Zuppa De Pesce
This classic Italian fish soup features fresh mussels and chunks of cod in a tomato and white wine broth spiked with fennel seeds and crushed red pepper.
Equipment
- Dutch oven
Ingredients
4 main-dish servings
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 small red pepper chopped
- 1 large garlic clove crushed
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- â…› teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¾ cup dry white wine
- 1 can 28 ounces whole tomatoes in juice, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces cod or alaskan pollock filled cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 pound mussels scrubbed and beards removed (see tip)
- 8 ounces medium shrimp shelled and deveined
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves julienned
Instructions
- In 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium, heat oil.
- Add onion and chopped red pepper; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until tender.
- Add garlic, fennel, and crushed red pepper; cook 1 minute longer, stirring.
- Add wine; heat to boiling.
- Stir in tomatoes with their juice, water, and salt; heat to boiling.
- Add cod, mussels, and shrimp; heat to boiling.
- Reduce heat to low; cover.
- Simmer 8 to 9 minutes or until cod and shrimp turn opaque and mussels open.
- Discard any unopened mussels.
- To serve, sprinkle with basil leaves.
Notes & Wine Advice
To clean mussels, scrub them well under cold running water. Cultivated mussels usually do not have beards, but if you need to debeard the mussels, grasp the hairlike beard with your thumb and forefinger and pull it away from the shell, or scrape it off with a knife.