This recipe makes a wonderful winter meal utilizing fresh local seafood and seasonal vegetables. Pair it with a nice seasonal salad, warm crusty bread and a bottle of wine and enjoy!
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- 6 medium cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 1 medium white onion, cut in small dice
- 1 leek (white and pale parts), washed and sliced into rings
- 2 medium bulbs fennel, trimmed and sliced thin (fronds reserved for garnish)
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled plum tomatoes, crushed by hand or with a potato masher
- 2 cups (1 pint) fish stock (or substitute bottled clam juice)
- 2 tablespoons Calabrian peppers,* minced
- 1 pound mussels, debearded and scrubbed
- 1 pound small littleneck clams
- 1 pound firm white fish (such as cod, haddock or monkfish)
- 1 pound sea scallops
- Kosher salt or sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Preparation
In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (do not brown). Add onion, leek, fennel and cook until soft and translucent.
Turn the heat to medium-high and add white wine, cooking until the wine almost completely evaporates. Add tomatoes, fish stock and Calabrian peppers and cook until mixture begins to thicken, approximately 10 minutes.
Turn the heat to low. Add mussels, clams, fish and sea scallops and cover. Simmer gently and stir occasionally, cooking until shellfish opens and fish is tender and flaky. Discard any shellfish that do not open.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, remembering as you add it that there is salt already present in the seafood. Be sure to taste as you go.
To serve, divide seafood among warm serving bowls. Ladle vegetables and broth over seafood. Drizzle each dish with olive oil. Garnish with chopped parsley and fennel fronds.
* Bottled in oil, Calabrian peppers are available at Italian specialty markets. Or substitute with ½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you like it.
WINE PAIRING: Tenuta Santa Maria Lepia Soave—Soave, which is the sub-region in Veneto, Italy, is a great area for crisp whites. Made mainly from Garganega grape, this dry white has slight aromas of almond and citrus with a great vibrancy. It pairs well with seafood dishes and with vegetables like leeks and fennel. The fruit in the wine will also cool down the spice in the dish. Enjoy!
—Jessica Granatiero, The Savory Grape, East Greenwich
