Cod acqua pazza with cherry tomatoes and olives
Cod fillets poached in a pan with cherry tomatoes, garlic, olives and parsley: a light, fragrant Italian fish dish ready in half an hour.
Are you looking for a light fish main that is quick, deeply flavoured and does not involve turning on the oven?
Then cod acqua pazza is your answer. I will walk you through cooking it in a pan, in a fragrant base of cherry tomatoes, garlic, olives and parsley, so the flesh stays moist and breaks into clean white flakes at the touch of a fork.
The name says it all. Acqua pazza, or crazy water, is simply water flavoured with aromatics, an idea born on Neapolitan fishing boats where the catch was cooked with whatever was on board. No breadcrumbs, no complicated sauce, just ingredients that hold each other up.
It has at least three advantages: barely half an hour from start to finish, a genuinely light and protein-rich plate, and the kind of look that impresses even when guests turn up at short notice.
The detail that changes everything is never turning the fillets. Spoon their own broth over them instead and they will stay whole. If the pan runs dry, a couple of tablespoons of hot water brings it straight back into balance.
Serve it as soon as it is ready, with the broth still hot and slices of toasted bread alongside to mop up every last spoonful. The same technique works with sea bass, sea bream or hake.
Ready? Let’s get started with cod acqua pazza.
To make this recipe
A small selection of handy tools to keep within reach. Some links may be affiliate links.
Large non-stick pan
Useful for cooking and sautéing ingredients evenly without overcrowding the surface.
Steps
- Rinse the cod fillets, pat them dry with kitchen paper and check for any remaining bones. Leave them at room temperature while you build the base.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan with the crushed garlic cloves and, if you like, the chilli. Let it infuse over low heat for two minutes without colouring the garlic, which would turn bitter.
- Add the halved cherry tomatoes and the olives, raise the heat slightly and cook for 5 minutes, crushing a few tomatoes with a fork to release their juice.
- Pour in the water along with the parsley stalks, bring to a gentle simmer and let it bubble for 3 minutes: this flavoured water is what gives the dish its name.
- Lay the cod fillets in the pan skin side down, season lightly with salt, cover and cook over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, spooning the broth over them now and then and never turning them.
- Check the fish: the flesh should break into opaque white flakes at the lightest press of a fork. If the pan looks dry, add a couple of tablespoons of hot water.
- Turn off the heat, remove the garlic, finish with chopped parsley, a drizzle of raw olive oil and a grind of pepper. Serve at once with all the broth.
Helpful tips
Never flip the fillets while they cook: spoon the broth over them instead, so they reach the table in one piece.
If you use frozen cod, thaw it slowly in the fridge and dry it well, otherwise it releases too much water.
Keep a few slices of toasted bread on hand: the broth is the best part of the dish.
The same method works beautifully with sea bass, sea bream or hake fillets.
Average nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Carbohydrates
- 6.0 g
- Sugars
- 4.0 g
- Protein
- 30.0 g
- Fat
- 9.0 g
- Saturated fat
- 1.5 g
- Fiber
- 2.0 g
- Sodium
- 520 mg
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