Sardinian Fish Soup (Cassola)
Description
Unlike the Milanese cassoeula, the cassola sarda — also known as zuppa di pesce alla casteddaia — is a traditional Sardinian seafood dish, typically made with the day’s fresh catch, especially in the Cagliari area.
To prepare a flavorful and inviting fish soup, it’s best to use the classic ingredients found in rich tomato-based fish stews, such as mullet, cuttlefish, octopus, mussels, clams, scorpionfish, John Dory, and other local varieties.
To make the dish even tastier, don’t forget slices of rustic bread — ideally toasted and rubbed with garlic — to serve as the perfect base for the soup.
Ingredients
to recalculate the ingredient amounts
- Mixed fish for soup (cleaned) 1500 g
- Rustic toasted bread 300 g
- White wine 200 ml
- Garlic 8 g
- Parsley 20 g
- Basil 20 g
- Chili pepper 3 g
- Extra virgin olive oil 25 ml
- Salt 6 g
- Pepper 6 g
Instructions
- 1 To prepare the cassola sarda, start by thoroughly washing the fish, shellfish, and crustaceans to remove any impurities, then pat them dry with a kitchen cloth.
- 2 Gut the fish and cut it into pieces. In a separate pan, place the clams and mussels with a drizzle of oil and a glass of white wine to open them, keeping their cooking liquid aside.
- 3 In a large pot, sauté a minced mixture of garlic, parsley, and chili pepper in hot olive oil. Then add the tomatoes, previously blanched, peeled, and blended.
- 4 Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper, then add the pieces of fish and the remaining seafood, stirring gently to combine.
- 5 Pour in the reserved cooking liquid, mix again, and cook over low heat for about 45 minutes.
- 6 When ready, remove from heat and ladle the cassola sarda over toasted slices of rustic bread. Garnish with fresh basil and serve hot.
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Arborea menus
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Come and discover the most traditional recipes of our homeland, Sardinia. We’ve prepared some simple menus for every day and some more elaborate ones for special occasions.
