Ingredients for 4 people:
1 Kg of various kinds of soup fish: (capon fish, mantis shrimps, conger, moray eels, hake, mulletand St. Peter’s fish), 300 g of octopus and cuttlefish, 300 g of mussels and clams, Eight prawns, One onion, A celery stick, Three cloves of garlic, A small bunch of parsley, 600 g of peeled tomatoes, 8 slices of stale bread, 1 dl of olive oil (half glass), A bay leaf Thyme, A glass of dry red wine, Salt, Pepper
Preparation
Clean all the fish and keep aside the heads of the bigger ones, remove the shell of the shrimps, clean the cuttlefish or squid and octopus by removing both the eyes and the ink sack.
After cleaning and washing the mussels and clams thoroughly, make them open up in a saucepan, keeping the cooking liquid and only half shell of each.
Put the fish heads in a saucepan, cover them up with water and bring to boil to make a broth.
Chop up the carrot, celery, garlic and parsley, stir them in a pan with the hot olive oil, immediately add the red pepper, thyme and the bay leaf, then add the cuttlefish and octopus squid cut into pieces. Wait few minutes then pour two tablespoons of vinegar and as soon as it is all evaporated add the white wine.
After the wine is all evaporated, add chopped fresh tomatoes (or canned if you don’t have fresh ones), salt and pepper. When the shellfish is tender add the strained fish head broth, then add the other fish, prawns and, almost at the end of cooking, the mussels with clams.
Toast a couple of Tuscan bread slices per person, rub fresh garlic on each side and set them at the bottom of each serving bowl. Once all the fish is cooked, pour the Cacciucco on top and serve hot.
The cacciucco should be juicy but not too watery.
