L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

Soup Weather II

October 12, 2008 on 10:04 pm | In Food, General Musing |

I promise this will not turn into a food blog. But one good soup deserves another and this is a recipe that’s been simmering in the family since the original appeared in the Los Angeles Times at least a quarter century ago. As with all my recipes, it is substantially transmogrified from the source. I can’t help it. When I decided to make paella, I read a dozen recipes, closed the books and made my own impressionistic gestalt paella. Tonight’s soup is a gestalt of cioppino, but happily can be made almost entirely from ingredients on hand in the space of about 20 minutes.

Eva’s Mediterranean Seafood Soup

Chop an onion and a bunch of garlic and saute in a big pot in a splash of good olive oil. When it’s going good, add a bay leaf, a couple of whole dried red chilies, thyme, basil, salt and saffron.

A word about saffron. For god’s sake, just use the stuff. There’s no substitute. People talk about in hushed tones it as if it were fairies’ toes or moon rocks. Sure it’s expensive, but how much do you need? Shop around. I buy a little vial like this from a spice market across the street from Pike Street Market for $5. If I used a quarter of it (which I don’t) it would be a dollar and change. A pot of soup serves 5-6 people. Are you going to tell me your friends aren’t worth 25 cents worth of saffron? Go hog wild. Put in a half teaspoon full.

Stir that up for a bit and then pour in about a quart of stock. I used a box of seafood stock I picked up at the market, but part chicken stock / part clam juice works just fine. Chop in a couple of tomatoes (or add a can of diced if you don’t have fresh). Simmer 5 minutes. Then add some seafood - a chunk of some kind of firm, white fish and a couple handfuls of shrimp are things you can keep in the freezer. Tonight, I also added clams and mussels. Simmer a few more minutes and then toss in sliced zucchini. Another five and it’s ready to serve.

For those of you who complain that I don’t specify quantities, try these: 1 cup, .75 lbs, 16, half a teaspoon, 3 medium or 2 large.

Now go and trust your instincts.

Photos by Eva Moon.

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