Zuppa di Pesce (Fish Soup)

So God love the Mother in law! She knew that today was a really busy day with NO chance of doing anything other than sit in a corner and cry with the stress and the uncontrollable desire to pull my hair out at every possible opportunity, she went to the port this morning and got me fresh fish knowing how much I love it and how yesterday I missed out on my weekly feed of fish with my Sunday lunch....so arrive home this evening starving. I swear I was starving! I've been up from 6 am and have been surviving on espressos since then.....and VOILA the other half produced my vice. FISH! So I decided to go for a zuppa di pesce so that I can take some to work tomorrow for lunch! I LOVE it cold too! So here we are lads and lassies. Mother in laws Fish Soup!

Ingredients for 4 people:
1 kg of mixed fish: redfish, gurnard, john dory, king prawns, tender squid and cuttlefish, shrimp
500 g of mussels
500 g clams
3 cloves garlic
500 g of tomato pulp
1 bunch of parsley
Black pepper
salt and extra virgin olive oil to taste. 

Preparation:

1. Clean and scale all fish, cutting the fins off, eliminating the innards. Open them and separate them from the head and bones. In a little water cook the heads and bones for the fish broth and keep warm to add to the rest of the soup.
2. Clean the mussels and clams and cook in a pan with a little oil and a whole clove of garlic until they are opened, remove the garlic.
3. Clean and cut the cuttlefish and squid, prawns and wash well.
4. In a large pot brown the garlic in oil, then add the tomatoes and crush with a fork, finely chop the parsley and add most of it, keeping a little to season at the end, and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes, now add the cuttlefish and squid and cook for a few minutes before adding the rest of the fish.
5. Sieve the fish broth and add to the soup.
6. Stir carefully so you don't break fish up and cook for about 15 minutes. Add the mussels and clams to the sauce.
7. Meanwhile, prepare some sliced bread and toast in the oven, if you like it you can rub a clove of garlic over one side of the toasted bread.
8. Add 2 slices of bread at the bottom of each plate, then divide the fish and place it in the plates on top of the bread, and pour the hot broth. Otherwise serve the bread on the side (like I do)
9. Sprinkle with a little parsley and serve  

 
 

Pasta con le lenticchie

You either love or hate lentils. I used to hate them and turned my nose up at them when I lived in Ireland. Called them "foreign food" then I came to Italy and ate this dish! This is a staple in my home and all of us love it! I always make a big pot, enough to feed an army I think to myself, but after dinner time the pot is clean. I think the Other Half may actually lick it but I'm not sure.......anyway...this is a soup/pasta dish that I make at least once a week and it never grows old and boring because its one of the best pasta dishes there is!  Remember to soak the lentils overnight. And serve with crunchy fresh bread! Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

2-3 sprigs parsley
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 liter of vegetable broth
200 g chopped tomatoes or tinned tomatoes
100 g dried red lentils
salt
100 g of pasta tubes or mixed pasta. I use broken spaghetti
pepper

1. Wash the parsley, select the leaves and chop finely with the crescent on a cutting board.
2. Put oil in a pan, along with the peeled and finely chopped onion and garlic cloves, do not crush the cloves. Bring on the heat and allow to brown over medium heat. Combine a few tablespoons of broth and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add salt.
3. Add the tomatoes, stir, then add the lentils, a spoonful of chopped parsley, stir and bring to the boil.
4. Add the hot broth, a pinch of salt, reduce heat and simmer for an hour covered, stirring occasionally.
5. After the cooking time the lentils should be nice and soft.
6. At this point, raise the heat, add the pasta and cook for the time indicated on the package.
7. Drizzle with a little olive oil, grated pepper and serve.