Tuscan Fish Soup by Lucio Galletto - Photograph by Ben Dearnley
This fish soup originated in Livorno, the port city in northern Tuscany, before being adopted by the town of Viareggio, the poshest of the summer resorts on the Tuscan continuation of the Ligurian Riviera.
The name comes from the Turkish word kuciuk, meaning ‘small things’. According to legend, it was first prepared when a Livornese fisherman’s boat was overturned in a huge tempest and he drowned, leaving his wife and children in poverty. His hungry children went to the port and asked the other fishermen for some food. Everyone gave something: octopus, calamari, some black mussels, some little bony, unsellable fish . . . The children took it all home to their mother, who prepared a soup with it. The neighbours were so taken with the beautiful aroma that they went to the woman and asked her what it was. And so cacciucco was born, and it is said there are as many types of fish in the cacciucco as there are ‘c’s in its spelling!
Tuscan fish soup
Serves 6-8
130 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, finely diced
1 stalk celery heart, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, 4 finely chopped, 1 peeled and squashed
3 red chillies, finely diced
Handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, plus 1 tablespoon extra
200 g baby octopus, cleaned
200 g small cuttlefish, cleaned and cut into small pieces
200 g baby calamari, cleaned and cut into small pieces
125 ml dry white wine (ideally the same one you will be drinking with the soup)
800 g tinned tomatoes, passed through a mouli or squished with your hands
2 kg small whole fish, such as leatherjacket, rock cod, red mullet, cleaned (leave the heads attached for extra flavour) or 1 kg fillets of larger fish, such as john dory
500 g black mussels, scrubbed and debearded
500 g clams (vongole), cleaned
4 raw king prawns in their shells, cut in half lengthways
4 medium scampi in their shells, cut in half lengthways
4 slices ciabatta
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep heavy-based saucepan or flameproof casserole over medium heat and cook the onion and celery, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for about 6 minutes, until soft. Add the chopped garlic, chilli and parsley and sauté for a further 2 minutes, taking care not to let the garlic burn.
- Add the baby octopus, cuttlefish and calamari to the pan, stir gently and sauté until the water they release has evaporated (9–10 minutes). Turn the heat up slightly, add the wine and continue cooking until it evaporates. Stir in the tomato, turn the heat down to low–medium and cook gently for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cut the fish into 3–4 cm pieces. Add all the fish to the pan, spoon over the sauce and cook for about 7 minutes. Add the mussels, clams, prawns and scampi. When the mussels and clams open, sprinkle with the extra chopped parsley, shake the pan and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Toast the ciabatta bread, rub with the squashed garlic clove and serve with your beautiful cacciucco.
The Art of Traditional Italian by Lucio Galletto - Photography by Ben Dearnley