Fish stew?
What is your favorite recipe for fish stew? (other than bouillabaise or gumbo)
EHB
Dec 12, 2003 10:06AM
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Burride(?) of monkfish and clams. From the most recent Joy of cooking. Leeks, white wine, saffron, and garlic. LOTS of garlic. Quite simple, too. One of my favorite recipes ever.
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I too love bourride, because of its creamy white garlicky-ness.
I make it with fish stock, leeks, garlic, potatoes, white wine, saffron, bay leaf, thyme, and cream. Make the base first, remove the bay leaf and roughly puree, then add the cream and fish and cook gently. Scrod, halibut, snapper in biggish chunks are all good. No tomatoes, no shellfish, except maybe a poached oyster or two on top.
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This is pretty much the recipe I use, although I add the cream when the fish is almost cooked. Obviously, cod also works well. But it must be served with a generous dollop of aioli.
This is traditional for us on New Year's eve.
Pat G.
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According to my Larousse, the stock for bourride comes from an initial cooking of the monkfish with water, white wine and leek. Are you saying you make a completely separate fish stock, as with fish frames?
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I make fish stock whenever I have bones or head or whatever on hand, then freeze it until needed. In a pinch, bottled clam juice will sub.
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Our Whole Foods sells a frozen fish stock base that makes I think up to three cups per container. Have you every tried it, or any other commercial product that you like?
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Have to say that fish stock (as compared to chicken stock or veal demiglace) is so quick to make that I haven't looked very far for a substitute. I only simmer fish stock for about an hour, or it starts to taste metallic.
The thing is having the ingredients. Sometimes I buy those cheap little perches just to make a stock.
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I think that's very industrious of you. Not many people make their own any more. And though I certainly have sources for fish frames, I hate to think that a lack of stock might be the only thing standing between me and tonight's excellent fish stew. So I have been looking for as many ways as possible to sidestep that issue, and especially the sort of impossible fussy-ness surrounding, say, the classic bouillabaise.
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This keeps coming up - there's aproduct that you can buy which is a 20 part reduction of a properly made fumet de poisson - I'll be damned if I can remember the producer, but the make Demi-glace gold as well as several other things. You guys probably think that I work for them or something, but when company is coming over in two hours and I'm still at the grocery store, I know that I can get a quality product and have a nice fish stock in 10 minutes. Of course, it's heavily spiced.
I have an old hand me down recipe from my cajun ancestry - when I was growing up, we called it "kubion." I never gave it that much thought (I don't speak cajun french, but my mom did). When I was about 30 and started to get interested in my heritage, I researched it a bit. It's actually "court bouillon" with a cajun accent. This is not traditional court bouillon in the french sense, but a bastardation of bouillabase (imho).
Basically, you brown onions and tomatoes (pince), make a dark roux, add (hot) fish stock, replace the onions and tomatoes, stew, add the holy trinity of cajun cooking (celery, onion, and bell pepper), stew, add the fish (redfish back in the day, tilapia holds up well in soups and doesn't get chewy - I promise), and brighten with lemon juice, worcestershire, and parseley. I like to add thyme to the stew. It's very good - the combination of the brown tomatoes, roux, and fish stock is unlike anything you've ever tasted.
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oops - the "of course, it's heavily spiced" comment at the end of the fish stock paragraph was meant to go with the "koubion" description. At the end of the discussion! Bad editing.
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Growing up in South Louisiana Fridays all ways meant Coubion. I made some last week. Its different from a Gumbo in that it is really a tomato fish stew and it is very good.
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Hey - do you eat it out of a bowl, like a thick soup, or over rice on a plate? I do the former, but another cajun swears the latter. I think that he is getting "coubion" confused with sauce picante (sawswpeecaw).
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I do eat it over rice, but I eat most everything over rice. Cher,I use brown rice, now that I live in the north.
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Very interesting. And they don't call it a "gumbo" at all?
As long as we're in that neck of the words, someone here in DC had recommend a restaurant that serves a "Gulf" stew, or "Vermillion" fish stew. Anyone heard of that before, or know how they make fish stew in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf area?
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It's very different in taste than gumbo, mainly because of the tomato and the flavorings. I've tried to research it a bit, and my theory was that bouillabaisse was altered a bit as it made it's way down to Louisiana. Once, a chef in a 4 star restaurant that I worked in made a lunch soup called "catalan bouillabaise" that was similar to the "court bouillon"/coubillon that I had growing up. Sort of like a step in between the classic french. (I've attached a link).
Basically, take that recipe, use fish stock instead of water, use tomato paste instead of tomatoes, and thicken with a 1/2 of medium (in the cajun sense) roux. Play around with it to get it to your desired thickness. I've never put the toasted almonds/garlic on it, but I might try that next time for kicks.
A similar cajun/spanish comparison - jambalaya and paella.
Link: http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/eu...
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This sounds great. Can you give us more of a recipe-type recipe? With quantities for 4 or 6? Please? Particularly, how much roux to how much liquid.
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I make stock from frames and then freeze it.
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Jasper Whites fish stew recipe is damn good. I add celery too.
