A dish old as the ages, one that pungently depicts the Sards’ seminal appetite for the long bathing of fish or game in some puckerish sauce is burrida. Traditionally prepared with gattucci di mare—sea catfish—the sauce is enriched with the pounded raw livers of the fish. Here follows a version using orata—red snapper—or coda di rospo—monkfish—though river catfish can also be called upon with fine result. Present the burrida as an antipasto or a main course to savvy, unshy palates.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
The Sauce
The Fish
Preparation
The Sauce
Step 1
With a mezzaluna or a very sharp knife, mince the garlic with the parsley to a fine paste. In a small sauté pan over a medium flame, warm 2/3 cup of the olive oil and sauté the paste, taking care not to color it. Add the perfumed oil to a very large bowl, setting the pan aside a moment. Add the sea salt, generous grindings of pepper, and the vinegar, beating the sauce with a fork.
Step 2
If you are using red snapper and are opting to incorporate their livers into the sauce, take the same small sauté pan and, over a lively flame, warm the 1 tablespoon of olive oil and quickly sauté the livers, tossing them about for 1 minute, mashing them into the oil. Add the livers to the sauce, amalgamating them well.
Step 3
Add the walnuts and the pine nuts, giving the sauce a final stir. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap while it awaits the fish.
The Fish
Step 4
Rinse the fish under very cold water. Place cold water in a large pot to the depth of 6 inches and, over a lively flame, bring the water to a simmer, add the vinegar and the sea salt. Lower the flame, add the fish, and permit the liquid to barely simmer around it, poaching it for 8 minutes if you are using snapper, 6 to 8 minutes for the monkfish—depending on the thickness of the fillets—or until the flesh is opaque. Remove the fish with a large, slotted spoon to absorbent paper towels before transferring it immediately to bathe in its sauce.
Step 5
With two forks, break up the fish, tossing it about in the sauce, permitting the hot fish to inhale the good flavors. Leave the fish to cool in the sauce. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
Step 6
The burrida can wait several hours in a cool place far from the refrigerator. Just before presenting it, transfer the burrida to a large, shallow bowl, strewing it with the warm bread crumbs. Find a white wine that, even cooled to its heart, can fence nicely with each lush layer of the dish’s flavors.
