Seafood soup recipe, the dish Dali loved

This seafood soup recipe is the quintessential fisherman's seafood recipe of the Costa Brava. It was a favorite dish of the eccentric Catalan painter, Salvador Dali, the genius of the Empord�, the beautiful coastal region where this mouthwatering Mediterranean recipe first appeared.

The delicious Suquet de peix, as we call it in Catalan, is a combination of seasonal fish and shellfish stewed in fish stock or water in some versions. It is succulent yet simple, as it was one of myriad seafood soups and stews cooked by Catalan fishermen themselves on high sea.

Very often, it was prepared with fish that at the time was too plain or too rough for sale. Fishermen added an onion, a pepper, perhaps a tomato, and one or two potatoes, all fresh produce of the vegetable gardens they kept when they weren't fishing.

This is a stellar seafood recipe of the rich Catalan cuisine, and you can be sure that it's authentic.

In his great cookbook, the American expert of Catalan cuisine Colman Andrews gives a seafood recipe of chef Carles Cam�s at the Big Rock restaurant in Platja d'Aro, also on the Empord� coast.

Here I am giving you a traditional seafood soup recipe, tested by thousands upon thousands of fishermen and women homecooks accross Catalonia, particularly, the coastal Mediterranean Sea regions. You shouldn't have any problem to find all ingredients for the Suquet de peix.

Suquet de peix � Catalan Seafood soup

Ingredients for this seafood soup recipe

Serves 4 as main dish

2 pounds of 2 varieties of seasonal firm-fleshed fish � Cut in fillets or serving pieces.

For this seafood soup recipe I reccomend 1 pound monkfish (4 pieces), and 1 pound grouper (4 pieces), if you manage to find it, or rascasse (scorpionfish).

Other fish alternatives that give very good results with this Catalan seafood recipe are rockfish, redfish, sea bass, halibut and ocean perch.

4 Norway lobsters or similar shellfish

1 pound potatoes � cut into 1/2 inch slices

1/2 green pepper � cut into 1-inch stripes

2 cloves garlic � peeled

2 cups fish stock

1 cup olive oil

Salt

For the sofregit

1 medium-sized onion � finely chopped
2 ripe tomatoes � peeled, finely chopped; seed them if you so prefer.

For the picada

2 sprigs flat Italian parsley
4 toasted almonds

How to prepare this seafood soup recipe

Heat the olive oil in an earthenware cassola or Dutch oven. Add the garlic cloves. Fry the garlic over high heat until golden. Remove the fried garlic cloves and set aside.

In the same oil and the same cassola, make a sofregit of onion and tomato. First, add the onion, and when it is translucent, say 4 or 5 minutes, add the chopped tomato. Stir, and cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

Add the potato slices, and the fish cuts, the shellfish, and enough fish stock to cover seafood and potatoes. Cook uncovered over medium-high heat for 10 to 15 minutes. The seafood shouldn't cook longer than 20 minutes.

If you are not sure that the potatoes will cook properly you have two alternatives: a) cut the potato slices thinner; b) add the potatoes and the fish stock first, cook for 5 minutes, and then add the seafood and cook for 10 minutes. When it's almost cooked add salt to taste.

Meanwhile, prepare the picada. First pound the fried cloves of garlic in the mortar, then the parsley and finally the toasted almonds. Use 2 tablespoons of the cooking seafood sauce to bind the picada.

Stir in the picada at the last moment. Adjust the salt if necessary.

Let this delicious seafood soup recipe rest for some minutes before serving. It'll be even more succulent.

And now for some menu ideas!

Meal ideas and wine pairing

Starting with a light appetizer or first course like this vegetable asparagus casserole recipe will tone your organism AND spirits.

Now it's the turn of the crown of our Catalan Mediterranean food menu: Suquet de peix, the seafood soup recipe I explain above step by step.

A cold white wine is the perfect pairing for this seafood recipe.

If you had arrived in Catalonia on one of those luxury cruise ships that sail the Mediterranean, I would reccomend you a delightfully refreshing white Marfil wine of the Alella appelation. Or perhaps a wine made with the varietal Macabeu.

You can find Catalan wines in select wine stores all over the world. Shouldn't you find it, any not too intense white wine from the Mediterranean region can be your perfect companion for this delicious meal.

And as dessert a homemade flan!

Home cooks who tried this seafood soup recipe were also interested in a Mediterranean sardine recipe.

Visitors interested in pairing this seafood soup recipe with wine also read the wine guide to Catalonia wine countries.

The Mediterranean Sea in July. About 5 miles from where I live.