Sopa Leao Velloso
Submitted by Score4D
Grand Brazilian seafood soup with grouper, shrimp, mussels, crab, and lobster in a rich fish head stock with tomatoes, coriander, parsley, and cayenne. A coastal feast in a bowl.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
40 minCOOK
90 minREADY
130 minSopa Leao Velloso is Brazilian seafood cooking at its most magnificent: a rich, aromatic broth loaded with five kinds of shellfish and fish.
It starts with the grouper head simmering for 90 minutes with a bouquet garni of celery, peppercorns, cloves, and parsley, building a deeply flavored stock from scratch. That stock then poaches the shrimp, steams open the mussels or clams, and becomes the foundation of the final soup.
Grouper steaks get fried separately and broken into chunks. Sauteed scallions, garlic, tomatoes, and fresh coriander join the stock along with crab meat and lobster. Everything meets in one pot for a glorious finish.
This is not a quick weeknight supper. This is the centerpiece of a celebration.
Chef’s Tips
- Don’t discard the edible parts of the grouper head. The cheeks and collar have some of the most flavorful, tender meat on the fish.
- Strain the stock through cheesecloth after cooking the mussels to catch any sand or shell grit. One crunchy bite ruins the whole bowl.
- Cook each seafood element separately in the stock, then combine at the end. This keeps every protein perfectly cooked instead of overdone.
Ingredients
Directions
The bouquet garni is made with a celery stalk tied with whole peppercorns, cloves and parsley.
Cut head from grouper.
Slice fish into 1 inch steaks and set aside.
Place fish head in a large pot of cold water.
Add salt and bring water to a boil, then add bouquet garni.
Cover and simmer for 1½ hours.
Discard fish head and bouquet garni, reserving edible parts of fish head.
Using fish stock, cook shrimps in their shells for 10 minutes or until they turn pink.
Remove, discard shells and black veins, and reserve.
Using the same stock, heat mussels or clams in their shell for 5 minutes or until shell open.
Remove from stock, remove seafood from shells, and reserve seafood.
Strain stock to remove any sand or shell particles.
Use a little of the oil to sauté onions, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, parsley and cayenne pepper just until vegetables soften, then add mixture to fish stock.
Heat remaining oil and gently fry grouper steaks.
Remove skin and bones, break grouper into pieces and add to stock mixture along with crab, lobster, shrimp, mussels and edible part of grouper head.
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