SERVES 4

Livornese Fish Soup

Go to my brothers restaurant, said our hotel manager. Ask for Amphora. You will be in Heaven.  We were staying in a very down market hotel at one of the Cinque Terra on the Italian Riviera.  So we did. We got their version of Cacciucco, and indeed, it was very good. Although we thought at the time, with a little care, it could have been so much better.

So, here is our version. As with so many of these classic recipes, exact ingredients are not so important as the method. Traditionally, we should have included octopus, but as we couldn't find any, we left it out. And Lobster is not usually included, but as we were cooking this for our Christmas Lunch, we thought we would treat ourselves.

Give it a go,  hopefully, you will be in heaven too.

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

First things first, if you are using a live lobster (preferred) then get a large pan of heavily salted water on the stove first, as it will take a long time to come to the boil. When it is boiling, put the lobster in and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. We need to kill it, but we will finish cooking it later in the soup.  Take the lobster out of the water and leave it to cool.

At the same time, chop all the ingredients for the stock, and get that going too, as this needs to simmer for 20 minutes or so. Add the wine at the end of the 20 minutes, bring back to the boil briefly to drive off the alcohol, take it off the heat and let it stand until we need it.

Chop the onion and the garlic. Find a pan large enough to take all the ingredients, and cover the bottom with some extra virgin olive oil. Gently fry the onion and garlic until soft, but do not allow to brown.  10 or 15 minutes, say. Add the Chilli about 1 minute from the end. Careful with this, we only need gentle background heat here.

Slice the monkfish into rounds about 1/2 inch thick. and cut the cod ino large pieces, one for each person. leaving the skin on. Clean the Squid, cut the body into strips and the tentecals into 4. If you have never done this before, go HERE

Clean the mussels, discarding any which refuse to close when given a sharp knock with the back of a knife.

Also, skin  de-seed and chop the tomatoes.

If you haven't skinned and de-seeded tomatoes before, here is how it's done :-

Put the Tomatoes in a bowl or a measuring jug and cover them with boiling water. Leave for about 30 SECONDS. Don't leave it too long, or the tomatoes will begin to cook, and we don't want that to happen. Take them out of the hot water, nick the skins with the point of a knife, and the skin should peel off easily.

Stand the tomato on the stalk end and cut into quarters, then cut out the seeds.
Cut the quarters in half lenthways and then dice.

The Lobster sould have cooled a bit by now, so,pull off the lobster claws and crack the shells with the back of a heavy knife, take the meat from the shells. Pull the tail away from the body and head section, and chop it into 4 pieces, again take the meat from the shell. Split the Head section in two lengthways, and remove and discard the stomach sac near the eyes. With a Teaspoon, remove the creamy green liver from the head and reserve.

Strain the vegetables from the stock, bring te stock to a gentle simmer, and add the lobster shells. Simmer for about 15 minutes.

Right.  Thats all the preparaton done, we can now start cooking the Cacciucco !!

Add the tomatoes to the onions, and allow to cook gently. Add also about a pint of stock. Let the whole thing cook down to form a sauce. Now add the reserved lobster liver. Add salt to taste.

Nearly there. Turn up the heat to high, get everything bubbling away merrily.

Put the Monkfish in the soup first. Leave for 3 minutes. Now add the Lobster, Cod and squid. Scatter the Mussels on the top. Put a lid on the pan and leave until the mussels have opened. 3 to 4 minutes,say.

Thats it !  Serve with plenty of crusty bread.