Anyone fasting? Come and have fish gjuveč!

Method

1. Clean the fish, wash it well and cut it into large pieces. Salt it, sprinkle over the lemon juice and leave it to sit in the fridge for an hour.
2. Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil until it colours. Add water just to cover and, stirring now and then, wait until it is completely soft. This is the longest part and must not be hurried — the onion is the sauce of this dish.
3. Transfer the onion to a large pot (five litres) with about 3 litres of water. When it boils, add the ground sweet peppers, the chopped garlic, the second head of garlic with its cloves whole, salt, the peppercorns and the ketchup.
4. After a few minutes, when the water is boiling again, lower in the pieces of fish along with the head. Cook at a bare simmer — at a rolling boil the fish falls apart. Rather than stirring with a spoon, tilt the pot in circles from side to side.
5. After about fifteen minutes add the chopped hot peppers and the bay leaves, and cook for another fifteen. It is ready when the onion has cooked away entirely and can barely be seen.
6. A few minutes before the end add the white wine and the finely chopped parsley. Let the gjuveč stand before serving — it is better still the next day.