Broth
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Scotch bonnet, stem and seeds discarded, minced
6 shallots, peeled and sliced thinly
4 cloves of garlic, peeled, and sliced thinly
12 small clams, scrubbed
12 mussels, scrubbed and de-bearded
1 star anise
1 tablespoon roughly cracked black pepper
3 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1 scant tablespoon saffron
1 quart heavy cream
1 cup coconut milk
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high hear. Add the scotch bonnet, shallots, and garlic. Stir. Let vegetables flavor the oil (about 1 minute). Then add the clams, mussels, star anise, and black pepper. Stir. Then add the orange juice and cover the pot. Remove the clams and mussels as they open to a colander set over a bowl to catch the liquid (They start opening after about 3 minutes; just take them out as they open and cover the pot again and keep checking for more open ones.)
Allow the orange and shellfish juices to reduce, uncovered, until about 1 cup of liquid remains, about 10 minutes. Now add the saffron, heavy cream, and coconut milk. Allow to boil, stirring occasionally. (Be careful, cream can boil over in a split second.) Reduce the cream until it will just barely coat the back of a spoon (about 15 to 20 minutes). Turn off and strain. Discard the solids and reserve the flavored cream. Meanwhile, take the cooled mussels and clams out of their shells, reserve the meat, and toss the shells.
Vegetable Garnish
6 new potatoes, scrubed and diced medium
1/2 cup of pure olive oil
2 ounces smoked slab bacon, rind removed, about 1/2 cup
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 poblano chile, stem and seeds discarded, minced
1/2 red onion, peeled and diced medium
2 large carrots, peeled and diced medium
1/2 bulb fennel, cored and diced medium
2 celery stalks, cleaned and diced medium
1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds discarded, diced medium
1 ear corn, kernels cut off the cob
1/4 cup roughly shopped cilantro
2 bay leaves, broken
salt and pepper to taste
Put potatoes in a small saucepot of lightly salted water. Bring to a boil and turn down heat; simmer until just underdone (this only takes a few minutes, since the potatoes are so small).
In a large heavy soup pot, cook the bacon with the olive oil over medium high heat until bacon is half-way cooked. Add the garlic and the chile and stir briefly. Add the rest of the vegetables except the potatoes; stir to coat, add salt and pepper; cilantro, and bay leaf. Cook until firm, stirring occasionally (about 8 minutes). Add potatoes, saffron cream, clams, and mussels.
Conch
3/4 pound cleaned, pounded conch
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup flour
2 eggs beaten with 4 teaspoons of half-and-half
1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
peanut oil to saute the conch
Season the conch with salt and pepper. Now dredge the conch pieces in the flout, then the eggs, and then in the panko. Place them on a large plate. You can layer them if you separate the breaded pieces with wax paper or plastic wrap.
Finishing the Dish
Heat the soup until quite warm. Now heat a large skillet and saute the conch until nicely colored on both sides. Remove to paper towel until all the conch is cooked. Now quickly chop the cooked conch into pieces. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and scatter the cooked conch over the soup.
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