Mediterranean Seafood and Orzo Soup

ngibsonn's Note:

Server this soup with French bread toasts topped with chopped marinated artichoke hearts that have been tossed with a little olive oil. From Bon Appetit.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 1/2 lbs halibut, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons olive oil, plus
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes, drained
• 4 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• orange rind, cut into 2 1 x 4-inch strips
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup orzo pasta
• 2 lbs fresh clams, well scrubbed or 2 (10 ounce) cans baby clams, drained
• minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Mix halibut, lemon juice and 4 teaspoons oil in a medium bowl.
2. Let mixture stand while preparing soup.
3. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat.
4. Add onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
5. Squeeze tomatoes through fingers to break up while adding to saucepan.
6. Add clam juice, wine, bay leaf, orange peel strips, fennel and dried red pepper.
7. Simmer soup for 10 minutes.
8. Add orzo and cook for 5 more minutes.
9. Add clams to soup.
10. Cover and cook for 5 minutes longer.
11. Add halibut.
12. Cover and cook until halibut is opaque and clams open, about 4 minutes longer.
13. Discard bat leaf, orange peel and any clams that do not open.
14. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
15. Garnish with parsley.

Reviews

[Aunt Cookie]

We really liked this soup a lot! I used less expensive ingredients when possible (tilapia instead of halibut, canned clams instead of fresh, juice from the canned clams in place of bottled clam juice), but this still turned out really nice. The citrus flavor from the fish marinade and the orange zest was an especially nice touch. I actually used most of the zest from one orange, so I guess I added more than called for in this recipe. This recipe made far more than 4 servings for us (closer to 8, I'd say), but I was happy to have the leftovers. Thanks for sharing!