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I really liked the cioppino recipe from Swan Oyster Depot (SF) in the link below. Major modifications I made were that I steamed the clams, mussels, and crab separately, then put the strained cooking liquid into the pot with everything else (thereby avoiding any sand or other nastiness from ruining the dish). Also tore apart and cracked the crab before adding to the rest. And don't forget to put the crab butter into the stew!
And as you can see in the thread, this is a stew that has a long life. :)
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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There's a bit of confusion between this San Francisco dish and the original Ligurian version, ciuppin. I'm looking for something that doesn't require too elaborate a preparation, so I would probably pass on the crabs. A rustic fisherman's stew, but not excluding any cuisine types, know what I mean?
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Cool thing about such stews, you can add and subtract whatever you want.
Crab don't have to be fancy. Boil 'em, rip the shell off, rinse, wack a couple times with something heavy, and put 'em in the stew. Or better yet, just throw the live and kicking beasts right into the stew, and get yourself and covered in tomatoes and crab juice as you pick apart the whole sucker at the table. Rustic indeed! :)
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I live near the Chesapeake. Could you picture this with Blue crabs instead of Dungeness?
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Why not? And I'm not saying "why not, because I think it will work." (don't want anyone to assume a negative tone from me, 'cause there isn't one). I'd really like to understand the difference. I've never handled blue crabs before and I'd like to know what to expect if I ever do.
Thanks,
Nick
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The wonderful thing about the internet is that we can have this discussion. But it does point up the fact that we are thousands of miles apart. I've never eaten a dungeness crab, only seen them on TV. You might try a google search for eating blue crabs to get a sense of specific instructions. Typically you have to pry the shell apart (after cooking) to get at the meat in the body, and crack the claws open with a small mallet. I have seen Blue crabs quartered and served in a sauce at Oriental restaurants, which only makes the eating more difficult, because he have to get the sauce all over your hands to manipulate the shells.
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In terms of the steps involved, it sounds like they are identical. But blues are much smaller, so you have to do more work for the same amount of meat. So I guess a diner might have pick apart an entire blue to get the some amount of meat of as few legs of dungeness. I did the extra prep work of cutting up the dungeness because a whole one won't fit in a serving bowl. But if I were to use blues, I'd leave them whole and let the diner have all the fun!
By the way, we get live blue crabs out here all the time. What we don't get are proper Maryland crab cakes. :(
-Nick
Link: http://www.ochef.com/117.htm
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It's hard to find proper crab cakes even in Maryland. Most people make them like giant fritters. The best are made at the Captain's Table restaurant in Crisfield, MD, which is the area's center of production for soft-shell crabs. They fly them all over the world out of Crisfield. At the Captain's Table, the "crab cakes" are hardly even cakes, more like mounds of jumbo lump meat (from the rear leg area, the best), barely held together with some bread crumbs, mayo and spices, then gently browned under the broiler.
What you have at your local market may or may not be native U.S. blue crabs. Because blue crabs have become so over-fished, we are now importing them from Southeast Asia, where they are harvested from mangrove swamps.
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French Fish Soup with Brandy. I found the recipe in the New York Times Bread & Soup cookbook, and adapted it some. The essence: chopped fennel, onions and garlic sweated in butter with fresh thyme leaves and a good bit of saffron. Firm-fleshed white fish (striped bass) added and cooked and broken up, small amount of tomato paste blended in, with salt to season, then water and white wine added to form the liquid. Boil, then add halved sea scallops and simmer to cook. Add brandy and heavy cream and bring just to boil. Adjust salt and grind in plenty of black pepper. Serve with good, crusty bread.
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Striped bass wouldn't come first to mind among firm white-fleshed fish. Is that what they recommended? Otherwise, it sounds devine.
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Yes, striped bass is what is called for in the recipe. I've subsititued halibut and red snapper with good results. And yes, it IS divine.
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If you're not averse to oysters (and if you can get your hands on some good ones at this time of year), oyster stew couldn't be simpler or more delicious.
A quart of oysters, 2 quarts of mixed milk and cream (make as creamy or as lean as you like), about 1/4 cup of butter, some salt and white pepper, a dash of sherry if you like. Simmer gently until the oysters test "done". This is one of my all-time favorite soups, and is traditional in my family on Christmas Eve.
I'm sure some Bostonians could give you more recipes for Oyster Stew or Soup, too.
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I'm not at all averse to oysters. I love oysters. But I think shellfish stews and chowders are more in their own genre, a separate category...
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This one's more of a soup than a stew, but is super-easy, as well as being light and fresh-tasting. Great with buttered whole-grain bread on the side.
