Today, my recipe is a delicous soup of squid, clams, mussels, shrimp, and scallops. Marcella didn’t give any explanation of this recipe. It reminds me of a cioppino, but with less tomato. There is tomato in this recipe, but it’s really the shellfish you taste here. So be sure and use good shellfish, or don’t bother even making it.
For this recipe, you first need to clean squid. Marcella gives good directions on this, and if you think it’s going to be too difficult, think again. It really goes quickly and is easy to do. And it’s very intersting to see the structure of a squid. Many people just know the squid after it’s been cut into rings for frying. You then wash and scrub your clams and mussels. You don’t see any mussels in my photo, because my store didn’t have any live ones the day I was there. So I just used double the amount of clams. After preparing your squid and shellfish, you’re ready to begin cookihg. You saute chopped garlic and onion in olive oil, then add some chopped parsley and white wine. Then chopped canned tomatoes. After cooking that for a short period of time, you add your squid rings and tentacles, and cook until tender. The recipe said about 45 minutes, but mine was very tender by 30 minutes. You then add salt, pepper, and your clams and mussels. When the shellfish begin to open, you add shrimp and scallops. When the shellfish has completely opened, you’re ready to eat. Place the soup in a bowl and serve with grilled bread.
As I mentioned earlier, this soup is all about the shellfish and mollusks. The other tastes are more subtle. I loved this soup, as I think it tastes just like the sea.