Paccheri alla spigola
Sea bass paccheri

Ingredients for 6 hungry people  

• 600g paccheri
• 1kg ungutted sea bass (see warning below)
• 60g onions
• 1kg cherry tomatoes
• 50g white wine
• 8g kosher salt
• 20g extra virgin olive oil
• 5g salt
• 5g laurel leaves
• 2g dry thyme
• 5g capers (optional)
• pepper

Procedure

For the broth:

1. Gut the fish and filet it, throwing away the guts, but keeping the bones, skin, and head;
2. Finely cut the onion;
3. In a pan, roast the onions with 5g of olive oil;
4. Add the fish bones and laurel leaves into the pan;
5. Let it roast on all sides and simmer with white wine;
6. Add boiling water and let it cook for 30 minutes;
7. Once the broth is ready, filter it with a sieve;
8. Concentrate it in a pan until it's thick, to avoid making your sauce too liquid.

For the sauce and pasta:

1. Boil 3L of water
2. Chop the cherry tomates in quarters;
3. Throw the pasta in the water, considering it will take approximately 12 to 18 minutes to cook;
4. Add 10g of olive oil in a large, very hot pan (note: this can also be done in smaller iterations if no large pan is available);
5. Roast the cherry tomatoes at most 3 minutes, on very high heat, then set aside;
6. Add 5g of olive oil in a pan, and roast the skinned fish filets with the thyme and optionally capers;
7. Add the tomatoes and fish broth, then cook for 5 minutes;
8. Drain the pasta 3 minutes early, and let it finish cooking in the sauce, then serve warm.

Be careful: gutting a fish may be a strong experience. In case you don't feel like, or don't have the time to do so, you can also get 400g of fish filet and fish broth, skipping the steps to make the broth.

Be careful: using too liquid fish broth in the sauce will require to overcook the fish to achieve the right density.