Red mullet is DG’s absolute fish, its flavour is unique and it cannot be compared with any other fish´s
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 4 € pp)
- Salt
- 320 g whole wheat penne
- 12 small red mullets (about 1/2 kilo total)
- EV sunflower oil
- EV olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- the solid parts of a tomato can
- fennel leaves for garnishing
One of the things I love in Greece is that I can find wonderful cheap fish. Modern consumers adore big, fleshy (and tasteless) fish, so the smaller ones are not too popular, something that keeps small fish price at low levels.
Red mullets (striped or not) are my favourite fish as their flesh tastes ……. sea and iodine. The big ones are expensive (about 35 E per kg),but the smaller and tastier ones cost about 15 E per kg!!!!! The striped ones are better, but even the common ones are excellent. So, when you find fresh red mullets from the Mediterranean sea, buy them and prepare this magnificent dish.
CAUTION: Red mullets from the African coasts of the Atlantic ocean (much larger than the European ones) are awful. DO NOT BUY them and find another tasty fish, even cheaper as sardines, to prepare this ragù with the same way.
Let´s start. First of all, we fry in sunflower oil the red mullets, in batches of 3. We remove heads and spines and we keep aside the flesh. We mince the heads and the spines in the food processor, and we add 300 ml of filtered water. Starting from low temperatures, we let simmer for about 30 – 40 mins, we pass from a very fine sieve and we discard the solid parts.
In a cold pan with olive oil we add the garlic clove cut in slices. We bring to heat and we gently fry it till golden. We add the tomato and the stock and we leave the sauce thicken. We add the fish flesh and the fennel leaves and we se salt it.
We bring to boil a pot with salted water and we add the penne.
When the pasta is ready (1 minute less than al dente of course) we add it in the pan with the sauce and the red mullet flesh to mantecare, adding some boiling water from the pot.
We put in plates and we serve.
Cheese is strictly forbidden at this pasta dish.
