Fish Stew

This dish made it's appearance as part of the ongoing effort to eat fish at least once a week*.  We're not doing so well so far, but that's OK.  Fish is tough, because we don't live near a decent fish store.  Our supermarket, Wegmans, is the best bet anywhere near by, but it's not like we can walk to it before dinner to pick up the catch of the day.  So if they have something that looks appealing during the weekly trip, I'll grab it.  Last week they did.  It was the fresh Alaskan king salmon**.  It looked more than appealing, it looked gorgeous.  It looked like $28/lb.  I came home with a package of monkfish.

No plans at the time of purchase, but decided on something stewy for dinner the next night.  It turned out to be a very simple dish and it didn't require anything that we don't normally have on hand, aside from the fish.  It also elicited a "Hey, this is pretty good" from Tina, who's not a huge fish eater.  She'll eat shrimp like a vacuum cleaner, but you never know with fish.  Molly loved it and wanted more "fish chunks."  Last time we had fish, she had dessert, and then went back for more fish.  We've also caught her dunking her fish in strawberry yogurt in the past.  You heard it here first, the bold new pairing of 2008 - flounder and strawberry yogurt.

Lots of fish soups and stews include some homemade fish stock (tastes lovely, didn't have any fish heads or shrimp shells lying around) or clam juice, but I steered away, not wanting the liquid to be beating us over the head with fishiness. 

Started with the basic onion, shallot, garlic sauteed in oil (what good dish doesn't start with onion or garlic in a pan?).  Some spices, a splash of white wine.  The basic dry white wine I love to use for cooking is a "Vin de Pays des Cotes de Gascogne" - which, remembering my 12th grade French, I believe translates to "cheap-ass wine."***  Kidding of course, but it is $7 a bottle after all.  It has a dry, light, fresh citrusy taste, and a glass went really well with the stew as well as in it.

Then a can of tomatoes and some little additions at the end.  I stirred in some yogurt to make it a little creamy, but it was totally unnecessary.  Cream or crème fraiche would be been great too, and even more unnecessary.  Some lemon zest too, which I can't seem to stay away from lately.  Those addictive, little golden threads. 

Now that I've given most of it away, here's the recipe.  My guess is that it would work well with any firm white fish.

Fish Stew

1/2 - 3/4 LB monkfish
1 medium onion, diced
1 large shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 C dry white wine
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
pinch red pepper flakes (we love aleppo)
1/2 C water
Basil/marjoram/other minced herbs
Lemon zest
1/2 C yogurt (optional)

Heat oil over medium and saute onion, shallot, garlic, and salt until soft.  Add cumin, coriander and red pepper.  Cook for another minute.  Turn up heat, add wine, cook for another minute.  Add tomatoes, fish, water, bring to steady simmer, and turn down to gentle simmer, cover partially.  Cook till fish is tender - 20 minutes is what it took for me.  Turn off heat, stir in yogurt, herbs, lemon zest.  Add more salt/pepper as necessary.

Serve topped with croutons - bread cubes (old is good), tossed with olive oil, into the toaster oven or under the broiler, flip a few times till crispy.

* The classic Buffalo fish fry (battered, deep fried haddock) with fries, potato and mac salad does not count :)

** No comments on carbon costs for Alaskan salmon please

*** Looked it up - Vin de Pays is just another step in the French wine classification system.  It's below AOC, which is a certification that given product has met the criteria and a level of quality for a given geographic area.

Comments

[caren]

huh... fish stew you say? i can't say it sounds appetizing. i'm a big shrimp, clam, crab, and mild fish eater... there was nothing as delicious as when we were in florida a few years back and got fresh tilapia and grilled it... mmm!

hey, do fish sticks count as fish? :) trust the gorton's fisherman!

[andrew]

Tilapia is great - that's one of our favorites - because it's mild and goes well with so many different preparations. I've never met a fresh one though.

I've heard about your little lobster-fest at the West Inn the other night :)

We'll do linguine and clams if you ever come over for dinner...

[Kory]

Oh man, my last run in with Monk fish was a little painful. My friend cooked it in my kitchen and not only did it smell up the place, but it was chewy and well, basically not good.

I wonder if I could bring myself to try it again. Maybe in another decade.

But, maybe I'll try this with another fish. When the mood strikes me to actually use my stove. Congrats on yours btw.

[andrew]

Yeah, monkfish is definitely a little chewy. I'm guessing it only gets worse when it's overcooked, so this might be a good way to do it - you can cook it nice and slow in the tomatoes and get it off the heat as soon as it's done. It would definitely be more...refined, I guess, with something like halibut. Also more expensive...

Good friend, to stink up someone else's kitchen with fishiness :) That's another good thing about this - since the raw fish goes right into the stew, you never get that stank of frying fish filling the house.