Pollack or other white fish in tomato sauce
Merluzzo all’emiliana
Fish in tomato sauce may sound unusual, but the strongly flavoured pollack goes well with a penetrating tomato sauce, so all ingredients enhance each other.
This recipe, originally known as ‘Tinche all’emiliana’, should be made with tench. A freshwater fish of the carp family that you catch in the reservoirs between Ferrara and the Adriatic Sea along the Po floodplains. Not knowing any sport fishers, however, and not being particularly fond of carp, I have used pollack instead, and the taste it terrific. The strongly flavoured fish meat goes well with the characteristic and penetrating tomato sauce, so that all ingredients enhance each other. Together they make a truly nice catch.
Ingredients
400 g filet of pollack (or tench)
1 glass of white wine
1 shallot onion
1 clove of garlic
1 stalk of celery
1 carrot
400 g tomatoes
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Preparation
Clean the celery stalk and peel shallot, garlic and carrot.
Dice the vegetables finely.
Bring 1 ltr of water mixed with 1 glass of white wine to the boil.
Poach the fish filets for 3 minutes.
Remove the fish without throwing out the boiling water.
Heat olive oil in a casserole and lightly fry onion, garlic, celery and carrot.
Mix vegetables with tomatoes and a little boiling water and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour the sauce into an oven proof dish, place the poached fish and a spoonful of vegetables on top and heat it in the oven at 150 C/ 300 F for 15 minutes.
Try also:
Cod with potatoes, squash, capers and anchovies
Pollack and other strong tasting white fish are delicious when cooking with tomato sauce
This looks very tasty. I normally don’t eat fish with a red sauce like this, but I’d say it’s time to give something new a try!
Looks fantastic, I’m ready to eat it now!