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cacciucco-tuscan-fish-soup.md

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Ingredients

  • Serves 4-6

For the soffritto:

  • 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
  • A sprig or two of fresh sage
  • 1-2 peperoncini or a pinch of red pepper flakes
  • olive oil

The seafood: An assortment of 2 kilos (4 lbs) of seafood from the following three categories:

  • For stage 1: octopus, baby octopus, squid and/or cuttlefish, trimmed if needed and cut into pieces
  • For stage 2: firm-fleshed fish, filleted if you want and cut into chunks
  • For stage 3: mantis, jumbo or large shrimp and/or mussels

To cook the seafood:

  • a generous pour of red (or white) wine

  • 500g (2 cups) tomato passata, or a small can of peeled tomatoes passed through a food mill, or to taste

  • water or fish broth (see Notes), q.b.

  • 2 Tb tomato paste (optional) ###And serve with:

  • Finely minced parsley (optional)

  • Fettunta, aka bruschetta made with garlic and olive oil only ##Directions

  1. Prep the seafood as needed (see Notes).

  2. Prepare the soffritto aka flavor base:

  3. In a wide pot or sauté pan large enough to hold all the ingredients, gently sauté the garlic and sage in abundant olive just until fragrant. Take care not to brown the garlic. Add the peperoncino and let sauté for just a few moments.

Stage 1:

  1. Add the octopus, squid and/or cuttlefish to the pot. Let them simmer in the aromatics for five minutes or so.

  2. Add red wine and let it evaporate, then the passata and let it simmer for another five minutes.

  3. Then add enough water or broth to cover and continue simmering for another 30 minutes, or until tender.

Stage 2:

  1. Now add the fish, along with more water or broth if needed. Let simmer for another 5 minutes or, until almost cooked through.

Stage 3:

  1. Finally add the shrimp, mussels and/or other crustaceans. Simmer just until the crustaceans have turned pink and the mussels have opened.

  2. Serve your cacciucco right away, sprinkled with parsley on top and with the fettunta in the bottom of the bowl or, if you prefer, on the side.

Notes

Like all fish soups, the key to success when making cacciucco is the proper cooking of the different types of seafood Each type has different cooking times, hence the three stage approach. For the squid and especially the octopus, the main risk is under-cooking, while the main risk for the finny fish and crustaceans is over-cooking. After Stage 1, you should check to make sure your mollusks are tender before proceeding. In Stage 2, the fish should take no more than five to seven minutes total, so undercook them slightly before proceeding to Stage 3, which should only take another couple of minutes. Remove the pot from the heat as soon as the mussels open.

CHOOSING YOUR SEAFOOD

A proper cacciucco will have at least one type of seafood for each stage of cooking. For Stage 1, octopus and/or moscardini, or baby octopus, are practically a must. They appear in just about every Italian recipe for cacciucco I’ve seen.

As for Stage 2, the most emblematic fish for are scorfano (scorpaena porcus aka scorpion fish) and palombo (mustelus mustelus aka dogfish or “common tooth hound” fish). Both are Mediterranean fish not available here in the US, as far as I’m aware. UK readers may have better luck as both range into the eastern Atlantic as far north as the British Isles. Other fish typically mentioned in recipes for cacciucco include some that you can find outside the Mediterrean, in particular rana pescetrice or monkfish, dentice, or red snapper, and branzino or sea bass. They all make fine choices. Although not generally mentioned in Italian recipes, you could also opt for another firm fleshed fish like cod, halibut or haddock. And in a pinch, even tilapia.

Other fish you’ll often find in Italian recipes include galinelle (chelidonichthys cuculus or Gurnard), pesce prete (uranoscopus scaber or Atlantic Stargazer) and pesce san Pietro (literally the “St. Peter fish”, known in English as John Dory). Again, the range of these fishes extend into the eastern Atlantic. I understand that the John Dory at least and perhaps Gurnard is common in the UK? Readers there are welcome to weigh in…

And for the final third stage of cookery, cannocchie or mantis shrimp, with their lovely sweet, lobster-like flavor, are very typical of cacciucco, but again you may not be able to find them. If not, try to find as large shrimp as you can.

Prepping your seafood

The seafood should be cut into largish but still bite-sized pieces. Not too small or they may fall apart when cooked. If you’re using baby octopus, you can simply leave them whole. Ditto for shrimp and other small crustaceans, of course. I personally like to leave the heads and shells on my shrimp, but that’s a matter of personal taste.

As for finny fish, assuming you’re not buying fillets to begin with, the heads should be removed but you can use it for stock (see below). It’s up to you whether you want to leave the bones on the fish. It’s probably best to do so for smaller whole fish, but less desirable for larger fish like cod and monkfish.

Variations

They say there are as many versions of cacciucco as there are cooks! To mention just a few of the variations:

In some recipes, you start with a soffritto of onions, celery and sometimes carrot rather than the garlic and sage.

Some recipes call for white wine, others for red. While one doesn’t often associate red wine with seafood, this being Tuscany I suspect it’s the more traditional option.

In summer, fresh tomatoes are, of course, always welcome. You could use homemade passata or cut up tomatoes, passed through a food mill before adding to the pot. The tomato paste is quite usual but some omit it. In quite a few others, you only add tomato paste rather than fresh or canned ones. Personally, I use both. Even though I generally find tomato paste a bit ponderous in sauces, it lends a nice intensity of flavor and a slight liaison that works quite well here.

If you’re using whole fish, you can use fish heads and bones to make a quick fish stock. Simmer them in water to cover with aromatics (garlic and parsley work well) for 20 minutes or so. The stock will provide a considerable flavor boost to your dish.

In the real old timey recipes where using those tiny, bony pesci da zuppa, you remove the mollusks from Stage 1 once they’re cooked, the add your pesci da zuppa (and only them) to the pot, simmer them until the flesh is falling off the bone, and then pass the contents of the pot through a food mill, discarding the heads and bones. You use the resulting loose fish purée to continue cooking the rest of the fish and seafood.