Ingredients:
- 1 Bulb of Fennel
- 4 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup Diced White or Yellow Onion
- 2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
- 2 Teaspoons of sea salt/pepper/herbs (I use Bona Furtuna Sicilian Sea Salt & Organic Herb Blend for that perfect essence of Motherland Sicilia!)
- 4 Cups Crushed Tomatoes (With Juice) (I use Jovial – in glass!)
- 2 Cups Chicken Broth
- 1 Cup Clam Juice
- 1 Cup White Wine (I use an organic Sicilian variety from Cantine Rallo – ‘Ciello’ Bianco) – *If you prefer not to use alcohol, you can use a 50/50 mix of white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar with water.
- 1/2 Pound Octopus (carefully tenderized & precooked – to be added at the end, just to warm it up)
- 1/2 Pound Cod
- 1 Pound Calamari (sliced into 1/2 inch rings/pieces)
- 1 Pound Mussels (Scrubbed)
- 16 Littleneck Clams (Scrubbed)
- 1/2 Pound Bay Scallops
- 1 Pound Jumbo Shrimp (Peeled & Deveined)
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Basil (Chopped) & 1/4 Cup Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley (Chopped) for garnish
Instructions:
- Scrub the Mussels (de-beard, if needed) & Clams
- Peel and devein Jumbo Shrimp
- Rinse & drain additional seafood as necessary
- Cut Cod into 2 inch pieces.
- Slice Calamari into 1/2 inch thick rings.
- Cut precooked Octopus into 1 1/2 – 2 inch pieces (set aside for the end of cooking).
- Trim, core, and chop fennel & dice Onion.
- In a large, heavy stock/lobster pot heat olive oil on medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add Onions and Fennel and cook 8-10 minutes, until golden (stirring of & on).
- Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn.
- Add salt/pepper/herb mixture, stir.
- Add Crushed Tomatoes, Chicken Broth, Clam Juice, and Wine (or vinegar/water mixture substitute). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes (it should boil off the alcohol, but if you want to be sure simmer for an additional 10 minutes).
- Add mussels and clams to pot. Cook 3-5 minutes until some shells begin to open. Stir.
- Gently add in cod, scallops, shrimp, and calamari.
- Cover and cook about 10 minutes – keep a close eye on it and ADD IN THE PRECOOKED OCTOPUS for the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, just to warm it up…you should remove the pot from the heat as soon as you see that the Shrimp is pink, the Cod is opaque, and Clams and Mussels are open to make sure you don’t overcook/make anything tough.
- Remove from heat and ladle into bowls, making sure everyone gets all 7 fishes in their bowl!
- Garnish with chopped Basil and Parsley
(Recipe melded/adapted/modified from 3 different online recipes)
