Seafood Soup

My kitchen has been out of action for a while; so cooking has been more basic. Happily the new and much improved facility is now up and running so the recipe experimentation can resume.

My version of a quick seafood soup uses as a base a bag of frozen mixed seafood any variety will do but I find uncooked better than pre cooked.

A recipe for fish soup has appeared before in Ann's Food Diary https://annsfooddiary.blogspot.com/2017/08/creamy-fish-soup.html however last weeks version was even more tasty.

Preparing all the ingredients in advance and particularly taking a picture of them is definitely showy (sorry) but makes for a rapid cook of precisely the right amounts.

I started by gently frying the onion, red pepper and courgette in mix of olive and dill oil. This Cotswold Gold brand is a current favourite http://cotswoldgold.co.uk  Add the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding spices cumin, paprika, black pepper (a teaspoon of each) a pinch of saffron and a tablespoon of tomato puree stir, cook for two minutes.

Once the vegetables are soft and the spices combined its time for the seafood. I cut the squid rings into thirds and added these to the pan along with the prawns and scallops mixing well to incorporate with the seasonings.

Next pour in the stock. My mix was 200ml part tomato juice part chicken stock. Fish stock works well as does a splash of wine or brandy. Bring this to a gentle simmer for a couple of minutes then add the mussels (these are already cooked)

Finally stir in some double cream (or milk) and make sure its hot but not boiling

Top with grated cheese and serve with a crusty roll