Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [147]
Do not use dark-fleshed fish such as bluefish or mackerel whose flavor is too strong for the delicate balance of this recipe. Do not use eel, which is too fat. Always use some squid, whose flavor contributes depth and intensity. Firm flatfish, such as turbot or halibut, are fine, but sole, sand dab, and flounder are flimsy in consistency and unsatisfying in taste.
Although this is called a soup, it is more of a stew, and no spoon is needed. The juices are usually soaked up with grilled or toasted slices of bread.
About 8 servings
3 to 4 pounds assorted fish (see note above), scaled and gutted
½ pound or more unshelled shrimp
1 pound whole squid OR
¾ pound cleaned squid, sliced into rings
1 dozen littleneck clams
1 dozen mussels
3 tablespoons chopped onion
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ teaspoons chopped garlic
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill, OR chopped hot red chili pepper, to taste
Grilled or toasted slices of crusty bread
1. Wash all the fish inside and out in cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Cut off the heads and set them aside. Cut any fish longer than 6 to 7 inches into pieces about 3½ inches long.
2. Shell the shrimp, wash in cold water, remove their dark vein, and pat dry.
3. If cleaning the squid yourself, follow these directions. Slice the sac into rings a little less than ½ inch wide, and separate the cluster of tentacles into two parts. Whether cleaning it yourself or using it already cleaned, wash all parts in cold water and pat thoroughly dry with cloth or paper towels.
4. Wash and scrub the clams and mussels as described. Discard those that stay open when handled. Put them in a pan broad enough so that they don’t need to be piled up more than 3 deep, cover the pan, and turn on the heat to high. Check the mussels and clams frequently, turning them over, and promptly removing them from the pan as they open their shells.
5. When all the clams and mussels have opened up, detach their meat from the shells. Put the shellfish meat in a bowl and cover it with its own juices from the pan. To be sure, as you are doing this, that any sand is left behind, tip the pan and gently spoon off the liquid from the top.
6. Choose a sauté pan that can later accommodate all the fish in a single layer. Put in the onion and olive oil, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes translucent, then add the garlic. When the garlic becomes colored a pale gold, add the parsley, stir 2 or 3 times, then add the wine. Let the wine bubble away and when it has evaporated by about half, add the cut-up tomatoes with their juice. Stir to coat well, turn the heat down, and cook at a gentle simmer for about 25 minutes, until the oil floats free of the tomatoes.
7. Add the fish heads to the pan, a liberal pinch of salt, either the black pepper or the hot chili pepper, cover the pan, adjust heat to medium, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, turning the heads over after 6 minutes.
8. Retrieve the heads and spread them on a plate. Loosen and detach all the meat and pulp you find attached to the larger bones, and discard the bones. It’s a messy job that must be done with your hands, but it will make it much simpler subsequently to mash the heads through the food mill if you have already removed the larger, harder bones. When you have eliminated as many bones as possible, puree what remains on the plate through a food mill fitted with the disk that has the largest holes. Do not use a processor or blender. Put the pureed fish in the pan, add the squid rings