Berkshire Grown board member Laury Epstein contributed an extraordinary seafood chili to the Share the Bounty Chili Contest. She graciously shares the recipe below.
Laury Epstein
Chili of the Sea
by Laury Epstein
Hosteria Fiorella was a wildly popular restaurant on Third Avenue and the mid-60s, near where we lived in New York City. This dish was so popular that in the 1980s New York magazine printed the recipe, as found below.
3 slices pancetta, roughly chopped
10 T olive oil
1 c finely diced yellow onion
10 cloves garlic, crushed
3 fresh chili peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
¾ c white wine
Approximately 6 oz. each fresh chicken and turkey link sausage, precooked for 7 minutes and then cut into ½” slices*
3 c chopped tomatoes
2 c plus 6 T canned tomato sauce
2 ½ c canned Great Northern white beans, drained
¾ lb fish fillet (such as flounder), cut in small cubes
¾ lb calamari, cut in rings
30 littleneck clams, minced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined and cut into 2 or 3 pieces
2-3 t cumin powder
Salt to taste
2 T cracked black pepper
If desired, sprinkle chopped parsley, basil, and/or cilantro just before serving**
In a good-size pot, sauté pancetta in olive oil until crisp. Add onion, garlic, and chili peppers, and cook until tender. Deglaze pan with wine, then add sausages, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and beans, and simmer over moderate heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes. Can make chili up to this point well ahead of serving.
Add fish, calamari, clams, and shrimp. Season with cumin, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring for about 10 minutes. Stir in fresh herbs and cook for 1 minute longer.
*I was in a minor car accident on my way to Guido’s to get the chicken and turkey sausage, but never got there so to mimic their flavor, I added 2 t dried fennel. But I’d rather have used the sausage.
**Same excuse for not including the fresh herbs.
