The Legendary Scorpion Fish with Pasta

Greece Is | July 28th, 2016

Giorgos Rizopoulos, owner of the legendary El Greco Restaurant, presents one of his most popular dishes, scorpion fish with pasta.

© Evelyn Foskolou

Greece IsIn DepthGASTRONOMY

This legendary dish prepared in Giorgos Rizopoulos’ restaurant El Greco has been making a splash for over two decades. He usually filleted the fish and served it with pappardelle, which are wide enough to hold the rich sauce.

Chef: Giorgos Rizopoulos

Preparation & Cooking time: 75'

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

1 scorpion fish of about 1kg or two small ones, cleaned
50g hilopites pasta or pappardelle
750g ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
300g spring onion, finely chopped (white and green parts)
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 tbsp capers, desalted and well strained
6 black olives (whole, with their stones)
150ml dry white wine
100ml olive oil
½ cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
Salt, pepper

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven to 200°C. In a medium-sized deep pan, big enough to hold the fish, place all of the ingredients except the pasta. Cover snugly in tin foil and bake for 35–40 minutes until the fish is coming off the bone (25–30 minutes if using smaller fish).

In the meantime, boil the pasta according to the directions on the pack and drain. Remove the fish from the oven and debone on a platter. Pour the juice from the pan into the pasta saucepan, add the pasta and cook over high heat just for a minute to unite all the flavors, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon.

Serve the fish over the pasta, either on a large platter or in individual portions.