7 Mares Soup Recipes

MARISCADA AKA CALDO DE SIETE MARES

Steps:

• Place the water, bouillon cubes, onion, tomato, and bell pepper in a large pot and bring to a boil.
• In a saute pan melt the butter on medium high heat and add the peices of cat fish in the pan. Season the fish with lime juice and salt and cook on medium high for 4 minutes until the skin starts to peel from the fish. Turn the pieces over, season with lime juice and salt and cook for an additional 4 minutes.
• Turn down the heat on your pot to medium and carefully add in the cat fish, shrimp, mussels, octupus, crabs and squid. Add the minced cilantro and the epazote and stir the top just to barely incorporate the cilantro.
• Cover the pot and cook on medium for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow the soup to sit for 5 additional minutes.
• Serve the soup with fresh limes, salt, and corn tortillas. Sometimes I even dice onions, cilantro and radishes for garnish.
• Note; You can also buy a bag of frozen seafood which would include squid, mussels, octupus, and baby shrimp. This can replace the seafood ingredients except for the large shrimp, crabs, and catfish.

CALDO SIETE MARES (SEAFOOD SOUP)

Steps:

• Preheat a large griddle or comal for a few minutes at medium heat.
• After a few minutes, add the tomatoes, half of the onion(dice the other half and reserve) and cloves of garlic with skins on. On one side of griddle, toast the dried chile guajillo for 30 seconds per side or until they become aromatic. Remove the dried chiles and place them in a bowl with very hot water, reserve.
• Continue dry roasting the tomatoes, onion and garlic for 25 minutes, removing the garlic after 15 minutes.
• After 25 minutes of dry roasting, tranfer the tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, softened dried chiles, 2 tbsps tomato/chicken bouillon, 1/2 tsp pepper and 2 cups of water to the blender. Blend until smooth. Taste for salt, then set aside.
• To a large pot, add 2 tablespoons of oil and 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter. After a few minutes, add in the onions, jalapeno, carrots, chayote and celery. Stir well to combine. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes.
• To the pot with vegetables, pour in the blended tomatoes. Stir to combine and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in 6-7 cups of water or low sodium chicken broth. Mix in 1 more tablespoon of the tomato/chicken bouillon. When it comes up to a boil, taste for salt. Adjust to your liking.
• After the broth simmers for 5-7 minutes, mix in the 2 pounds of defrosted seafood. Stir gently and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. Add the shrimp, making sure you stir everything and making sure shrimp is covered with broth. Let everything cook for 5 minutes and then gently stir to make sure shrimp are pink and opaque, cooked all the way through.
• If ready, serve right away. Garnish with cilantro, radishes, onion, crushed chile de arbol and lime wedges. Serve with tostadas or crusty bolillo bread.