Fish and shellfish are a tasty and healthful addition to your diet. They are full of omega 3 fatty acids and high in many important vitamins and minerals, including vitamin D, which may help prevent depression, diabetes, and even cancer.
This week’s recipe features assorted seafood in a lovely fricassee. It was sent to CCSA as part of a series of emails from our resident chef, Dr. Linda Doody. She has been sharing her extensive collection of favorite recipes with friends, family, and the CCSA team as a means of maintaining connections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation—experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way.”
– Paul Theroux
Notes
Note from Dr. Doody: The source of this recipe is lost in the mists of time; however, I do see an exact copy on recipetips.com.
Ingredients
- Stew
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
- ½ cup chopped fresh fennel (do not include leaves)
- ½ cup chopped carrots
- ½ cup chopped leeks
- 1 dried hot red pepper, crushed or red pepper flakes to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes (canned if necessary)
- 2 cups water
- Pernod, to taste (this is not in the original recipe. Dr. Doody likes the licorice/anise flavor of Pernod with this combination of seafood and tomato broth. Add with the wine, water, and tomatoes)
- ½ tsp salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pound boneless, white-fleshed, non-oily fish (e.g., halibut, monkfish, striped bass, red snapper, or tilefish), cut into ¾-inch cubes (halibut is a good choice. Monkfish would be excellent since it has a lobster-like taste and texture, but it has become hard to find)
- ½ pound bay scallops (if you can only get frozen scallops, look for packages that say dry packed. Some scallops are soaked in a salt-based brine [sodium tripolyphosphate] to add moisture, which can result in a slight chemical taste)
- ½ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined (if you can only get frozen shrimp, look for packages that say individually quick frozen)
- ¼ cup finely chopped, fresh parsley leaves
- Croutons
- ½ loaf of Italian or French bread
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a kettle and add the onion, garlic, fennel, carrot, and leek. Cook the vegetables until they wilt. Add the hot red pepper, bay leaf, thyme, wine, tomatoes, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, add salt and pepper, cover tightly, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the fish and cook for 2 minutes. Add the scallops and shrimp and cook for another minute. Do not overcook or the fish will fall apart. Sprinkle the stew with parsley and serve in large soup bowls with homemade croutons (below), commercial croutons, or warm bread (French, Italian, or sourdough) on the side.
- To make croutons, rub the bread all over with garlic. Cut the bread into ⅛-inch thick slices and arrange on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with oil. Broil slices until golden on both sides. Makes about 12 croutons.