F RETSINA ONE OFF - FOIVOS PAPASTRATIS

• 500 gr linguine
• 4 red mullets (600 gr)
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 200 ml of white wine
• 80 ml of olive oil
• 1 leek
• 60 gr capers
• 250 gr of cherry tomatoes
• 60 ml lemon juice
• Slice of a lemon
• 2 tbsps. of chopped parsley
• Salt
• Pepper

We fillet the red mullets by removing the scales, the bones and the intestines. Cut the celery, carrot and onion into chunks.

Put half the olive oil in a saucepan, let it heat up and sauté the bones from the fish. Add the chopped vegetables and continue sautéing. Pour in half of the wine, boil for two minutes to evaporate the alcohol and add 3 lt of water to cover. Boil for about half an hour in moderate heat.

Pass the broth through a strainer, put it in a pan of 30 cm diameter and boil the linguini. If necessary add a little water. Pasta should absorb all of the broth so that we don’t have to strain them and lose their starch.

At the same time, in another non-stick pan, sauté the red mullet fillets after seasoning them well. We start from the side of the skin by pressing them with a spatula and then we turn them over. The whole process takes about 2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. Remove from the pan and continue with the cherry tomatoes, which are cut in two, sautéing very lightly. Continue with leeks that have been cut into sticks. At this stage caution is needed because leek can be burn easily.

Add the caper, after we have removed the excess of salt it, and pour in the rest of the wine and the lemon juice. Allow to boil for one minute, then, put in the sauce the pasta and stir. Remove from heat, add parsley, zest and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and serve.