By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up minorgan@yahoo.ca
SEAFOOD STEW
Seafood stews are an extremely popular and tasty way to enjoy fresh seafood of all varieties and can be found in many global cuisines where seafood is abundant. San Francisco has its famous Cioppino served at Fisherman’s Wharf and other equally delicious incarnations can be found on Spain’s Costa Brava, Italy’s Mediterranean Coast and of course the iconic French version bouillabaisse found principally in Marseille in the South of France.
These stews are easy to enjoy and even easier to prepare.Enjoy all of them with some fresh out of the oven rustic and crusty bread to soak up those delicious juices. This week’s recipe is one I have used and tweaked over many years…..Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 8 oz chorizo
- 2 cups finely diced fennel
- 1 cup finely diced onion
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly diced
- 2 T tomato paste
- 1 C dry white wine
- 4 Cups fish stock
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 8 oz firm fish like halibut, talapia, mahi mahi, or salmon
- 1 lb mussels
- 1 lb large prawns, raw, peeled and de-veined
- cracked pepper
- 1/3 C chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 lemon
- salt if necessary
- 2 T olive oil
- Crusty Bread
Instructions
In a large heavy bottom deep skillet or Dutch oven, brown chorizo in a little olive oil. (Remove from casing and break up or crumble into small bite size pieces). Once browned, set aside. Pour off the fat, wipe out skillet with paper towel.
In same skillet, heat 2 T olive oil on med high heat. Add fennel, stirring often for about 3 minutes. Add onion, turn heat down to med and saute both until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until garlic starts turn golden. Add tomato paste. Turn heat up to high, constantly stirring, until paste darkens, about 3 more minutes. You are basically frying the paste to deepen the flavor of the dish.
Add white wine and turn heat down to medium high, stirring until it mostly evaporates, about 1-2 minutes. Add fish stock, tomatoes, browned chorizo, and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, taste for salt. Add cracked pepper. Add fish, simmer a couple minutes and add prawns, simmer a couple minutes, then add mussels. Remember the larger the prawns or mussels or fish pieces the longer they take to cook, so look at all your seafood ingredients and determine which will take the longest to cook, putting them in first.
Finish with a squeeze of a half a lemon and sprinkle generously with flat leaf parsley.
Serve with crusty bread.
