Stanley Tucci Made the Perfect Summer Fish Dish and You Can Too

At some point, maybe in a job interview or over drinks with friends, you may have been asked which celebrities you would invite to your dream dinner party. I’m not totally sure who rounds out my list, but one person I know I'm inviting is Stanley Tucci—perhaps partially due to the hope that he would help whip up something for dinner.

Tucci recently hosted a dinner party for family and friends, among them Robert Downey Jr., and I can’t stop thinking about how perfect the dish he made is for summer.

He cooked not one, not two, not even three, but four batches of cod alla Livornese. Livornese refers to Livorno, a port city in the Tuscany region of Italy where there are many seafood dishes cooked in a savory tomato sauce. You’ll often find that cod alla Livornese (or baccalà alla Livornese, featuring salt cod) begins with a simple tomato sauce made with onions and garlic, and often has salty olives and briny capers added in with a sprinkle of fresh herbs on top. 

Seeing Tucci’s version has me equally as impressed by his ability to manage four burners at once without appearing overwhelmed as I am by the hunger-inducing dish itself. While we don’t have the exact recipe Tucci made, we do have a recipe that brings together many of the same flavors: Fish Fillets Italiano. 

This simple recipe comes together in under 30 minutes and uses less than 10 ingredients. You can do as Tucci does and serve it as an unfussy dinner party main dish, or make it on a weeknight. With the quick cook time, it means less time over a hot stovetop in the summertime, too.

To make this Italian-inspired dinner, start by softening onions and garlic in a pan before adding canned diced tomatoes, sliced olives, and chopped fresh parsley. The tomato sauce mixture simmers for a few minutes to let the flavors blend before adding cod fillets to the sauce. Cook for about five more minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. 

Allrecipes users recommend adding a few herbs and seasonings to enhance the flavor of the dish. Per Allrecipes member oldroper, “This dish was delicious, and plated like a fine restaurant offering. I did adjust it a bit with red pepper flakes and a generous amount of Italian spices.”

If cod isn’t your fish of choice, not to worry. You can try this recipe for Red Snapper Livornese, instead.