Spanish seafood soup

Ready in 45 minutes Serves 6 as a main course

¼ cup olive oil

2 medium onions, finely diced

2 stalks celery, de-stringed and thinly sliced

1 medium head fennel, halved then thinly sliced

2 fat cloves garlic, crushed

3 Tbsp tomato paste

Generous pinch saffron threads

2 tsp ras el hanout or Moroccan spice mix

1 tsp piment d’espelette, or a generous pinch chilli flakes

4 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 cup white wine

8 cups fish stock (don’t use concentrate or cubes)

2 cups water

Salt and pepper

1 tsp honey

1 kg large whole raw prawns

6 whole scampi (optional)

2 squid tubes, sliced into rings or cut into

2-3cm pieces

800g mixed fish fillets, e.g. gurnard or monkfish cut into 2-3cm chunks

½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

TO SERVE

Smoked paprika and garlic aioli (see below)

Crostini

3 lemons, halved and grilled (to garnish,

optional)

In a large, deep pot, heat oil and gently cook onion, celery and fennel until softened but not browned, 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, saffron, ras el hanout and piment d’espelette (or chilli) and stir over heat for a minute or two. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, wine, stock and water. Simmer 10 minutes. Add honey and season with salt and pepper. Add the whole prawns and scampi (if using) to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes then scoop out and place in a bowl. Put the scampi to one side and when prawns are cool enough to handle, remove heads and shells. Place these in a sieve over a bowl, press out all the liquid and pour this back into the pot. Discard heads and shells. Cover and chill prawns and scampi if not using at once. (Soup base can be prepared in advance to this point; it will keep in the fridge for 24 hours.)

Fifteen minutes before serving, place sliced squid in a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover by 2cm. Stand for 5 minutes then drain. Bring the soup base to a boil. Add fish chunks to the pot and boil for 5=6 minutes until cooked through. Just before serving, add drained squid and cooked prawn tails and the whole cooked scampi if using. Bring mixture back to a simmer, take off heat, mix in parsley and serve at once. Accompany with smoked paprika and garlic aioli on crostini and grilled lemon halves, if using. Set out finger bowls of hot water and small plates for discarded scampi shells.

SMOKED PAPRIKA AND GARLIC AIOLI

Blend 1 cup good quality mayonnaise with

2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp smoked paprika and

1 Tbsp lemon juice. This keeps in a covered container for about a week in the fridge.

Match this with ...

Linden Estate Little Hawke’s Bay Albarino 2022 ($23)

There’s a reason Kiwis are charging toward albarino like bulls at a matador, and it’s because of snappy, lemony examples like this. A Spanish grape that’s found a happy home in Hawke’s Bay, it’s crisp, crunchy, loaded with lifted florals and finishes with a light, minerally touch. It’s completely captivating, attention-grabbing and procrastinationinducing. Like those YouTube videos where cranes plunge giant claws into the muddy depths of inner city canals and bring up huge tangles of old bicycles, shopping trolleys and mysterious bric-a-brac. It’s soup-erb. lindenestate.co.nz

— Yvonne Lorkin