Sea Bolognese
This recipe almost caused a divorce when my flatmate told me that the monkfish was overcooked. But, after counting to 10, I explained him that overcooking is the essence of ragu', and this was exactly a ragu' made of fish, and thus I suggested him to just shut up and eat (as my sister in law says, they call it democracy but it's not!)
I was inspired by an italian TV show during a lazy afternoon for this pasta, but the final push was given by the amazing fish market in Alicante. There is everything you can dream of, and even more. My favourite item is the "morralla" or the "sopa", i.e. mixed crustacean or fish which are sold only to make fish stock for like a couple of euros. I tried both and the fish stock that comes out of them is just amazing, especially compared to that done with the heads of frozen langostines came all the way from south-east asia (as I used to do when I lived far from the Mediterranean).
MALTAGLIATI WITH FISH RAGU
(serves 2)
for the ragu:
Good fish stock (possibly made of mantis shrimps)
1 small monkfish
4 mantis shrimps per person
peeled red tomatoes
parsley
ground pepper
1 garlic clove
oil EVO
for the pasta:
2 eggs
200 gr flour
1 pinch of salt
Start with the pasta: mix eggs, salt and flour, let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes and then flatten the pasta with a rolling pin until ~1mm thick. Roll the pasta like in the picture and cut irregular triangles to make maltagliati.
Make a very good fish stock and keep it aside. In a pan, gently fry the garlic clove in a couple of spoons of oil EVO, add the peeled tomatoes chopped in pieces, the fish and cover in fish stock. After 20 minutes remove the fish from the pan, take out the flesh and discard the rest. Cut it in small pieces and put back into the sauce. Cook the maltagliati directly inside the sauce and serve extremely hot with chopped parsley and ground pepper.
