Advertisement
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 ounces slab bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
½ green pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
½ red pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
½ yellow pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
1 poblano pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded, deribbed and chopped
4 small new potatoes, peeled, diced and placed in cold water to prevent discoloration
1 ½ cups canned tomato purée
1 ½ cups Italian canned whole tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups fish stock
2 ½ cups clam juice
1 pound cleaned and ground conch meat; to grind, thaw the meat and place in a food processor or blender and pulse (see note)
Bouquet garni (1 sprig each thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil tied in a cheesecloth)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Tabasco sauce to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving
4 grams carbs; 12 milligrams cholesterol; 61 calories; 1 gram monosaturated fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 3 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 218 milligrams sodium; 6 grams protein; 2 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered by
Preparation
- Step 1
In a stockpot, heat the olive oil and render the bacon. Add all ingredients up to (but not including) the potatoes. Cook vegetables over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the potatoes, tomato purée and chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat to very low.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, in a separate pot, heat fish stock and clam juice until simmering. Add the ground conch, stirring vigorously so the conch doesn't clump up. Bring to a boil, then strain the liquid into the other pot. Set aside the conch. Add bouquet garni, bay leaf and red pepper flakes and simmer the soup until the potatoes are cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove bouquet garni. Add conch and Tabasco sauce to taste.
Frozen conch is available from the odd fishmonger as frozen steaks or scungilli, but you will have a better chance of finding it in your local Chinatown. (Abalone is an acceptable, but expensive, substitute; you can also use clams.) Should you wish to prepare the conch in any way other than ground, you will have to beat it with a mallet until it and, quite likely, you, are falling apart.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe was perfect. I used a few slices of almost stale bread to sop up the juices. I would only add some fresh lime because I love seafood and lime. I will make this over and over.
This recipe was excellent for a test case as we were looking for a good conch recipe to serve a second time to a larger gathering. More work than we thought - easily served 7 in mugs as an appetizer along with oyster crackers. Plenty of extra and tasted just as good over the next few days. Somehow lost the bacon after butcher counter so substituted spicy chorizo nuggets that we chopped & “rendered” in the pan before adding all the vegetables. The conch that we purchased was the northern variety so the fishermen had cooked it about 70% to get out of the shell. We ground it with our KitchenAid grinder. We added the clam juice and seafood broth to the cooked vegetables, brought to a gentle boil, and then put with our ground conch into our Crock Pot on low for 5-6 hrs. When we need to serve 25, will buy already chopped vegetables (including potatoes), be less picky about the various tomato products and prepare the “base” several days in advance. Have time constraints so these shortcuts should help.
This recipe was perfect. I used a few slices of almost stale bread to sop up the juices. I would only add some fresh lime because I love seafood and lime. I will make this over and over.