Gwen Saffroni Seafood Soup

Makes 4 Servings

3-4 Strips of bacon

¼ Sweet Onion

½ Red, orange or yellow bell pepper. Any other than green I hate green they are bitter.

I Bottle of clam juice

3 Cups of vegetable stock (unless you have fish stock on hand)

¼ Port wine

2 Oranges

1 tsp. Saffron powder

Pinch of saffron

2 bay leaves

1 tsp of smoked paprika

Olive oil

1 tsp of anchovy paste of 2-3 anchovies mashed up. (Don’t be afraid of this ingredient. I use it all the time and no one knows. It gives a lovely saltiness and sea taste to the soup).

Olive Oil

¼ C Tomato paste (this is something I don’t use too often since it tends to be too pasty and strong but with this recipe it is wonderful. Just Don’t use too much!).

An Assortment of seafood, preferably whatever is in season & fresh. When I made it I used what I had on hand in the freezer. Some cod, mahi mahi & shrimp. 

A bunch of fresh basil or parsley (you can go without this if you want it’s just a garnish really)

1.    Heat up pan & add the bacon cook on medium to low so as not to burn the bacon or over cook it.

2.   Add your chopped onion & bell pepper  cook on med to low heat until soft. If you don’t have enough bacon fat to sweat your pepper & onion add a bit of olive oil.

Tip (remember no green, if you can’t find fresh you can usually find frozen)

3.   Deglaze your pan with a bit of port wine about a 1/4^th cup.

4.   Grate the skin of the oranges into the port & aromatics.

5.   Add your anchovy, Saffron powder, paprika and just let simmer and cook down on low for a few minutes.

6.   Add tomato paste, whole saffron, bay leaves, clam juice, juice of the two oranges & broth.

7.   Now let these ingredients mingle and play a bit. Let simmer for at least an hour.

8.   While broth is bathing cut your fish into bit size chunks. You have license here to cut the size you would like. Just be aware of the size. The smaller you cut you pieces the faster they will cook.

9.    If you have shrimp that needs deveining etc. you can also do that now.

10. If you are going to use my lemon Allioli sauce prepare now.

11. Once you’ve prepared your sauce and your fish bring broth up to a mild boil. You don’t want it going crazy and roaring just enough to help gently poach or lightly cook your fish.

12. Add your heaviest and most dense feeling fish first.

13. Cook for a few minutes then add your shrimp & cook another few minutes. Keep an eye on your soup. Shrimp should be just pink and forming a bit of a C shape.

14.            As soon as your shrimp is cooked remove the soup from the heat, so your fish & shrimp won’t over cook. The last thing you want is hard overcooked fish, ugh!

15.  Spoon soup into bowls and spoon some John lemony Alloili Sauce into the middle and top with a bit of fresh basil or parsley (if you have on hand).

16.Serve with a nice crusty bread or a garlicky crostini

17.            This soup has quite a bit of saltiness with anchovies and clam juice. I’d let people salt and pepper their own soup to taste.