Italian Zuppa di Pesce
Ingredients
- 400 g Cuttlefish (cleaned)
- 500 g Gallinella (to be cleaned)
- 500 g Monkfish (to be cleaned)
- 500 g Red mullet (to be cleaned)
- Extra virgin olive oil q.b.
- 2 cloves garlic
- parsley (to taste)
- 50 g White wine
- Fine salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 500 g tomato puree (for the stew)
- 1 celery rib
- 1 carrot
- 1 white onions
- 1,5 l water
- white peppercorns (or black pepper, to taste)
- parsley (or black pepper, for the mussels, to taste)
- 1 kg mussels
- extra-virgin (olive oil to taste)
- 1 clove garlic
6 Shrimp (to be cleaned)
Instructions
- To make the chowder, start by cleaning the gurnards: after gutting and rinsing them, incise their backs at the level of the center bone and divide them into two fillets.
- Then pull out the smaller bones with the special kitchen tongs, hold the fillet lying on the cut and rub it with your fingertips to locate the bones. Save the scraps that will be used for the broth.
- Now deal with the mullets: after gutting and rinsing them, detach the head and tail, incise the back and obtain two fillets by removing the central bone. You can also proceed by making an incision at the base of the mullet's head, then run the blade from the head to the tail to obtain the first fillet. Remove the bones here too with the tongs. Save the scraps.
- Now clean the monkfish as well: gut it, remove the tail and fins, peel off the skin and cut with the knife all along the back, next to the center bone, obtain the fillet, cut it into slices. Always keep the scraps aside.
- Clean the shrimp: detach the head and tail, remove the carapace and pull out the dark filament on the back, helping yourself with a toothpick. Now wash the vegetables for the fish stock and cut them into chunks.
- In a saucepan pour the vegetables, parsley, scraps from cleaning the fish and peppercorns, you can choose to use black or white.
- Cover with water, turn on the heat and cook for two hours from boiling. While cooking, remove the foam that will form on the surface with a skimmer. Meanwhile, clean the mussels: make sure they are all closed; broken or open ones should be discarded. Remove any dog teeth on the shell with a small knife, peel off the barbette, and finally scrape away impurities with a clean straw.
- Now rinse them thoroughly. In a pan heat a little oil with a clove of garlic scamiciato. Pour in the mussels and cover with the lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally.
- The mussels should all be open. Drain them through a colander to collect their cooking water. Then shell them, taking care to set aside a few mussels with their shells for garnishing the dishes.
- Now cut the cuttlefish into strips. In a large saucepan, heat a round of oil with two cloves of garlic blanched, pour in the cuttlefish, and brown them on high heat for 3-4 minutes. Deglaze with white wine and let it evaporate.
- Pour in the tomato puree and the cooking water from the mussels. Cover with the lid and cook for 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, the fish stock will be ready, strain it through a strainer and keep it aside.
- Remove the garlic cloves from the soup, add the slices of monkfish and 800 g of the fish stock you prepared. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.
- At this point also add the gurnard and red mullet fillets and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, swirling the pan so as not to flake the fish. To finish, pour in the shrimp and the shucked mussels. Season with salt and pepper just now, let it season for another minute, then turn off the heat, add the mussels with the shells, chopped parsley and serve the chowder hot.
- Your traditonal Zuppa di Pesce is ready. Buon appetito!