A Seafood Lover’s Delight

Easy to Cook Recipe

The seafood stew from Livorno’s port town is as famous and delightful as Tuscany itself. Here’s a simple recipe to prepare at home.

What you’ll need:

For the stew:

• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 pinch of chili flakes
• 1 pinch of fennel seeds
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 celery stick, finely diced
• 1 small octopus, cleaned and sliced
• squid, small, cleaned, and sliced into rings
• 1 cup of red wine
• 2 sprigs of sage
• 2 cups of tomato puree
• 16 ounces fish stock
•  salt
• pepper

For the seafood: 1/2 pound each

•  clams, cleaned
•  mussels, cleaned
•  langoustines
•  monkfish tail, cut into 6 pieces red snapper fillet, cut into 6 pieces

Other ingredients:

• • 6 slices of bread, toasted
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • parsley, chopped

How to Prepare

• • Set a large pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil with the chili flakes and fennel. Add the onion, garlic, and celery with a pinch of salt and continue to cook until soft but without color

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• • Remove the vegetables from the pan and turn up the heat. Add the remaining tbsp of oil with the octopus and squid. Cook until the seafood releases some liquid and evaporates

Add the vegetables back to the pan along with the red wine and sprigs of sage, then simmer until reduced by half. Add the tomato puree and  1/2 cup fish stock, simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the octopus is tender

• • Add the rest of the fish stock to loosen the stew along with the pieces of fish. Do not stir too much as it will break up the fish. Add in the langoustines, place the lid on and simmer for 5 minutes

• • Remove the lid and place the mussels and clams into the stew. Cover with a lid and cook for a further 3–4 minutes or until the shells have opened. Discard any which have not opened

Serve over toasted bread rubbed with the garlic cloves, and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.