Zuppa Mar di Mare (Mar's Calabrian
Zuppa Mar di Mare (Mar's Calabrian Seafood Soup)
Yield 3-4
Mar of Girls Play is the third of 7 to accept my offer of a customized recipe. She wanted to explore Calabrian dishes because her family has roots there. This recipe uses many famous Calabrian ingredients but is not a traditional Calabrian dish of any kind.
Ingredients
Ingredients, stew:
- Medium yellow onion, 1/4" dice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or microplaned
- 1/4 cup calabrian olive oil (if possible)
- 1/4 cup calabrian chilis, minced
- 2-3 tsp rosemary, minced
- 2 - 2.5 lbs steak tomatoes or any larger very ripe variety
- 2 cups water
- 1 lb cod, haddock, pollock, or similar flakey white fish
- 1/2 lb shrimps(26-30 or 31-40)
- tortellini (nduja/tropea onion jam filled, or other of choice)
- fresh basil chiffonade
- 2 tsp Morten's Kosher Coarse Salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
Ingredients, tortellini:
- 5"x15" fresh pasta sheet
- 2 tbsp tropea onion jam
- 2 oz nduja
Instructions
Method, stew:
- If making scratch tortellini follow the tortellini method below first.
- Prep all ingredients. Small dice the onion. Mince chilis. Mince rosemary. Mince garlic if not being microplaned. Cut tomatoes in half and cut out the core. Place each half cut side down and then cut into 1/2 inch chunks. A serrated knife is best for this. If the fish is in large pieces then cut it down to roughly 1/4 lb chunks.
- Place a high walled saute or saucier pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, onions, and a big pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are translucent. We are not trying to color the onions just sweat them out.
- Add minced garlic or grate in garlic with a microplane. Stir and and cook for 30 seconds. Add rosemary, stir in, cook for 30 seconds. Crack in 1 tsp of black pepper (more to taste) and stir in.
- Add in the tomatoes and stir well. Simmer this until the tomatoes start to break down. Add 2 cups of water, stir, and return to a simmer.
- Add in fish pieces with tongs and ensure they are fully covered by the broth. Simmer until the fish starts to flake apart. It doesn't need to be fully flaked apart at this stage but just starting to.
- Add the tortellini and stir in. Simmer for 2 minutes. Once the fish is almost completely flaked, which it should be at this point, you can add your shrimp. Stir in and cook for 1-2 minutes until no longer translucent. It should be noted that the shrimp will continue cooking even after removal from the heat so keep this in mind when judging how done they are. Remove pan from heat.
- Serve immediately in a large bowl with basil chiffonade sprinkled on top and nice crusty bread on the side.
Method, tortellini:
- Strain the liquid from the tropea onion jam.
- Make fresh pasta sheets using your favorite method. Optionally you can purchase fresh pasta sheets.
- Cut fresh pasta sheets into 2.5 inch squares. Keep pasta squares covered in plastic wrap or a damp towel to keep it from drying out.
- Working in small batches fill your tortellini. Turn the square so that a point is towards you and it now looks like a diamond. In the center of the diamond place 1/4 tsp of nduja and 1/4 tsp of tropea onion jam.
- Wet the two upper edges of the diamond by dipping your finger in water and running it along those edges.
- Fold the bottom tip of the diamond to the top and gently press down around the filling to push out all of the air. Complete the seal by gently pressing along the edges.
- Fold the top tip of the triangle over and away from you. Pull the left and right tip towards the center and at a slight angle up so that they overlap each other and create a bit of a cup.
- Repeat until you have made at least 12.
- If using immediately just set them aside and work on the main dish. If making for later place on a baking sheet with space between them. Place the sheet in a freezer until solid and then transfer them to a Ziploc bag.