Triglie alla mosaica — Red Mullet Livornese Jewish Style
Small red mullets simmered in a sauce of tomato, garlic, and parsley, with a hint of acidity. A colorful, fragrant dish that announces the Friday evening celebration.
Small red mullets simmered in a sauce of tomato, garlic, and parsley, with a hint of acidity. A colorful, fragrant dish that announces the Friday evening celebration.
When I first went down to Livorno to find my master Benamozegh, I discovered a cuisine bathed in sunlight, so far from the brown sauces of my Saône. There they would fry garlic in oil, add tomato, and lay the little red mullets in this red bed for the time of a canticle. They called it 'alla mosaica,' that is, in the manner of Moses; I never knew whether to smile at the name or be moved by it. Serve it warm, on the eve of Shabbat: it has the taste of a city where I learned that the table too can be a prayer.
- •Red mullets — a few per guest (noble fish of the day)
- •Ripe tomatoes — handfuls (sauce)
- •Garlic — several cloves (flavor)
- •Flat-leaf parsley — a bunch (freshness)
- •Olive oil — generously (pareve cooking fat)
- •Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Triglie alla mosaica — Red Mullet Livornese Jewish Style
Small red mullets simmered in a sauce of tomato, garlic, and parsley, with a hint of acidity. A colorful, fragrant dish that announces the Friday evening celebration.
Why this dish? It was in Livorno, with Rabbi Elia Benamozegh, that Pallière deepened his path toward Judaism and the Noahide ideal. The red mullet "alla mosaica," an emblematic dish of Livornese Jews prepared for the eve of Shabbat, must have crossed his path in that city where he returned so often.
When I first went down to Livorno to find my master Benamozegh, I discovered a cuisine bathed in sunlight, so far from the brown sauces of my Saône. There they would fry garlic in oil, add tomato, and lay the little red mullets in this red bed for the time of a canticle. They called it 'alla mosaica,' that is, in the manner of Moses; I never knew whether to smile at the name or be moved by it. Serve it warm, on the eve of Shabbat: it has the taste of a city where I learned that the table too can be a prayer.
Ingredients (period version)
- Red mullets — a few per guest (noble fish of the day)
- Ripe tomatoes — handfuls (sauce)
- Garlic — several cloves (flavor)
- Flat-leaf parsley — a bunch (freshness)
- Olive oil — generously (pareve cooking fat)
- Salt — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Red mullets, gutted and scaled — 8 small (main fish)
- Ripe tomatoes (or canned crushed) — 600 g (sauce)
- Garlic — 3 cloves (flavor)
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley — 1 bunch (freshness)
- Olive oil — 5 tbsp (cooking fat)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Gently sweat the minced garlic in olive oil over low heat, without browning.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, and let reduce for 15 to 20 minutes until a coating sauce forms.
- Stir in half the parsley, then carefully lay the red mullets in the sauce.
- Cover and poach for 8 to 10 minutes over low heat, without turning the fish to avoid breaking them; baste with sauce using a spoon.
- Sprinkle with the remaining parsley and serve warm, as tradition dictates for the eve of Shabbat.
How it was made : The tomato, which came from the Americas after 1492, was perfectly common in 19th-century Italy: no anachronism for Livorno in Pallière's time. Livornese Jews served this dish warm on Friday, prepared before the start of Shabbat so as not to cook during the rest.
The contemporary twist : Present the whole mullets on the sauce spread on the bottom of an earthenware dish, with a lemon wedge on the side: the red and gold of the Mediterranean.
Aimé Pallière · Charactorium