Brodetto alla Vastese is a typical dish of Abruzzo seafood cuisine that brings together colors, scents and flavors of sea and land in a tasty soup but also light for the authenticity of the ingredients.
With reference to the regional tradition, there are various types of brodetto depending on the provinces that extend along the 33 km of coastline. Besides that of Vasto (CH), in fact, we can also mention the brodetto "alla giuliese" or "alla pescarese".
History and legend of the Vasto fish soup
Historically, the brodetto was created to use and recover all the small and tiny fish that made up the "scafetta", that is, the basket of fish that the fisherman kept for himself, perhaps with less perfect pieces to sell or left over at the end of the day. It was not uncommon for it to be prepared directly on the boat.
Like many traditional recipes that were born "poor", today brodetti have become sumptuous dishes that also include molluscs and precious fish such as scampi, cuttlefish, cod, mullet, scorpion fish, dogfish, mullet, sole and others.
There are not many certainties about the birth and the official recipe of what is defined in the local dialect as "Lu vrudàtt vuastarèule". In fact, the Vasto Delegation of the Italian Academy of Cuisine has deposited and registered the specification of "Brodetto alla Vastese" proposed by Academician Pino Jubatti. Following various researches, in fact, it was considered that this recipe was the one that best conformed to the uses handed down over time.
According to legend, the inventor of brodetto alla vastese was the wife of a fisherman from Chieti who one day decided to integrate the fish, commonly used for soup, with vegetables. She added chilli pepper, parsley and Florentine ribbed tomatoes called, in Abruzzo, "half-time" tomatoes, obtaining a dish with complex flavours and very pleasant.
The pulpy and tasty "mezzo tempo" tomato, a typical product of Vasto, is harvested in summer while in winter it is available in packaged jars.
