Cacciucco alla livornese

How it is made

Quantities are for 4 people. The steps are in the order you do them.

1. clean the fish and keep the heads and bones: boiled for half an hour in a litre of salted water they become the stock you need at the end
2. open the mussels in a covered pan over a high flame, and strain the liquid they release through a cloth
3. in a wide casserole warm the oil with the chopped onion, carrot and celery, the crushed garlic, the chilli and the sage, and let it go ten minutes over a low flame
4. add the octopus and the cuttlefish, which are the tougher ones and need longer, and let them take on the flavour for five minutes
5. pour in the red wine and let it evaporate
6. add the passata, season with salt and cook covered for forty minutes, loosening it with the stock every time it dries out
7. add the fish steaks and after five minutes the whole rock fish: from here on you no longer stir, you shake the casserole by the handles, or the fish falls apart
8. after ten minutes add the shellfish and the strained mussel liquid, and cook another five minutes
9. turn off the heat, add the opened mussels and let it rest covered for a quarter of an hour: cacciucco is eaten hot, not boiling
10. toast the slices of bread, rub them with raw garlic, put two in the bottom of each plate and pour the cacciucco over them with all its sauce