Vietnamese Bouillabaisse

Photo: flickr user tapperboy

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion,chopped

3 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 jalapeno or serrano chile, thinly sliced( I chopped it)

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup water

1 bot (8 oz) clam juice

1 cup dry white wine

3 tablespoons fish sauce

1 stalk lemongrass, bottom 6 inches, lightly crushed*

18 smalls hard shell clams, well scrubbed

pound medium raw shrimp, deveined but not peeled ( I peeled the

pound firm white fish, skinned, boned, and cut into bite size pieces (I used 1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes ( I used canned diced to

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves

2 tablespoons shredded fresh mint leaves

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Preparation

Prepare the stock: Heat the olive oil in a 5 quart pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the onion, shallots, garlic, and chile and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, water, clam juice, wine, fish sauce and lemongrass.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. remove the lemon grass.

Add the clams, shrimp, and fish. Cover and simmer until the clams open and the shrimp turns pink, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, green onions, basil and mint and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the sesame oil. As you serve the soup, discard any unopened clams.

Note: I served this with crusty bread and a cucumber salad sprinkled with chopped walnuts and chopped raw onion.