Pesce all’Acqua Pazza (Fish With White Wine and Cherry Tomatoes) Recipe (2024)

I didn’t have white wine, so I substituted high quality balsamic vinegar, it turned out beautifully. I also left out the sugar. I didn’t have fresh or cherry tomatoes either so I just used Rao’s Homemade Tomato Basil pasta sauce.

This indeed was a great week night meal. Just as described it came together quickly and worked just as well with cilantro (which I had in the frig) vs the basil. Served with a side of sautéed sliced potatoes. Definitely on my list to cook again!

Delicious, easy to make, and (excepting the fish) pantry ingredients! Perfect for Christmas Eve (even if you don't do the feast of the seven fishes).(We passed on the sugar).

A well seasoned cast iron skillet can handle a quick simmer of something acidic, like tomatoes. It’s the all-afternoon simmering of a tomato-based sauce that you want to avoid. A stainless skillet would work just as well but if all you have is cast iron, don’t be afraid to use it for a recipe like this.

I’ve been making another version of this recipe, also found in Times Cooking, from Marcella Hazan. It’s also titled Pesce All’Acqua Pazza, but parenthetically explicated as “Fish in Crazy Water.” It has no onions or white wine, but does have fennel seeds, which I feel really make the dish.

No, as I understand that anything acidic will damage the seasoning.I have read comments by people claiming their seasoned pan can stand anything, but, in the case of this recipe, I would suggest using another type of skillet, stainless, for example.

I thought it was not a good idea to cook tomatoes in cast iron?

Delicious and so simple! Used co*cktail tomatoes (a tad bigger than cherries) and they released so much juice that there was no need to add water, which only intensified the flavor. Shout out to Joe from Landing - we had this on Christmas Eve as part of our seven fishes feast!

I made it as written (including the sugar) and it was fabulous! I'll be making this again and again!

Made this with Mutti canned cherry tomatoes bc I didn’t have enough fresh cherries. If anything, it came out richer & sweeter without needing any added sugar. Can’t recommend the Mutti canned tomatoes more highly

This was delicious. I used cherry tomatoes on the vine and did include the sugar because, well, it's January. I made a half recipe for two of us and followed the recipe as written, except for searing the fish (halibut) in cast iron and then switching to another pan for the rest. We had this with herbed couscous in a pasta bowl so it all kind of mixed together. Lots of flavor for not much work! We will absolutely make this again.

This simple dish is actually one of my favorite things I've ever cooked! So delicious. Because of the few ingredients, high quality is key here. Highly recommend doing as suggested in NYT's note and get some bread - I opted to lightly toast my bread plain, then added olive oil, salt, & pepper after toasting. That raw extra v olive oil only added to the beautiful flavors of the dish. Also highly recommend using La Crema's Sauvignon Blanc as the wine. Delicious.

This was immensely easy to make and the fish (I used cod) came out perfectly dense and flaky. I loved the flavors and my partner, who is difficult to please with fish dishes apart from simple salmon recipes, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cast iron? People … YES!!! In addition to careful prep in well-seasoned traditional cast iron … you can absolutely can make it in enameled cast iron such as Le Creuset or Staub (or Lodge’s enameled cast iron or all the other brands now available!!!)

If you don’t have any tomatoes this works great with a passata di pomodoro sauce as well (and lectin free FYI) - just leave out the water. A great recipe for Cod, since it usually needs a little help to become tender. I served it over rice.

My sauce was not red!!! Maybe bc of the season- my tomatoes weren’t deep red. But it was delicious.

Two 14oz cans of diced tomatoes worked fine as sub for fresh. Came out great!

Substituted good quality white vermouth (which should always be refrigerated after being opened — if yours has been languishing in your liquor cabinet, chuck it out) and leeks — reminds me of Dutch preparations of cod with leeks, tomatoes, and aged Gouda. Serve with a lovely toasted sourdough bread

Delicious! Made per recipe and my SO thought it was too spicy (low tolerance) but I thought it was perfect. Be sure to warm up a nice crusty loaf of Italian bread to mop up all the delicious juices!! Yum! Thanks for an excellent recipe!

Added a healthy handful of fresh baby spinach in with the tomatoes. Also added a tablespoon of capers with the water instead of adding more salt. Delicious!

This worked well with half fresh cherry tomatoes and half canned tomatoes, served with gnocchi! Loved it.

Used about 1.2 pounds of cod but made the full sauce as we like lots of sauce. Loved it!!! Doubled the red pepper and mixed in some chopped shallots with the yellow onion. We just had a Caesar salad and it was a nice lite meal. Easy cleanup too!

I paired this with pan-roasted brussels sprouts, using balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Using cherry tomatoes is genius, as these are available year-round and sweet, compared to the seasonal tomatoes. Chunky, sweet, and the white wine (I used a French Chardonnay I had on hand) was perfect. Thank you!

Read over other tips and used larger Campari tomatoes, replaced the wine and sugar with a combo of balsamic and balsamic reduction (it’s what I had), did not add water. Came out great, an easy, flavorful dish that’d I’ll try as written and see if it’s better than my version. Served with a side of crispy potatoes.

Made this with Mutti canned cherry tomatoes bc I didn’t have enough fresh cherries. If anything, it came out richer & sweeter without needing any added sugar. Can’t recommend the Mutti canned tomatoes more highly

Everytime there is a recipe with tomatoes in a cast iron skillet everyone suggests using something else because cast iron can't handle the acid. Not true!! Don't be afraid of the cast iron skillet it can handle a little acid. If it does take off some of your seasoning its easy to re-season, simply clean it, oil it and then set it on the burner at medium temp until it starts to smoke, Done! Delicious recipe, we enjoyed it in our cast iron pan knowing we would get some extra benefit of iron

This was delicious. Next time I'm going to see about adding fennel, as someone suggested that the addition of fennel really adds a lot. As per cast iron, YES, YOU CAN MAKE THIS IN A WELL-SEASONED CAST IRON PAN (sorry for all the CAPS). Just don't let it sit there for hours. However, if you're going to replace the cherry tomatoes with a tomato sauce, then don't use cast iron. The cherry tomatoes sitting in the pan for 1 hour or less will not harm a well-seasoned cast iron pan.