Recipe: Spanish soup Zarzuela de Mariscos for Lent

February 25, 2024 | 10:40am

MANILA, Philippines — It is already the Lenten season, and it is the time Catholics start fasting and eating meatless meals on Fridays. 

Some people stick to Fridays, while others go beyond just Fridays, refraining from eating meat as much and as often as they can.

If you are looking for new meatless recipes to try this Lent, this Spanish soup dish, Zarzuela de Mariscos, just might come in handy.

Chef Chester Polican whipped it up in a previous out-of-town media food event in Antipolo put together by San Miguel Pure Foods Culinary Center. The recipe uses Purefoods Classic Honeycured Thick Cut Bacon and Ibero Olive Oil.

Zarzuela De Mariscos

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup Ibero Olive Oil

1 pc. large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 piece medium-sized red bell pepper, sliced into 1/4-inch strips   

1/4 cup Purefoods Classic Honeycured Thick-cut Bacon, sliced into strips

1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes

1/4 tsp. saffron

1/2 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. rosemary

Chili flakes to taste

Iodized fine salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup white wine

1-1/4 cups fish stock

Juice of 1/2 pc. lemon

1/4 kg. clams

200 grams large suahe shrimps

1/4 kg. fish, cubed

1 piece lemon, sliced into wedges

Chopped parsley for garnish

PROCEDURE:

1. Heat oil in pan. Sauté the onion until slightly transparent. Add garlic and bell pepper and continue to sauté for another 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the bacon and cook for 3 minutes more.

3. Mix in the diced tomatoes and increase the heat to high. Stir in saffron, thyme, rosemary, chili flakes and wine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until the mixture is reduced to half. Add fish stock, lemon juice and add clams. Cover the pan and allow the clams to cook. Discard the unopened clams.

5. Add in the shrimps and fish. Cook for about 5 minutes.

6. Transfer the dish to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped parsley.

RELATED: Instead of meatballs, make Tokwa Bites for Lent