Between the endless rainfall yesterday and the exhaustion I was feeling, I decided on soup for dinner. And not just any soup, a soup to make the whole mess worth it. Also, I needed an excuse to visit my special fishmonger and wanted to see what special local catch was available.

Lots of special things caught my eye but nothing more so than these Venus Clams from South Australia. They were so gorgeous with their striped shells and they were really exquisitely fresh.

Then I found some baby barramundi and bought a local octopus. I know the Brodetto traditionally has 13 different fish to represent all the disciples at the last supper but I improvised.

Ingredients:

2 White fish filets

1.5 kg Clams

1 whole octopus pre-cooked & cut into pieces

12 prawns

1 bunch parsley

2 potatoes

1 can tomatoes

1 leek (white parts only)

3 cloves garlic chopped or crushed

2 teaspoons dried chilies

2 medium carrots chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup white wine

2 L good meat or fish stock

Directions:

Heat olive oil in heavy bottomed saucepan and add leeks and garlic. Cook until translucent then add carrots and celery and chilli.

Cook for three minutes then add potatoes, and chopped tomatoes cooking a few minutes.

Add stock and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer on medium low for 45 minutes. At the end of the cooking time add wine and parsley.

Now you can add the octopus and prawns. Add clams and white fish at the very end as they do not require a lot of time to cook.

Serve with crusty bread.