Nora's Fisherman's Soup
Serves 4-6
From The Irish Heritage Cookbook by Mercedes McLoughlin and Marian McSpiritt
(Tribeca Communications, 1984)
1 + 1/2 lbs. (681 g) firm White Flesh Fish, cut into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces
(i.e., Haddock, Halibut, Cod, Bluefish, Turbot, Sole, or Snapper)
6 cups (1.5 L) Water or Fish Stock
2 Bay Leaves
1 Leek or Onion, chopped
2 Stalks Celery, chopped
2 Potatoes, diced
3 tbsp. Butter
3 Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped Fresh Parsley
Celery Tops (leaves), chopped
1/2 tsp. Thyme and/or 1/2 tsp. Dill
Salt and Pepper to taste
Place approximately 1/2 lb. (227 g) of fish in a saucepan. Cover with 6 cups (1.5 L) of water or stock, add one bay leaf, and simmer 15 minutes.
Sauté onions, celery and diced potatoes in 3 tablespoons of butter.
Add remaining fish, sautéed vegetables, and chopped tomatoes, parsley, celery tops, thyme/dill and salt and pepper to the stock. Add remaining bay leaf.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
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That's a nice one. I'm surprised they recommended bluefish, since it's so pungent compared to the other fish
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Glad you like it. It is really tasty.
As for the taste of bluefish, it depends, I guess. My experience of bluefish (living on the prairies) is Highliner frozen fillets. I've never found them very strong-tasting. Perhaps the fresh bluefish is much stronger?
I'd just use whatever white fish I thought was good.
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We live in bluefish country and usually think of this as a very oily, very strong tasting fish, to the point that you either bake it smeared with mustard and apples, or throw it immediately on the grill.
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Bluefish caught in colder waters tend to be mild flavored and are very acceptable to most. Bluefish caught in the Southern waters (VA snd south) tend to be very oily and are deemed to be less desirable.
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The blues we catch in NY are dark fleshed and oily, but these run up from the south in Aug/Sept.
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That could be it. I'm not entirely sure of Highliner's source for bluefish, but likely it's off the Atlantic coast of Canada (I'm in Alberta). In that case, the Arctic current lies off much of the coast, making the waters very cold.
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thanks for the recipe! i made this today, with a red snapper. i made the stock from instructions in the other thread (for those who read it -- i included the head but not any other skin -- i find cloudy broth appealing in any case).
the soup was great partially because i had a good fish and some excellently fancy potatoes.
yum!
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Glad you liked it!
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Another option is thai style fish soup, where you poach the fish in large pieces in fish stock with chillies, lime juice, coconut milk, lemongrass. Keep the soup base thin, add sauteed juilliened cucumbers, red peppers, carrots and finish with a chiffonade of basil and mint. I serve this in a wide, shallow bowl with a ball of rice sitting in it. Put the rice ball in, then ladle in the soup, and add herbs.
This is a really quick dish, once you've made the rice. Prefer red snapper, but also good with sea bass, scrod, or sole.
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That's very cool, especially since I'd searched my Thai books and didn't find anything. Do you make your own fish stock? That's one potential downside, if your looking for something that doesn't involve too much prep.
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Yeah, I had this dish at a restaurant in London and came home and made it. Also, forgot the tablespoon or so of Thai fish sauce. You can sub zucchini for the cucumber, but the sauteed cuke is better. Also a frizzle of browned shallots on top is good.
I make my own stock (for this, if you get a whole red snapper and then use the bones and head and skin for the stock, it's great) , but if I don't have that on hand, I use bottled clam juice. If you have a problem with clam juice, you could try just a little water, soy sauce, fish sauce, and a pinch of dashi granules.
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Great suggestions. I'm liking it more and more. I could easily see having a whole snapper filleted and making a quick stock as you suggest.
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My swear-by recipe is from the white Silver Palate cookbook; it's called California Shellfish Stew. I usually make the stew base the night before. Use a good zinfandel, and just put the stewpot in the refrigerator overnight.
It's a great company meal, since you can relax when people come. Five minutes before serving, you heat up the stew, and add the fish. I use a pound of mussels, a pound of shrimp and a pound of scallops. We made this in Seattle over Thanksgiving, and went to Pike's Market for fish ...came up with spot prawns, crab and ling cod, so you can vary it depending on what's fresh.
Serve with a simple green salad, and lots of bread to soak up the stew. Yum!
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Cioppino
Category: Seafood
4 tblsp. olive oil
1 large fennel (anise) bulb, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
4 tsps. fennel seed
1 14-1/2 oz. cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes
2 8-oz. bottles clam juice
8 oz. uncooked medium/large shrimp
1 lb. crab legs
8 oz. firm fish fillet, cut into 2" pieces
8 mussels
8 clams
Heat olive oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add fennel, green pepper, onion, garlic and fennel seeds. Cover pan & cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 5-7 minutes. Add stewed tomatoes & clam juice. Boil until mixture is slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. cover & refrigerate. Bring stew to simmer before continuing.)Add seafood to stew. Simmer until seafood is just cooked through & clams & mussels open (about 5 min. Serves 4
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Kakavia is a traditional ancient recipe for fish stew. It is known as the mother of bouillabaise, a french variation on this theme. Here are some links to some various recipes:
http://www.recipesource.com/soups/soups/17/rec1786.html
http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/4/A04697.shtml
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14457.asp
http://www.greekfestivals.com/Recipes/Kakavia_Soup/kakavia_soup.html
http://www.hellasguide.gr/food/kakavi...
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