Zuppa Di Mare (Seafood Soup)

Submitted by threeovens

"This recipe uses a variety of fresh seafood, so you can use them all or just what you want or have available. It is very important to prepare all the ingredients beforehand since it cooks so quickly. The last thing you want to do is overcook the lovely seafood. The inspiration for this soup is a recipe from chef Jamie Adams of Veni Vidi Vici in Atlanta, Georgia. Serve with crusty bread."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Yields: 8 appetizer servings
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• Sofrito

• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 anchovies (about 1 ounce)
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped divided
• 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

• Soup

• 8 mussels, cleaned
• 8 littleneck clams, cleaned
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 1⁄2 1 1/2 cups chicken stock or 1 1/2 cups clam juice
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1⁄2 lb white fish fillet, cut into bite sized dice (grouper, swordfish, halibut, snapper)
• 4 sea scallops
• 8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1⁄2 lb calamari, cleaned and sliced crosswise into rings

directions

1. In a food processor, chop garlic and anchovies; add 2 tablespoons parsley, red pepper flakes, oregano and 2 tablespoons olive oil.
2. Process to form a loose paste (I had to add more of the olive oil - add up to 2 more tablespoons to process).
3. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, saute softrito, over medium heat, until the garlic pieces are golden and it sizzles.
4. Stir in the mussels and clams, tossing to coat in sofrito.
5. Add wine, increase heat to medium high, and cook until reduced by half.
6. Stir in stock, tomato sauce, and saffron; return to a simmer.
7. Add diced fish and cook one minute.
8. Add scallops, cook one minute.
9. Add shrimp, cook one minute.
10. Add squid; taste for seasonings.
11. By this time the shells should have opened (sometimes the shellfish, especially the mussels, open before this point and I remove them so they don't get rubbery, then return them at the end), if not cover for a minute or so, until they open; discard any shells that do not open.
12. Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil over soup and garnish with remaining parsley.

Reviews

[Barney W.]

Zuppa Di Mare has been a favorite dish of mine at one of my favorite downtown Decatur, GA restaurants for quite some time. Recently, the restaurant removed this dish from the menu – imagine my disappointment when I called to order a Zuppa take out. A few days later I decided to google to see if I could find a recipe. This recipe from Food.com sorted first on my google search - It did not disappoint!! I always try to make new recipes the way the author recommends, the only things I adjusted here were 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of pepper as additional seasoning, and adjusted to 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup clam juice because I prefer a bit more broth in my soup. I used all fresh seafood (as recommended) and I must say the ingredients are quite expensive – which explains why the dish was $30+ in the restaurant. The sofrito was quite easy to assemble. I did not have a mini food processor/chopper, so I used a large very sharp knife to chop and mix the sofrito ingredients. The entire recipe was quite easy to follow and from peeling the first garlic bulb to dipping my first bowl of soup took just over 1 hour. This recipe makes 4 full 2-cup bowls of amazing soup. I made the dish this past weekend and I was quite surprised at how close to the restaurant flavor this Zuppa Di Mare turned out. The diversity of seafood textures, all blend brilliantly together and the robust flavors made my taste buds dance their happy dance!! I added a bit of rice to my bowl for more depth. This is an amazing recipe and I highly recommend it to all seafood lovers. The ingredients will set you back about $70, but about 1/3 of that cost is for reusable seasonings, so overall it is not a bad price for four servings of restaurant quality gourmet seafood. BTW - I'm making my 2nd batch tomorrow!! You heard it here first - bwoods1906! "Zuppa Di Mare (Seafood Soup) Recipe - Food.com"