Chef-tested recipe
Livornese seafood stew with mixed fish, octopus, cuttlefish, mussels, prawns, tomato, wine, sage, chilli, and garlic-rubbed toast
Cacciucco is the dark, robust seafood stew of Livorno on the Tuscan coast. Traditionally it turns an assortment of modest rock fish, cephalopods, shellfish, tomato, wine, garlic, sage, and chilli into a deeply flavoured meal. Each seafood enters according to its cooking time, and the finished stew is ladled over Tuscan bread rubbed with raw garlic.
Recipe at a glance
- Servings
- 6 servings
- Prep Time
- 1 hour
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 15 mins
- Resting Time
- 10 mins
- Total Time
- 2 hours 25 mins
- Cuisine
- Italian, Tuscan
- Course
- Main dish and seafood stew
- Cooking Method
- Stock-making, staged braising, shellfish steaming, and bread toasting
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Best Served With
- Best served over garlic-rubbed Tuscan bread with a simple bitter-leaf salad and a young Tuscan red wine.
Before you begin
Ingredients & equipment
Gather what you need first, then cook through the method with confidence.
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Equipment
- Large heavy stockpotpaid link
- Medium saucepan with lidpaid link
- Fine-mesh sievepaid link
- Fish filleting knifepaid link
- Chef’s knifepaid link
- Cutting boardpaid link
- Kitchen tweezerspaid link
- Digital kitchen scalepaid link
Ingredients
For the seafood
- Small whole rock fish such as scorpionfish or red snapper, cleaned: 700 g
- Whole gurnard or sea robin, cleaned: 500 g
- Monkfish tail, skinned and cut into chunks: 450 g
- Small octopus, cleaned and cut into pieces: 500 g
- Cuttlefish, cleaned and cut into strips: 400 g
- Mussels, scrubbed and debearded: 700 g
- Large prawns, shell on: 300 g
- Fine sea saltpaid link: 8 g
For the fish stock
- Fish heads, bones, and prawn shells from the seafood: all reserved trimmings
- Yellow onion, roughly chopped: 120 g
- Carrot, roughly chopped: 100 g
- Celery, roughly chopped: 100 g
- Parsley stems: 20 g
- Water: 1.8 litres
For the stew
- Extra-virgin olive oilpaid link: 100 ml
- Garlic, finely sliced: 30 g
- Fresh sage leaves: 8 g
- Dried red chilliespaid link: 4 g
- Yellow onion, finely diced: 200 g
- Celery, finely diced: 120 g
- Carrot, finely diced: 120 g
- Tomato paste: 40 g
- Tuscan red wine: 250 ml
- Tomato passata: 800 g
- Prepared fish stock: 1 litre
- Flat-leaf parsley, chopped: 30 g
- Freshly ground black pepper: 3 g
For the bread
- Thick slices unsalted Tuscan-style breadpaid link: 360 g
- Garlic: 10 g
- Extra-virgin olive oilpaid link: 30 ml
Preparation Overview
Fillet the whole fish, keeping the fillets in large pieces and reserving all clean heads and bones for stock. Remove the prawn shells but leave tails attached. Purge and scrub mussels and discard any cracked ones that do not close when tapped. Keep every seafood item refrigerated in separate containers until its stage.
Method
Combine the fish trimmings, prawn shells, stock vegetables, parsley stems, and water in a pot. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, skim, and strain.
Put the mussels in a covered pan with a small splash of the measured wine and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until they open. Strain and reserve their liquor; discard unopened mussels.
Heat 70 ml olive oil in a large heavy pot. Add the garlic, sage, chillies, onion, celery, and carrot and cook for 8 minutes.
Add the octopus and cuttlefish and cook for 8 minutes, stirring until their liquid reduces.
Add the tomato paste, then pour in the remaining wine and simmer for 4 minutes.
Stir in the passata, prepared fish stock, reserved mussel liquor, salt, and pepper. Simmer partly covered for 30 to 35 minutes until the octopus is becoming tender.
Add the monkfish and cook for 6 minutes. Add the firm rock-fish pieces and gurnard and cook gently for another 5 minutes without vigorous stirring.
Add the prawns and shelled or half-shelled mussels and cook for 3 minutes. Adjust the salt and fold in the parsley.
Toast the bread, rub each slice with cut garlic, and drizzle with the remaining 30 ml olive oil.
Place one garlic toast in each warm bowl, ladle over the cacciucco, rest for 10 minutes, and serve.
Beginner Technique Notes
Use several seafood types with different textures; the character comes from variety rather than one expensive fish.
Fish stock should simmer gently and briefly. Hard boiling or long cooking can make it cloudy and bitter.
Add seafood in stages: tough octopus and cuttlefish first, firm fish next, delicate fish and shellfish last.
Discard mussels that are cracked before cooking or remain closed after cooking.
Tips and Variations
Choose at least five seafood varieties when possible, reflecting the generous mixed character of Livornese cacciucco.
Red wine, garlic, sage, tomato, and chilli give the stew its distinctive dark Tuscan profile.
Unsalted Tuscan bread is traditional; any sturdy country loaf can substitute.
Source seafood according to local sustainability guidance and use what is fresh rather than forcing unavailable Mediterranean species.
Serving Ideas
- Place the toast at the bottom of each broad soup bowl. Ladle the tomato-rich broth over it and arrange a fair mixture of fish, cephalopods, mussels, and prawns on top.
Storage
Remove seafood from excess broth before chilling so it does not continue cooking. Refrigerate in shallow covered containers for up to 2 days and reheat gently until steaming. Do not freeze mussels or prawns in the finished stew; the strained tomato-fish broth may be frozen for up to 2 months.
Nutritional Value
Allergen Notes
Contains fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and wheat from the bread. Wine contains alcohol, although much cooks off. Shellfish requires strict cold holding and careful freshness checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cacciucco?
It is a robust mixed-seafood stew from Livorno, Tuscany, cooked with tomato, wine, garlic, sage, and chilli.
How many fish should I use?
Tradition celebrates a broad mixture; use at least five seafood varieties when availability allows.
Why serve it with garlic bread?
The sturdy garlic-rubbed toast absorbs the concentrated broth and is integral to the Livornese presentation.
Can I use only fillets?
You can, but heads, bones, and varied cuts create a deeper stock and a more traditional texture.