Fish Easy Main Italian

Seafood stew

Name: Seafood stew
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: /italian
Ingredients: 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil; 1 onion, thinly sliced; 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced; 2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads; 1 teaspoon fennel seeds; 1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped; 1L (4 cups) fish stock; 800g can crushed tomatoes; 2 bay leaves; 1 cup (250ml ) white wine; 1kg mussels, de-bearded; 6 small calamari (including tentacles), cleaned, cut into rings; 16 green prawns, peeled (tails intact), deveined; 500g firm white fish (such as blue-eye cod), skin removed, cut into 2cm pieces; 2 cooked blue swimmer crabs, chopped; Gremolata, to serve

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Lighter than a bisque, this seafood stew will liven up your seafood repertoire.

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1L (4 cups) fish stock
800g can crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 cup (250ml ) white wine
1kg mussels, de-bearded
6 small calamari (including tentacles), cleaned, cut into rings
16 green prawns, peeled (tails intact), deveined
500g firm white fish (such as blue-eye cod), skin removed, cut into 2cm pieces
2 cooked blue swimmer crabs, chopped
Gremolata, to serve

Method

1.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large frypan. Add onion, fennel and carrots. Cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic, saffron threads, fennel seeds and chilli and cook for a further minute. Stir in the fish stock, tomatoes and bay leaves and allow to simmer over low heat for 20 minutes (this dish can be prepared up to this stage well in advance, if desired). Just before you are ready to serve the stew, place wine in a saucepan, add mussels and cook, covered, over high heat until mussels open (discard any that do not open). Strain cooking wine into stew base, reserving the mussels.
2.

Return pan in which you cooked the mussels to the heat. Heat remaining oil, then add calamari and cook quickly for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to stew.
3.

Add prawns and fish to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until just cooked. Then add crab and reserved mussels to stew. Slowly simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes.
4.

Season with salt and lots of black pepper. Serve in wide bowls sprinkled with gremolata.