Fish Soup

The fish soup is a tasty dish of fresh fish, typical of the poorest culinary tradition.

INGREDIENTS
– Mussels 500 g
– Clams 500 g
– Extra virgin olive oil 6 tablespoons
– Garlic 1 clove
– Langoustines 300 g
– Prawns 300 g
– Butter 20 g
– Parsley q.b.
– Cuttlefish 300 g
– Cherry tomatoes 150 g
– Gurnard 250 g
– Brill 1kg
– White wine 100 ml
– Monkfish 1 kg

FISH FUMETTO
– Celery 1 coast
– Carrots 1
– White onions ½
– Water 2 l
– Extra virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons
– Salt q.b.

Prep time: 180 mins – Level: Medium – Doses: 6 serving

PREPARATION
To prepare fish soup, started by cleaning the brill: first remove the entrails from the opening under the head, remove the skin near the opening and pull it away strongly, helping you with a rag. Perform this operation also on the other side. With a knife cut the fins first, then remove the skin and finally fill the meat. Keep all waste aside except the entrails, because they will be used for the fish fumetto.

Now switch to the monkfish cleaning: if whole remove the head, the skin and the transparent membrane that surrounds it. Cut the fillet in the middle, all around the central fishbone in order to facilitate its elimination. Divide the monkfish in half.

Take the gurnard now: put the knife in the hole under the belly, make a cut towards the head and eliminate the entrails, then detach the head and the tail and keep the waste aside. Remove the scales and fillet the gurnard starting from the back obtaining fillets that if necessary you will have to remove the plugs with the help of tweezers. Cut into pieces the monkfish fillets and also clean the cuttlefish, emptying the bag from the entrails and eliminating the eyes and the rostrum that is among the tentacles. Cut the cuttlefish into strips and set them aside.

Now dedicate yourself to the preparation of the fish fumetto: cut the onion, carrot and celery into cubes and fry them together with the extra virgin olive oil in the pot for a couple of minutes. If you like it you can also add some fresh chili. Take the fish waste that you have kept aside and add them in the pot together with 2 liters of water and let it boil for at least half an hour. During this time remove the foam from the surface of the fumetto with the help of a skimmer. When it will be ready drain the fumetto, collecting all the liquid with a colander.

Waiting for the fumetto to cook, devote yourself to molluscs: Waiting for the broth to cook devote yourself to molluscs: clean the mussels, removing the byssus and the barnacles from the surface. Rinse the clams under running water and beat them on a wooden cutting board with the cut facing down: if the clam is clean it can be cooked, if it is out of the sand the clam is to be discarded. Put the oil in a large skillet and the minced or whole garlic, let it brown and add the mussels and clams. Raise the flame and cook the molluscs for a few minutes, covering with the lid to make them open. Wet with white wine and add a tablespoon of parsley, allowing it to cook for another minute. Turn off the heat and drain them, so as to collect their cooking background. If there were any sand residues, filter the liquid with a gauze in order to eliminate impurities. Shelled mussels and clams, leaving some of it whole for the final decoration of the plate.

Now clean the crustaceans: take every langoustine and pull up, breaking the final part of the tail where the intestine resides, that you will eliminate, with the help of a toothpick. Make a cut in the head of the langoustine and also hit the claws with the flat part of the knife, so that the juices present in these parts come out, during cooking, to flavor the soup. Proceed like this for every langoustine. Take the prawns now: remove the head, the carapace and the prawns. You can leave the tail attached as it is decorative. Collect all the heads and the carapaces that will be used to prepare a cooking background of crustaceans.

Put oil in a pan and a knob of butter: take the langoustines and place them in the pan with the head pointing downwards, crushing them a little so that the juices flow inside. Let them brown for a few minutes. Remove the langoustines from the pan and add the prawns scraps. Make them brown very well, add white wine or brandy, crush the heads well and after cooking, filter the obtained cooking base.

Now it is time to prepare the fish soup: in a large pot, transfer the fish fumetto add the cooking base of crustaceans and that of molluscs and bring to ebbolition all the liquid. Season with salt and start adding the fish. First insert the most coriaceous fish: the cuttlefish in strips, the langoustines, helping you with a pair of kitchen tongs, the tomatoes previously cut in half, that will give flavor to the soup, and the monkfish, cut into pieces. Bring another time to ebbolition before adding the other fish.

At this point lower the fire, keep in mind that the liquid must simmer, and add the whole brill and gurnard fillets, prawns, shelled mussels and clams. Cover and cook your soup on very low heat for 15-20 minutes. During this time do not mix with a wooden spoon but move only a little the pot by the handles.

The soup is almost ready: with the pliers pulled on the langoustines, add the mussels and clams left in the shell and sprinkle with plenty of parsley. You can prepare bread croutons making slices a couple of centimeters thick from a loaf of bread from Apulia, sprinkle with a little oil and pass them in the oven for 5 minutes until they are golden. Your fish soup will make a great impression on the table!