Zuppa de Pesce

For the uninitiated, "zuppa de pesce" means "fish soup." Italians never cease to astound me with their sophisticated sounding terms that are at heart, pretty basic and often laughable.

(For example, "panzanella salad" and its far less romantic translation, "swamp salad." "I'll have the "swamp salad for two, please.")

But getting back to fish soup, zuppa de pesce is simply red sauce with seafood, served over pasta. I've never had any formal training on how to make this, but I think years of "absorption through osmosis" must have occurred while hanging around the general area of my mother's kitchen on Christmas Eve. Either that, or it's just in my genes.

Ingredients:

The sauce:

1 large can whole tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, chopped

olive oil

basil

thyme (just a sprig or two - this herb has staying power and we don't want to compete with the delicate seafood flavors)

flat Italian parsley

salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh lemon

The fish:

Any combination of shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari, scallops. A pound of fresh seafood is good for two people. So is about 8 shrimp, a can of clams, 12 mussels and 6 scallops.

The pasta:

Half a pound (that's half a box, or half a package) of linguine or other favorite pasta per 2 people.

The procedure:

Fill a large pot with water and begin heating. You don't have to turn the heat up all the way just yet, but the idea is that we want the water to have a head start for when it's time to boil up the pasta.

Get out a saucepan and sautee the chopped garlic with olive oil on medium heat for maybe a minute or two tops. (Don't let the garlic turn brown). Open the can of tomatoes, grab one with your hand and crush it right into the sizzling garlic. Do this with the rest of the tomatoes in the can, then pour in the juice. Everything should be simmering together nicely. Throw in the basil leaves and the sprigs of thyme. Add a pinch or two of salt and pepper. Cook on medium-low for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Meanwhile, prep the seafood. If you bought frozen shrimp in a bag, take out the allotted amount and thaw by running cold water over the shrimps. If you have frozen scallops, open the bag and rinse the scallops in water several times. I'm not sure what they put in frozen bags of seafood these days but you can never be too careful. Also remove the shells from the shrimp. You don't have to - some even say that the shrimp retain their flavor better with the shell on. I personally do not like serving people shrimp with shells. But to each his own.

If you bought all fresh shellfish, then you have some scrubbing to do. Clean out your sink, plug the drain and add the seafood and a nice water bath. Scrub with a hard bristled brush, making sure to get in between the cracks. If the sink has sand at the bottom when you're done (and it will) then drain it and repeat the process. Nobody enjoys crunching sand along with their zuppa de pesce.

Once the fresh seafood is clean and the sauce has cooked for about a half hour, you can add your seafood to the sauce. If you're using the shelled seafood such as clams and mussels, drop those right in, shells on. Turn up the heat a bit and cover with a lid so the sauce can begin to bubble and boil.

Tip: seafood cooks extremely quickly, so don't go on any sudden excursions to other parts of the house at this time. Rather, now is a good opportunity to return your attention to the pasta water. Turn up the heat on that and get the water to a full, rolling boil.

After the shellfish have been happily boiling away for 2 or 3 minutes, you can add things like the shrimp, can of clams if you're using that, bag of scallops or calamari rings, and so forth. The shrimp will turn pink right away and the calamari and scallops will go from translucent to white. Keep cooking for a few more minutes until the fish with the shells on them open up. Expect them to open wide, like mouths gasping for air (?). The ones that don't open are no good. Remove and throw those particular clams or mussels away.

The whole process with the fish should really take no more than ten minutes. By now, with any luck, the pasta water should be boiling angrily - add your linguine or other pasta and time it for 5 minutes. In the meantime, get out a pair of tongs and remove the whole shelled clams etc. from the sauce and set aside. Dig out each little clam or mussel etc. from its shell. Throw away the shells, and toss the little guys back into the red sauce.

When the pasta buzzer dings, test a strand or two. They are not done yet, probably two more minutes, but this will give you an idea of the progress. Most people prefer their pasta al dente, which means tough to the tooth or something to that effect. Seven minutes is generally good for linguine. Remove from the heat and drain into a colander.

Back to the fish sauce. All of the shellfish has been de-shelled and returned to the red sauce. Stir it a bit, shut off the heat. Add a little fresh parsley.

A pasta tip: to prevent the pasta from sticking together, drizzle in a little olive oil and a drop of the red sauce, then toss a bit with tongs.

Finally: cut up the lemon into quarters and serve on the side of each person's plate. Lemon gets the "fishiness" out of fish which is why they always give it to you at restaurants.

I like to mix my pasta right into the seafood sauce. You may prefer to serve yours in individual dishes, with the sauce ladeled over the top of each serving.

Either way, it's sure to be a treat.

Serves: 2-4

Submitted by:

Dina Giolitto
http://wordfeeder.com

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