Frutta di mare all’acqua pazza (seafood in crazy water)

I was inspired by ALOHA to write a post about fighting winter blues, which was a delightful surprise. Talking about winter blues, I have a friend once told me that people are born in winter season are more likely to suffer from winter blues. I don’t know if that is a fact. But for a person who is born in winter, I do get winter blues every year. Time like this, a comfort food like a hot stew or soup or other healthy recipe ideas would be perfect.

I made an Italian seafood soup today. Its italian name is Frutta di mare all’acqua pazza, which means seafood in crazy water. The recipe is from ABC Delicious World Menu magazine. Flavour of the soup is soooo delicious. A good looking soup like this would definitely lift the mood.

Ingredients:

dry white wine (1 cup), pot ready mussels (500 g, scrubbed and debearded), olive oil (1 tablespoon), garlic (3 cloves, finely chopped), chilli flakes (1/4 teaspoon), canned tomato (400 g), bay leaves (2), thyme (2 sprigs), whiting fish fillet (160 g, cut into 1 inch size), prawn cutlets (12, tails intact), whole baby squid (4, sliced into tubes), flat-leaf parsley (finely chopped).

What to do:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive in a large pot over medium heat, add garlic and chilli and cook until fragrant.
2. Add canned tomato, thyme, bay leaves and dry white wine, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add mussels and cover to cook for 2-3 minutes, shake the pot occasionally, removing them as the open. Cover again and cook for a further minute or until all the mussels have opened. Set aside.
4. Add whiting fillet, baby squid and prawn cutlets into the soup, cook for 1-2 minutes or as soon as the seafoods starts to change colour, remove them from heat. They will continue to cook in the hot soup.
5. Return the mussels back to the soup, stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with some bread.