Seafood And Fennel Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat a wood-burning or regular oven to 500 degrees. (If using a regular oven, set rack in lowest position and line with a pizza stone or metal baking sheet.)
• In a large ovenproof braiser pan or straight-sided skillet, combine oil, butter, chopped fennel, shallots, garlic, and 1 teaspoon salt. Roast (on pizza stone, if using) until vegetables sizzle and turn golden in places, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in paprika, cumin, and coriander; roast 1 minute more. Add vermouth; roast until reduced slightly, about 2 minutes. Add clam stock and clams; cover and roast until clams open, about 5 minutes.
• Transfer clams to a bowl, discarding any unopened ones; cover to keep warm. Gently stir fish, shrimp, and beans into pan; continue roasting, stirring once, until fish is just cooked through and shrimp are opaque, about 5 minutes more. Remove from oven. Stir in lemon juice, return clams to pan, sprinkle with parsley and fennel fronds, and serve.

Steps:

• In a large, heavy saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped fennel, onion, shallots, and garlic and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until golden brown. Stir in the wine, then the tomatoes, parsley, red pepper flakes, clam juice, and water. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the butter and stir to melt, then remove from heat.
• In a large cast iron skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and toss on the mussels and clams. Cook for 4 minutes. As the mussels and clams begin to open, add the fish, calamari, and shrimp, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink. Discard any mussels or clams that don't open. Add 1 cup of the tomato mixture and simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer the contents of the skillet to the saucepan with the remaining tomato mixture and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Ladle into soup bowls. Sprinkle with the basil, garnish with the fennel fronds, and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until golden, about 5 minutes. Set mushrooms aside.
• Cook bacon in heavy large Dutch oven over medium heat until almost crisp, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add onion, fennel, bell pepper, fennel seeds and garlic; sauté until vegetables are almost tender, about 5 minutes. Add potatoes, chicken broth, tomatoes with their juices and tomato sauce and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, about 25 minutes. Mix in mushrooms. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring soup to simmer before continuing.)
• Add halibut, red snapper and sole to soup and simmer just until fish is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with parsley.

Steps:

• 1. Peel the shrimp, reserving the shells. (It is impractical to devein small shrimp, but if you are using the larger ones, I recommend that you do.) Split the shrimp lengthwise in half down the back, cover, and refrigerate until needed.
• 2. Remove the fronds (lacy top) from the fennel, coarsely chop, and reserve for garnish, covered and refrigerated. Trim off the tops and tough outer layers of the fennel and coarsely chop, reserve for the stock. Quarter the fennel bulb lengthwise, cut away the core, and cut very thinly across into 1/4- to 1/3-inch slices.
• 3. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the 2 crushed garlic cloves to a 10- to 12- inch high-sided skillet or sauté pan and heat over medium-high heat until the garlic begins to brown. Add the shrimp shells and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the shells turn red and are very aromatic. Add the fennel trimmings, the wine, and water, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 20 minutes. Season lightly with salt. Strain the stock; you should have 3 1/2 cups.
• 4. Heat a 4- to 6-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the bacon. Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the bacon is a crisp golden brown. Pour off all the fat except 1 tablespoon, leaving the bacon in the pot.
• 5. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the onion, sliced fennel, fennel seeds, and optional crushed red pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 10 minutes, until the onion and fennel are softened but not browned.
• 6. Add the potatoes and the reserved shrimp stock. The stock should just barely cover the potatoes; if it doesn't, add enough water to cover. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 8 minutes, until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center. If the broth hasn't thickened lightly, smash a few potatoes against the side of the pot and cook a minute or two longer to release their starch.
• 7. Reduce the heat to medium, add the tomatoes, and simmer for 5 minutes more. Stir in the shrimp and cook for 1 minute, then remove the pot from the heat and stir in the cream. Let sit for 10 minutes while the shrimp finish their slow cooking. Taste the chowder and season with black pepper and more salt if needed. If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate; cover the chowder after it has chilled completely. Otherwise, let it sit at room temperature for up to an hour, allowing the flavors to meld.
• 8. When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over low heat; don't let it boil. Ladle into cups or bowls, making sure that the shrimp, fennel, potatoes, and bacon are evenly divided. Sprinkle with the reserved chopped fennel fronds.

Steps:

• Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Score an X into the bottom of each tomato using a sharp paring knife. Blanch tomatoes until skins loosen, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to ice-water bath using a slotted spoon. Peel and discard skins. Core and coarsely chop tomatoes.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium Dutch oven or a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic, and sliced fennel until fragrant and softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper. Remove from heat, and add wine. Return to heat, and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits from bottom using a wooden spoon. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
• Add stock and chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Stir in cod and shrimp, and return to a simmer. Remove from heat, and let stand, stirring halfway through, until cod and shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Divide soup among 4 bowls, and drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil. Garnish with reserved fennel fronds. Serve immediately.