Provencal tomato soup with mussels and vermicelli - bon a

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
4 pounds Mussels, scrubbed and debearded
¼ cup Fresh parsley leaves
2 larges Garlic cloves
2 mediums Onions, quartered
2 tablespoons Olive oil
3 larges Tomatoes (about 1 lb), cored, halved, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 large Leek, trimmed, green part discarded, white part cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
3 cups (or more) bottled clamjuice
1 cup Canned chicken broth
2 tablespoons Tomato paste
1 Bay leaf
Pinch of saffron
2 ounces Vermicelli pasta, broken into thirds
¼ tablespoon Dried red pepper flakes
Salt

Directions

Place mussels in heavy large saucepan and cover with cold salted water. Soak 30 minutes. Drain well; rinse pan. Discard any open mussels; return remaining mussels to saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes, stirring once. Remove opened mussels.

Cover and continue cooking 5 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels.

Let mussels cool; remove shells. Strain liquid exuded while cooking through double thickness of cheese, cloth. Add enough water to liquid to measure 2 cups. Do not rinse pan.

Steel Knife: Process parsley until minced, about 30 seconds. Set aside. With machine running, drop garlic through feed tube and mince.

Add on- 10ns and mince using on/off turns.

Add oil to same saucepan used for cooking mussels and heat over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, tomatoes and leek and cook until soft but not brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add strained mussel liquid, 3 C clam juice, chicken broth, tomato paste, bay leaf and saffron. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add vermicelli and simmer just until tender, about 7 minutes. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover soup, mussels and parsley separately.

Refrigerate.)

Bring soup to simmer. Add mussels and cook just until hot. Add red pepper flakes. Season with salt. Garnish with reserved parsley and serve.

Bon Appetit/August/89 Scanned & fixed by Di and Gary

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