Mediterranean Seafood And Orzo Soup

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 1/2 lbs halibut, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons olive oil, plus
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 (28 ounce) can italian plum tomatoes, drained
• 4 (8 ounce) bottles clam juice
• 1 1/2 cups dry wine
• 1 bay leaf
• orange rind, cut into 2 1 x 4-inch strips
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 cup orzo pasta
• 2 lbs fresh clams, well scrubbed or 2 (10 ounce) cans baby clams, drained
• minced fresh parsley

Recipe

• 1 mix halibut, lemon juice and 4 teaspoons oil in a medium bowl.
• 2 let mixture stand while preparing soup.
• 3 heat 1/4 cup oil in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat.
• 4 add onions and cook until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
• 5 squeeze tomatoes through fingers to break up while adding to saucepan.
• 6 add clam juice, wine, bay leaf, orange peel strips, fennel and dried red pepper.
• 7 simmer soup for 10 minutes.
• 8 add orzo and cook for 5 more minutes.
• 9 add clams to soup.
• 10 cover and cook for 5 minutes longer.
• 11 add halibut.
• 12 cover and cook until halibut is opaque and clams open, about 4 minutes longer.
• 13 discard bat leaf, orange peel and any clams that do not open.
• 14 season to taste with salt and pepper.
• 15 garnish with parsley.