Mezzi paccheri with gurnard, olives and tomato

Mezzi paccheri with gurnard, olives and tomato

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SERVES 6

almonds 2 tablespoons, skin on

garlic 2 cloves, finely chopped

fresh flat-leaf parsley a small bunch (keep the stems for the stock)

mezzi paccheri or other short tubular pasta such as calamarata 500g

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

gurnard 3 medium, filleted, but heads and bones reserved

olive oil a little

mild red chilli 1, chopped

white wine a glass (35ml)

black olives, preferably Taggiasche 2 tablespoons, stones in, but crushed

cherry tomatoes 10, halved

extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons

For the stock:

olive oil a little

onion 1, finely chopped

carrot 1, finely chopped

celery 1 stalk, finely chopped

bay leaf 1

stems from the parsley (see above)

heads and bones from the gurnard (see above)

tomato purée 1 tablespoon

PREPARATION

   1 Preheat the oven to 180ÆC/gas 4. 2 Lay the almonds on a baking tray and put them into the oven for about 7 minutes, moving the tray around and giving it a shake occasionally so that the nuts become golden all over. 3 Remove the tray from the oven and allow the nuts to cool, then chop quite finely, but not too evenly, so that you have different textures in the finished sauce. 

 4 To make the stock, heat a little olive oil in a large pan, add the onion, carrot and celery with the herbs and cook gently until the onion is soft and translucent. 5 Add the fish heads (minus the eyes) and bones and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. 6 Add the tomato purée and stir all together for 2 minutes. 7 Finally, add 1.5 litres of water and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer for 15 minutes. 8 Put through a fine sieve and keep to one side.

9 Put one of the garlic cloves on a chopping board and crush into a paste with the back of a large knife. 10 Put a handful of parsley leaves on top and chop finely, so that the garlic and parsley combine and release their flavours into each other. 11 Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for about 12 minutes (or 3 minutes less than the time given on the packet instructions). 12 Remove the skin from the fillets of gurnard, and cut into chunks. 13 Chop the other garlic clove finely.

14 To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and chilli and cook gently for about a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic. 15 Add the pieces of fish, season, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until the fish becomes flaky and tries to stick to the bottom of the pan. 16 Add the wine and bubble up until the alcohol evaporates completely, then add half the reserved stock and the olives.

17 Drain the pasta and add to the pan of fish and sauce for 3 minutes, until the pasta has taken up some of the sauce, which should retain its silky consistency. If it starts to become dry, add a little more stock – don’t worry that the pasta might overcook. It won’t. 18 Add the tomatoes and the parsley and garlic. 19 Continue to stir, adding the extra virgin olive oil. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. 20 Spoon into a warmed serving dish and scatter with the toasted, chopped almonds.