Cacciucco alla Livornese (Tuscan Fish Stew)

I know I’m the Portuguese one around here, but my husband spent a summer working in Livorno before we met, and cacciucco is the one dish he still describes with the kind of reverence usually reserved for a first love. It’s a Tuscan fish stew built from whatever the boats brought in that day, thickened with garlic-rubbed bread, and finished with enough chili and red wine to make it feel like a proper coastal meal rather than a tidy restaurant plate.

It sits comfortably next to my Portuguese caldeirada de peixe (recipe on the site) in spirit, both are fisherman’s stews built to use up the odd bits of the catch, but cacciucco leans harder into tomato, garlic, and heat, and traditionally uses at least five kinds of seafood, supposedly one for each C in the word cacciucco. I won’t hold you to exactly five, but variety is the whole point.

This is the kind of dinner that looks impressive and is genuinely forgiving. If your fish market has firm white fish, shellfish, and squid that day, you’re basically done shopping.

Cacciucco alla Livornese Recipe

Prep time: 25 minutes · Cook time: 45 minutes · Total: 1 hour 10 minutes · Servings: 6 · Calories: ~410 per serving

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for the bread
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 3 cups fish or seafood stock
• 1 lb firm white fish (such as monkfish, cod, or halibut), cut into large chunks
• 1/2 lb squid, cleaned and sliced into rings
• 1/2 lb mussels, scrubbed and debearded
• 1/2 lb clams, scrubbed
• 1/2 lb large shrimp, shell on
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 6 slices crusty country bread, toasted
• Chopped fresh parsley, for serving

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until softened.
2. Add half the minced garlic and the red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
3. Pour in the red wine and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes to cook off the sharp alcohol smell.
4. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 20 minutes, until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the fish and squid first, since they take a bit longer, and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Add the mussels, clams, and shrimp. Cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the shells have opened and the shrimp are pink. Discard any mussels or clams that stay closed.
7. Rub the toasted bread with the remaining garlic clove and place a slice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle the stew generously over the top and finish with chopped parsley.

Recipe Notes

• Buy your seafood the same day you’re cooking if at all possible; this stew depends on freshness more than any spice in it.
• Discard any clams or mussels that don’t open after cooking, and any that are open and don’t close when tapped before cooking; both are signs they’re not safe to eat.
• No fish stock on hand? Simmer the shrimp shells in water with a bay leaf for 20 minutes for a quick homemade version.
• This is even better the next day once the flavors settle, though the seafood texture is at its best the day it’s made.