Zuppa di Pesce alla Ligure

Name: Zuppa di Pesce alla Ligure (Ligurian Fish Stew)
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1.2 litres (2 pints) Fish Stock; 150 ml (5 fl oz) dry white wine; 6 scallops, removed from their shells; 25 g (1 oz) fennel seeds; 12 small new potatoes, preferably Roseval, peeled; 175 ml (6 fl oz) olive oil; 4 fennel bulbs, sliced (keep the green leaves and stalks for stock); 2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped; 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley (keep stalks for stock), chopped; 5 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into slivers; 1 × 800 g (1.¾ lb) tin peeled plum tomatoes, drained of most of their juices, sieved; 1 garlic clove, peeled and halved; 500 g (18 oz) monkfish or turbot fillets, boned weight (ask for the bones for stock); sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3 × 175-225 g (6-8 oz) red mullet, scaled and cleaned; 12 langoustines (optional); 1.5 kg (3.¼ lb) mussels; 6 slices ciabatta bread, cut at an angle

Ligurian Fish Stew

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The River Café Cookbook

By Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers

Published 1995

About

In the River Cafe we serve this soup as a main course. You may vary the recipe according to the fish you can find, but always include a red fish such as mullet, a dense white fish such as turbot or monkfish (keep the bones for stock), and shellfish such as scallops, mussels or vongole.

Ingredients

3 × 175-225 g (6-8 oz) red mullet, scaled and cleaned
500 g (18

Europe
Italy
Main course
Pescatarian
Mediterranean

Method

Fillet the red mullet, and cut each fillet into four. Cut the monkfish or turbot into similar sized pieces.

Clean the mussels as described in the recipe, and put into a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, along with 120 ml (4 fl oz) of the olive oil, the white wine and half the chilli. Cover and steam over a high heat, shaking, until all the shell