Spicy Seafood Soup

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Title: Spicy Seafood Soup
Categories: Soups, Shrimp, Clams, Mussels
Yield: 6 servings

Stephen Ceideburg
1 lb Medium shrimp
1 tb Vegetable oil
2 qt Fish stock
3 Fresh lemon grass stalks,
-coarsely chopped
Grated zest from 1 lime
6 To 8 kaffir lime leaves
10 sl Unpeeled fresh, galangal
2 Fresh Serrano chiles,
-stemmed, seeded, and
-chopped
24 md Mussels or clams in shells
2 tb Freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tb Fish sauce
3 tb Chopped fresh cilantro
1 tb Slivered fresh red hot chile
1/4 c Chopped green onion
Salt
Thin lime slices for garnish
Fresh lime or other citrus
-leaves and blossoms for
-garnish

Peel and devein the shrimp; cover and refrigerate the shrimp and
reserve the shells.

Heat the oil in a soup pot or large, heavy saucepan over high heat.
Add the shrimp shells and saute until the shells turn bright pink.
Add the stock or diluted broth, lemon grass or zest lime zest and
leaves, galangal or ginger, and chiles. Bring to a boil, then reduce
heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Strain the broth
through a fine sieve into a clean soup pot. (At this point, the soup
can be poured into a container and refriger- ated, uncovered, until
cool, then tightly covered and stored for up to 3 days. Slowly reheat
before proceeding.)

Bring the strained soup to a boil over high heat. Add the mussels or
clams, cover, and cook until the shells open, about 2 minutes. Remove
the mussels or clams and break off and discard the top shell. Return
the mussels or clams on the half shell to the broth. Add the shrimp
and cook until the shrimp turn opaque, about 2 minutes. Reduce the
heat to low, stir in the lime juice, fish sauce, cilantro, slivered
chile, green onion, and salt to taste; simmer about 1 minute. Ladle
into preheated soup bowls, garnish with lime slices, leaves, and
blossoms, and serve imme- diately.

Serves 6 as a soup course, or 3 or 4 as a main dish.

From "James McNair's Soups" (Chronicle Books, San Francisco). Posted
by Stephen Ceideburg

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