Sopa Marinera Asturiana

Sopa marinera Asturiana belongs to the coast of Asturias, where a feast soup is built from shellfish, white fish, stale bread, saffron, and pimentón until the broth turns golden, velvet-thick, and full of the sea. It isn't a thin fish broth and it isn't a cream soup. The bread gives it body, and the shellfish gives it its name.

The method that decides it is the stock. Toast the prawn heads and shells hard in olive oil, then crush and blend them with a little broth before straining. That is where the depth comes from. Skip it and you have water with seafood in it, a poor thing for Christmas Eve.

If you're far from Asturias, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use good prawns with heads if you can find them; if not, use shell-on prawns and a strong fish stock, knowing the broth will be a little less sweet. Monkfish is right if you have it, hake works well, and mussels and clams will carry the pot if they are fresh. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

My Margin for this one says only this: do not boil the shellfish twice. Cook them just until they open or turn opaque, lift them out, and return them at the end. That small bit of patience keeps the soup tender, tal como se hace allí.