes before being dried, so fresh) and cover with plenty of ice. Let simmer on very low heat for 3 to 6 hours, until the soup has absorbed the flavor from all the fish and taken on the reddish color of the tomato.

Puree everything, to recover all the juices from the fish and reduce again until you have a flavorful and fragrant base to use for sautéing pasta.

For the pesto

5 kg of "Piennolo" tomatoes, emptied and dried slowly in the sun and sea wind, to recover saltiness and give natural flavor
500 ml extra virgin olive oil from Itri
1 crusco hot pepper
300 g of roasted pine nuts
Plenty of Basil

Method

Blend everything in the blender until smooth and Mediterranean-scented, with good, sweet/sour contrast and a roasted aroma.

For the pasta

400 g of Gragnano Eliche
400 ml fish soup extract
100 g red pesto
Gaeta black olive powder (dried and blended)

Method

Bring the pasta halfway through cooking in plenty of salted water, drain and finish cooking in the fish soup base, stirring in extra virgin olive oil when the pasta is perfectly al dente and set aside some of the base that will serve as the base of the dish.

Lay pasta in a bowl; garnish with slightly warmed red pesto, fennel sprouts, black olive powder.

Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon zest

Wine pairing by sommelier Riccardo Ricci

We suggest matching the Eliche, Fish Soup, Red Pesto, and Black Olive Powder with a Campania Falanghina from I Cacciagalli. We are in the upper Caserta area, about 300 meters above sea level, in the municipality of Aorivola, in Caianello. Here we find soils of volcanic origin at the foot of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, with many mineral salts (potassium above all), which bring important benefits to the vines, giving intense and richly scented wines.

Fermentation is spontaneous and takes place in concrete, with half-day maceration on the skins and aging in the same containers. This dish features Mediterranean flavors, so we propose a drink with a saline streak that will give guests the feeling of being by the sea.