Moorish Seafood Soup

9:00 pm on 3 May 2004

(Serves 6)

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 cm piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped coriander root and stalks
3 tbsp toasted cumin seeds
1 dried red chilli, finely sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
3 medium floury potatoes, peeled and diced 2 cm
400g canned Italian tomatoes in juice, mashed
1 litre chicken stock
400g skinned, boned firm white fish fillets cut into 5 cm pieces,
(snapper, hapuku, gurnard, terakihi, John dory are all good)
16 small live mussels, scrubbed and debearded
300g raw shelled prawns,
6 silverbeet leaves, chopped, boiled 5 minutes in plenty of boiling water, cooled under cold water, squeezed dry, chopped finely
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil over moderate heat and add the ginger, garlic, coriander root and stalks, cumin seeds, chilli and onions .

Fry gently until the onions are soft. Add the potatoes, tomatoes and chicken stock and bring to the boil.

Simmer until the potatoes are tender.

Add the fish and mussels and simmer until the fish is cooked and the mussels open.

Add the prawns, silverbeet and parsley and bring back to the boil, by which time the prawns will be cooked.

Citrus