An ancient practice to conserve some windfall of fish or vegetables is to fry them in good olive oil and tuck them under coverlets of bread crumbs into a vinegary bath. The addition of saffron is a fillip only half a century old, when the golden pistils began to be prized beyond their value as a pharmaceutical (page 58). A dish made traditionally also in Puglia, I think the Abruzzesi hands fashion the most luscious versions. Zucchini or eggplant may be treated in the same way as the fish.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 3 pounds
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Lightly flour the fish and, in a large sauté pan over a lively flame, sauté them until deep gold in abundant, bubbling olive oil, removing them to absorbent paper towels. Continue with the procedure until all the fish are sautéed.
Step 2
In a large ceramic vessel, preferably one that is deeper than it is wide, place a layer of the fish. Dust the fish generously with the sautéed bread crumbs and strew over a bit of the minced garlic. Repeat the process until all the fish, the bread crumbs, and the garlic have been utilized.
Step 3
Now make their preserving bath. Lightly toast the saffron threads, then dissolve them in 2 tablespoons of warm vinegar. In a large pitcher or bowl, mix the remaining vinegar with the dissolved saffron and pour the potion over the layers of fish, immersing them in the bath. Should you run short of the vinegar mixture, make another one-quarter or one-third of the recipe, as necessary. If your preserving vessel is narrow enough, the suggested amount will be sufficient.
Step 4
Cover the fish with a lid of some sort, even baking parchment tied with butcher’s twine or several thicknesses of aluminum foil and permit the fish to rest in their bath for a day or so in a cool place before presenting them as an antipasto. Serve with good, warm bread to take up the juices and rivers of cold white wine. The scapece will only improve in flavor as they rest for up to a week or ten days.
