Erica De Mane

Recipe below: Zuppa di Pesce with Marsala, Crème Fraîche, and Basil

Early last night a big snow began in Manhattan. It infiltrated my dreams. Early this morning, around four I think, I dreamed I was looking out my front window onto 13th Street and large, gray fish with black and yellow stripes were marching around through the high snow. They had legs like chickens, and at first I thought they were chickens (last night I cooked a chicken, so that made some sense). But I could clearly see they were more in the bass family. I’ve recently been trying to figure out what to cook for my Christmas Eve fish night, so that might have triggered the dream, except that in my dream fish didn’t seem edible, they seemed like regular city dwellers trying to navigate the streets in a snowstorm. I’ve never thought of fish as pets or neighbors, but I have occasionally thought of them as equals.

Fish have been on my waking mind, too, lately. Almost every Christmas Eve I do some type of zuppa di pesce, always different. I tend toward all-shellfish, I guess because that’s what my mother made, but this year thick chunks of mild fish, like halibut, monkfish, and cod, seem appealing, and I’ve come up with something less Italo-Americano than usual, no garlic, no oregano, no acidic wine. Rather I’ve used Marsala, which I love to cook with, and a touch of sweet spice, and then leveled it out with a spoon of crème fraîche at the end.

I’m thinking that with this Christmas the insular event it’s got to be, I’ll make only a few dishes, but I want them all to be fine. So maybe pizza di scarola to start, then baked mussels with nut pesto, spaghetti with bottarga, and then a variation on this zuppa di pesce. I’m not sure about dessert. I’m not a big sweets person. Maybe an orange salad with cinnamon and mint, and a bottle of grappa for the table.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas.

For some reason I didn’t capture any shrimp in this shot. I think I ate them before I took the photo, but you get the idea.

Zuppa di Pesce with Marsala, Crème Fraîche, and Basil

(Serves 4)

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined but saving the shells
Extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup dry Marsala
1½ cups light chicken broth, or water
1 teaspoon white miso
Sea salt
2 shallots, cut into small dice
1 carrot, cut into small dice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
5 or 6 large thyme sprigs, the leaves chopped
1 28-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes, chopped, with the juice
1 pound monkfish, cut into big chunks
1 pound halibut or thick cod fillet, cut into thick chunks
Aleppo pepper
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
A big handful of basil leaves, lightly chopped

Put the shrimp shells in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil. Stir the shells around until they turn pink. Add the Marsala, and let it bubble for a few seconds. Pour in the chicken broth or water, add the miso, stir everything around, and then let it simmer at a lively bubble for about 15 minutes. Strain the shrimp broth into a bowl, and season it with a little salt.

Get out a large casserole, and set it over medium heat. Add a big drizzle of olive oil. Add the shallots and the carrot, nutmeg, allspice, and thyme, and sauté until everything is fragrant, about 4 minutes.

Add the shrimp broth and the tomatoes. Turn the heat up a bit, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, and let the sauce simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, just to allow the flavors to blend.

Season the fish chunks with a little salt and some Aleppo, and add them to the broth, along with the shrimp. Cook, uncovered, until all the seafood is just tender, about 6 or 7 minutes depending on how thick your pieces are.

Turn off the heat, and add the crème fraîche, stirring it in. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or Aleppo if you think you need it.

Add the basil, and bring the zuppa to the table.

My mother always served zuppa di pesce with crumbly Neapolitan biscuits made with black pepper and lard. They’re called friselle, but we always referred to them as lard biscuits.  These are different from the flat, dry bagel-shaped toasts also called lard biscuits. You can use those instead, if you prefer, sticking one in the bottom of each serving bowl before you pour on the zuppa. I didn’t have either on hand for my trial run, so I just dropped a couple of long taralli into the zuppa. Pretty good.