Secret Vines Blog

Summer seafood and a cool dry white......

19th November, 2009

Munching on summer seafood and washing it down with with a cool, dry white wine is a favourite at our place. And boy, we've needed a few cleansing white wines after sweating in our jocks through Adelaide's latest heatwave. I've been down on the beach in McLaren Vale fishing every afternoon to escape the heat and have been bringing home a little bounty of seafood.

Marion's been doing what she does best in the kitchen and her latest creation is really tasty...full of fresh crabs, prawns and fish. It was that good I can still taste it now, so I wanted to offer it up to those who share our seafood fetish. While splitting open crab claws and licking our fingers, we downed the Bremerton Verdelho. Check out our straight case offer here.

I'm absolutely delighted with our new packs so be sure to take them for a test drive if you have not had the chance yet. You can click through to our pack options here.

Now its over to Marion with her Summer Seafood Broth.

Here's what you need.......

2 blue swimmer crabs, cleaned and chopped into chunks, 300g green prawns, shelled and deveined, 2 large fillets of firm white fish

2 garlic cloves (chopped), 1 small fennel bulb (finely chopped), 1 brown onion (finely chopped), 2 celery sticks (finely chopped), 1 chorizo sausage (diced), 1 small red chilli (chopped), 2 tsp ground fennel seeds, ½ tsp smoked paprika, 1 cup white wine, 400g tin chopped tomatoes, 3 cups of fish stock (or water), 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp chopped dill, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Bread to serve

Here's how you do it........

Heat a good splash of olive oil in a large pot and sauté the garlic, fennel, onion, celery, chorizo, chilli, fennel seeds and paprika. Keep frying until the vegetables are soft and caramelised, being careful to stir often so that the spices don't burn.

Add white wine and let it reduce for a couple of minutes. Then add tomatoes, fish stock (or water) and sugar. Let the mixture simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the broth has a sweet and spicy tomato flavour.

Add in the crabs first and let them simmer for a couple of minutes. Then add in the prawns and the fish. If there is not enough liquid to just cover the seafood add in a little more water or stock. Put the lid on the pot and simmer until the seafood is just cooked.

Pull out all the seafood into a large serving bowl. Stir dill through the broth, then ladle over the seafood. Serve with large chunks of toasted bread to mop up the juices.

And it's happy times. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Tim & Marion