Brazilian seafood soup

Hello girls, aaaand occasional guys…. Happy New Year. Did you all have tons of fun this holidays? I hope you did. I went away for a much needed retreat vacation, such beautiful breath-taking place. Surrounded by mountains and citrus farms. Wow…it was really amazing. It was a retreat so there was no TV but my hubby and I are die hard addicted to technology so we still managed to watch some programs on Hulu in my computer. It was an “Avec Eric” marathon. Have you seen his videos? If not… go to Hulu and type Avec Eric and watch the 2 seasons, it is amaaaaazing, he is lovely and a genius, I love him and hubby right now is really into cooking so he enjoyed it too. There are no New Year resolutions in this household that’s really lame already…I think we have to be good to ourselves all year around. So with that in mind I made this delicious Brazilian seafood soup, the ingredients are more like Italian but anywho…it’s really yummy.

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Brazilian seafood soup

Ingredients:

• 1 big fennel bulb or 2 small thinly sliced
• 3 shallots sliced divided
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 can of San Marzano tomatoes diced
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 cup of white wine
• 1 teaspoon of old bay seasoning
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1pound of little neck clams
• 1 pound of mussels
• ½ pound of jumbo shrimp
• Parsley
• 3 cups of chicken or vegetal broth
• Season with salt and pepper to taste

For the anchovies toast:

• 1 baguette
• 2 tablespoon of butter
• 2 Anchovies filets

Direction:

First start sautéing the fennel and half of the shallots, salt and pepper in a median low heat to develop the flavors, then add the old bay and red chili flakes. When the fennel and shallots are soft add the diced tomatoes (in winter is best to use good tomatoes from can) I love the San Marzano. Let the sauce reduce until is a thick consistency.

Meanwhile clean all the clams and mussels and de- vein the shrimp. Then I used the immersion blender to make a smooth and creamy sauce. After that add the chicken broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

In another pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter and sauté 2 anchovies filets mixing constantly to dissolve the anchovies. Don’t worry once the anchovies melt they just have a nutty taste not fishy. Fry the slices of bread until they are golden. Set then a side. Those toasts are delicious with soup. In the same pan add the rest of the shallots and the wine let it reduce a bit. Add the shrimp and sauté it until they get pink then add the little neck clams and the mussels and cover with a lid until they are all open. (Discard the ones that didn’t open, they are not good). Pour the coconut milk and the tomato/chicken broth mix. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.