Mixed fish stew

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 600 g fish(s), mixed smaller whole (e.g. mackerel, red mullet)
• 500 g fish fillet(s), various (e.g. bream, cod, mullet, sea bass…)
• 300 g squid(s), small, prepared for cooking
• 500 g mussels
• 300 g shrimp(s)
• Salt
• 1 onion(s)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot(s)
• 2 stalk(s) Celery
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 chili peppers, dried
• 600 g tomatoes, ripe (or from a can)
• 250 ml white wine
• Saffron (one sachet)
• 1 bunch of parsley
• White bread, fresh sliced

Instructions

Working time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours

Chicken alla Viareggina

Wash and gut smaller fish and rinse thoroughly under running water. Cut off heads and fins. Cut fish fillets into 3 cm pieces. Clean and rinse squid and cut into rings about 1 cm wide. Wash, brush, and debeard mussels. Discard any opened mussels. Wash, peel, and devein shrimp. Heat whole fish in 1 liter of salted water in a pot. Peel onion and garlic. Clean and wash vegetables, roughly chop, and add to the boiling fish stock along with 2 cloves of garlic. Simmer over low heat for about half an hour. Remove fish and remove the meat from the bones. Pour the stock through a sieve. Strain fish pieces and return to the pot. In another pot, bring 250 ml of water to a boil. Cover and steam mussels over high heat until the mussels open. Discard any unopened mussels. Filter the mussel liquid through a fine sieve and pour it into the fish stock. Reserve 8 mussels with their shells for decoration, remove the rest from their shells and place them in a bowl. Heat 5 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan. Sauté 3 whole garlic cloves with the squid pieces. Add the whole chili peppers. Blanch the tomatoes, skin them, remove the stems, chop them, and add them. When the sauce has thickened, add the wine. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, season with salt and saffron, if desired. Add the firm-fleshed fish fillets to the tomato sauce, pour in the prepared fish stock, and simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Add the tender-fleshed fish and the shelled mussels, and pour in the remaining fish stock. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes. Wash the parsley, shake dry, finely chop, and sprinkle in the mixture. Remove the garlic cloves and chili pepper. Toast slices of white bread in a toaster, rub with 1 garlic clove, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Serve the toasted slices separately with the fish stew. You can also place the slices on a plate and then top with the stew (although this isn’t for everyone). Serve with Tuscan white wine, of course.