Cacciucco Recipes

Steps:

• Heat a stock pot, lightly coated with olive oil, over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic and salt, to taste, and sweat for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the fish bones and shrimp shells and fill the pot with water. Add the bay leaves and thyme and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid into a bowl and reserve. Voila! Fishstock!
• For the tomato broth:
• Heat a large saucepan, lightly coated with olive oil, over medium heat. Add the onions, fennel, celery and a large pinch of salt. Cook the veggies until soft and very aromatic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the wine and reduce by half. Season with salt. It's important to season all along the way.
• Add 2 quarts of fish stock and the saffron. Stir in the pureed tomatoes, thyme and bay leaves. Season with salt and cook for 20 to 30 minutes. The final broth should be a very pretty and flavorful soup. Taste and add salt, if needed. Remove and discard the thyme bundle and bay leaves. Reserve.
• Heat a straight sided saute pan, lightly coated with olive oil, over high heat. Season the cod with salt, add it to the pan and brown it on all sides. Remove the cod from the pan to a large plate and reserve.
• Drain the fat from the pan and add the clams and about 4 cups of the tomato broth. Cover and cook until the clams open, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the shrimp and cod along with the beans and the escarole. Cover and cook until the cod and shrimp are cooked through and the escarole is wilted. If at any point the soup has cooked down too much, add more tomato broth.
• For the toast:
• Preheat grill. Place bread slices on grill and toast on both sides. Remove and rub with garlic. Drizzle with olive oil and cut in half.
• To assemble:
• Remove the cod, clams and shrimp from the pan and put in a bowl. Spoon the beans and escarole into serving bowls. Ladle in the tomato broth and arrange the cod, clams and shrimp on the beans and escarole. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fennel fronds. Serve 2 grilled bread slices with each serving.
• Fantasico!!!

Steps:

• For the polenta: Add the milk, cayenne, bay leaf and 1 cup water to a saucepot and heat until just barely a simmer. Stir in the polenta and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Stir in the mascarpone and Parmesan. Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with cooking spray and press the polenta in the bottom of the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to set, about 1 hour.
• For the cacciucco: Add the wine, half of the chopped fennel (reserve the fronds for garnish), half of the chopped onions, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some salt to a large stockpot (about 8 quarts). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the wine is reduced by one-half, then fill the pot halfway with water. Squish in the tomatoes with your hands and add them to the pot with their juices. Add the shrimp shells and cod carcass. Season with another pinch of red pepper flakes and some salt. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and reserve this tomato base.
• In a separate saucepot, bring some water to a boil; prepare an ice bath. Blanch the haricot verts in the boiling water, then shock in the ice bath. Reserve.
• In a large high-sided skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining chopped fennel and onions and saute until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for a minute more. Add a ladle of the tomato base to the skillet and bring to a simmer. Add the clams, saffron and fennel pollen, cover and cook. Remove the clams from the skillet as they open and set aside. Add another 2 ladles of the tomato base and the lemon juice to the skillet and keep warm.
• Season the bass fillets with salt. In a nonstick pan, add the remaining tablespoon olive oil and heat over medium heat. Place the fillets in the pan skin-side down. Pan-fry the fish 2 minutes per side and remove to a baking sheet skin-side up. Add the shrimp and haricot verts with a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook until the shrimp are pink.
• Add the clams back to the skillet with the tomato base.
• Remove the polenta from the fridge and flip it out onto a cutting board. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out rounds and place 1 in the bottom of each of 4 serving bowls. Top each with some haricot verts, a bass fillet, a couple of big shrimp and 2 to 3 clams. Then ladle about 1/2 cup of broth over top. Garnish with fennel fronds and a pinch of fennel pollen.

Steps:

• Coat a large saucepan with extra-virgin olive oil and bring to a medium-high heat. Add the diced onion, season with salt, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the fennel and crushed red pepper and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat for 1 to 2 more minutes. The veggies should look soft and wilted, be very aromatic, but not have any color. Add the white wine and cook until it has reduced by half. Stir in the tomatoes, saffron, lemon zest, bay leaf, and 1 cup of water. Taste for seasoning, and season with salt. It should not taste done but it should taste good. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Taste again; it should taste really good now. Add some more salt, if needed, (it probably will). Turn off the heat and reserve.
• Coat a large skillet with olive oil and bring to a high heat. Season the shrimp generously with salt. When the oil is sizzling, add the shrimp and cook them on both sides until they turn pink, about 1 minute on each side. Remove the shrimp from the pan to a plate and reserve.
• Remove the oil from the pan and put over medium-high heat. Add the clams and the cooked tomato mixture. Cover and cook until the clams begin to open, about 5 minutes. If the tomato mixture starts to become too thick add some water. Taste to make sure it tastes good and season with some salt, if needed. Add the beans, escarole, and the cooked shrimp. Cover and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Remove the clams and shrimp from the pan to a bowl. Spoon the tomatoes and beans into 2 large bowls. Arrange the shrimp and clams on top. Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Call yourself a super star!

Steps:

• 1. Heat oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add parsley, sage, chile flakes, and 4 cloves garlic, minced, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add calamari and octopus, and cook, stirring occasionally, until opaque, about 4 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir well, and cook until paste has darkened slightly, about 1 minute. Add wine, and cook, stirring often, until the liquid has evaporated, about 20 minutes. 2. Add tomatoes along with their juice, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until seafood is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in stock, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add monkfish, and cook, covered, until just firm, about 5 minutes. Add snapper and shrimp to the pot and scatter mussels over top. Cook, covered, without stirring (so as not to break up the seafood), until the snapper is just cooked through and the mussels have just opened, about 10 minutes. 3. Toast bread, and rub liberally with remaining garlic clove. Ladle stew between bowls, over bread or with bread on the side.