🇮🇹 Italy · Abruzzo (Vasto)
Brodetto alla vasteseVasto fish stew
Vasto's brodetto: a red, tomato-rich fish stew built on sweet green and red peppers and cooked in a terracotta pot, with fish added in stages and small shellfish common.
Origin and history
Brodetto alla vastese, 'lu vrudatte' in the dialect of Vasto on the southern coast of Abruzzo, joins the town's fishing to its market gardens. Fishermen once carried their catch along the road from the gardens to the town square, sometimes bartering it for produce. Its peppers and ripe tomatoes, crops from the Americas, give it a red colour and sweetness unlike the vinegar-sharp brodetti of the Marche. It is still cooked and brought to the table in the wide terracotta tijella.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 300 g10 oz small cuttlefish or squid, cleaned; small ones left whole, larger ones cut in pieces
- 6 mantis shrimp (panocchie), or large shell-on prawns
- 500 g1.1 lb small whole rockfish: gurnard (gallinella), scorpionfish (scorfano), weever (tracina), gutted and scaled, left whole
- 4 red mullet (triglie), gutted and scaled
- 300 g10 oz hake (nasello, merluzzo), cut into thick pieces
- 2 small sole, skinned, left whole
- 500 g1.1 lb mussels, scrubbed and debearded; optional
- 600 g1.3 lb ripe fresh tomatoes (ideally the 'mezzotempo' type), chopped
- 2 sweet peppers, green or one green and one red, seeded, cut into strips
- 150 ml2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, local oil if possible
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped, divided
- 100 mlscant 1/2 cup cold water, see notes
- 1 fresh hot red chilli, optional
- salt, to taste
- 6-12 slices country bread, toasted, to serve
Method
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1. Rinse all the seafood under cold running water. Keep the small fish whole, and sort everything into firm pieces (cuttlefish, mantis shrimp, gurnard, scorpionfish, weever) and delicate pieces (mullet, hake, sole).
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2. Use a wide terracotta pan (the Vasto 'tijella'), or a wide, heavy, shallow pan about 32 cm (12-13 in) across. Put in the oil, pepper strips, garlic, half the parsley, the water and a good pinch of salt, all cold.
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3. Set the pan over medium heat, on a heat diffuser if it is terracotta, and raise the heat gradually. Cook for about 5 minutes after it starts to sizzle, until the peppers soften.
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4. Add the tomatoes and keep at a lively simmer for 8-10 minutes, until they collapse into a loose red sauce.
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5. Add the firm seafood first: the cuttlefish and mantis shrimp, then 3 minutes later the gurnard, scorpionfish and weever.
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6. Lay the mullet, hake and sole on top, then tuck the mussels in around the edges.
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7. Cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes. Never stir: now and then, hold the pan and move it in a slow circle on the burner so the fish settles without breaking.
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8. The brodetto is ready when the mussels have opened and the flesh of the larger fish lifts from the bone. Discard any mussels that stay shut.
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9. Crumble the chilli over the top if using, scatter the rest of the parsley and let the pan rest for 5 minutes off the heat.
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10. Serve in the pan at the table with toasted bread. Keep the leftover sauce to dress a plate of pasta afterwards.
Notes
- What sets Vasto's brodetto apart is the sweet pepper and a lot of ripe tomato, which make it intensely red. It uses no vinegar, unlike the Marche brodetti of Fano and San Benedetto del Tronto.
- Water: some Vasto cooks put a little cold water in the pan with the oil and peppers, while others add none and let the fish cook in its own juices and the tomato. With very juicy summer tomatoes, leave the water out.
- Tomatoes: out of season, Vasto cooks use their own jarred summer tomatoes. Good tinned whole tomatoes are the nearest substitute.
- Fish: scorpionfish, weever, gurnard, cuttlefish, mullet and mantis shrimp form the core. Hake, smooth-hound, small skate and squid come in with the season. Prawns, scampi and mussels are later additions.
- Chilli is optional. Some Vasto cooks add it and some leave it out.
- Serving: bread is served alongside rather than under the fish. Afterwards, plain boiled pasta tossed in the remaining sauce is a local custom. A Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo rosé is the classic wine.
- The parent brodetto page explains the family. The Fano and San Benedetto styles have their own recipes.
Adapted from Scatti di Gusto, "Brodetto di pesce alla vastese, ricetta originale" (Jean Pierre Soria) and Italia Sweet Italia, "Brodetto of the Adriatic Sea: the flavor challenge between Fano and Vasto".
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Italy.
Earlier editions
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August 12, 2026 – August 16, 2026
🇮🇹 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Benedetto Brodetto
On the menu as Brodetto Vastese
By Osteria del Brodetto