cooking day

I've had a brutal sore throat for a while now, and so am drawn to making soups. Today, in addition to making my kids' favorite Italian Herb Bread, I tried a version of a recipe my friend Casey sent me a few years ago, making my usual tweaks and revisions. This is a very forgiving recipe, as most soup recipes are -- if you like more of one flavor or less of another, go with it!

The original recipe called for more wine, but I didn't have much left, and decided to go for it anyway -- and it came out great!

Casey's Seafood Soup, with tweaks

1/2 C olive oil, or enough to coat the bottom of your stock pot
2 medium onions, diced
2 tsp garlic, minced (or more, to taste -- I use about twice this amount)
2 tsp dried basil (twice this amount, minced, if fresh)
2 tsp dried oregano (twice this amount, minced, if fresh)
2 bay leaves
4 plum tomatoes, diced

1 C white wine (really, any will do...)
1 28 oz can plum tomatoes, crushed or whole
32 oz chicken, fish, or vegetable stock

2 lbs mixed seafood: shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels
(Trader Joe's makes a great frozen seafood blend that is perfect for this recipe)

Put the first 7 ingredients into your stockpot and cook gently over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent and the tomatoes are soft. The longer you cook this, at this stage, the better, IMO. Some people are fond of crunchy onions, but I am not one of them, especially not in a recipe like this.

When all those ingredients are cooked down and fragrant and lovely, add the wine and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. If you want a more brothy soup, you can add more wine, but be sure to let it reduce to concentrate the flavor -- how much is up to you. I have made this recipe with an entire bottle of wine, but reduced it substantially, probably by half, and that gives the soup a very nice depth of flavor. But it also takes longer to cook!

When the wine is reduced to your liking, add the tomatoes and the broth. Rinse out the tomato can with about a half-cup of water and add that to the pot, too. If you're using whole tomatoes, you'll want to break them up into smaller pieces for easier eating. Then just let it simmer quietly until about 15 or 20 minutes before you want to eat it.

At that point, add the seafood, and be sure to keep the heat gentle! Do not let it come to a boil, or your seafood will be rapidly rubberized. In about 15 or 20 minutes, though, it will be perfectly cooked, and your soup is done.

All in all, you can make this in less than hour, I'd say, depending on your chopping skills. It's well worth the effort. I think some day even my kids will like it, hopefully as much as they like that bread!