Danny Russo

Serving size: Serves 6
Cuisine type: African, Italian, Modern Australian
Cooking time: More than 1 hour
Special options: Heart friendly
Course: Main
Favourite flavours: Seafood, Soup

Sicilian seafood and cous cous soup

INGREDIENTS

100mls olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed by hand
1 medium sized onion, finely diced
120g vongole soaked and rinsed
18 black mussels cleaned and de bearded
150mls white wine
1 medium carrot, finely diced
2 inner celery stalks, finely diced, set aside the leaves
1 fennel bulb finely diced, keep fennel tops aside and chop
30g anchovy fillets, chopped
1 pinch saffron threads
6 ripe roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
peel of 1 orange
2 bay leaves
120g octopus, cleaned and cut into small pieces
120g calamari, cleaned, skinned and cut into pieces
2.5 litres fish stock
8 large green king prawns, shelled, cleaned and coarsely chopped
80g swordfish, cut into 1.5cm dice
80g snapper fillet, cut into 1.5cm dice
½ bunch of flat leaf parsley, picked and chopped
2 teaspoons Sicilian oregano leaves

couscous
200g couscous
2 tablespoons olive oil
200ml water

METHOD

Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl, drizzle the oil on top; use hands to mix through.

Bring water to simmer and pour over couscous. Using a fork, mix together being sure to fork out any lumps. Cover tightly with cling film and set aside for 10 minutes. Remove cling film and once again fork the couscous to separate the grains.

Heat olive oil in a medium sized pot over a low heat. Add the crushed garlic and cook until golden brown. Add the onion and allow too cook until transparent. Increase temperature to high and add the vongole, mussels and half of the white wine. Cover with tight fitting lid and allow to cook for approx 3 minutes or until opened. Once the mussels and vongole have opened remove and set aside.

Increase the heat to medium and add the carrots, celery, fennel and anchovies. Cook until the vegetables are soft; add saffron and deglaze with remaining white wine. Cook out the white wine and reduce by half. Add the tomatoes, orange peel, bay leaves and allow to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the octopus and calamari and cook for a further 10 minutes. Stir in fish stock and bring to the boil, reduce heat to a low and simmer 30 minutes. Once the flavours have combined and developed, turn off heat.

Stir in the prawns, swordfish, snapper, cooked mussels and vongole, chopped parsley, fennel tops and rubbed oregano. Allow too steep for several minutes then add the cooked couscous. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.