Italian Seafood Stew @MaddieDayAuthor

MADDIE DAY here. The Boston Globe Sunday magazine always includes a few recipes from Christopher Kimball of Milk Street Kitchens. I cut out the one for Italian Seafood Stew and pinned it to my bulletin board months ago, but recently I was inspired to finally make a version of it!

We've had a cold rainy spring, and this warming dish was perfect one night.

Italian Seafood Stew

With inspiration from the Boston Globe Magazine and Christopher Kimball

 

Ingredients

28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

1 pound boneless, skinless white fish, but into two-inch pieces

3 medium garlic cloves, peeled and finely diced

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 medium onion, diced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 cup white wine

2 pounds mussels, scrubbed

 

Directions

Crush the tomatoes with your hands and set aside. In a medium bowl, toss fish with the garlic, 2 tablespoons of parsley, 1 tablespoon oil, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

 

In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, warm remaining olive oil until it shimmers. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and saute until translucent. 

Add tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir until heated through. Add wine and 1 teaspoon pepper and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Add fish mixture and return to simmer then scatter mussels over the top. Immediately cover, reduce to medium heat, and cook for four minutes.

Enjoy with a green salad and crusty bread or homemade cornbread.

Readers: What's your favorite soup or stew in the spring?

Scone Cold Dead is out and available wherever books are sold.

Next out, on August 26, will be Murder at Cape Costumers!

My most recent releases are Deadly Crush, 

 Murder at the Rusty Anchor,

 A Case for the Ladies,

and Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries.

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Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

 

Seafood Stew from The Little Kitchen

Bear with me, friends--this will be my first post from my "new" kitchen, and I'm still figuring out how it works. But mostly it does work, so now it's just getting used to it. Details like "where did I put that?" and "I can't set that down there--it's hot!"

My kitchen!

The title is kind of a pun. Yes, my kitchen is little, although bigger than my first apartment kitchen, although the appliances are smaller. But this recipe was inspired by a dish I had for lunch at An Chistin Beag, which is the Irish for The Little Kitchen. It's a small place in the center of Skibbereen, with a handful of tables, and the women who run it put out very good food. The seafood stew was on the menu when I ate there a week ago (not for the first time!).

There it was served in small bowls, which was a nice size for one person. Here at the cottage I needed to serve two people. All the ramekins I saw were tiny (about half a cup) and weren't suitable for cooking, so I opted for a midsize casserole dish, which was just right for two.

Okay, recipe: it's lovely chunks of fresh fish (I bought half a kilo at the fishmonger's in Union Hall yesterday morning--it doesn't get fresher than that) poached in milk and stock. The fish goes into the casserole, and you thicken the liquid and pour it over. Then you top the whole with mashed potatoes and some grated local cheese and pop it in the oven for 15 minutes or so, and you're done!

Seafood Stew from An Chistin Beag

Ingredients:

(Note: measurements here would make one largish casserole, or two medium ones)

mixed bits of fish (I used a mix of salmon and an unidentified white fish)--half a pound would serve two, a pound serves four nicely. The fish should be in chunks about an inch square

3 cups cooking liquid--I used a mix of milk and chicken stock (I didn't have any fish stock on hand)

half an onion

a few sprigs of parsley

more parsley, chopped
a dash of dried thyme

salt and pepper

3 Tblsp butter
3 Tblsp flour

2-3 cups homemade mashed potatoes, fresh or left-over

1/2 cup coarsely grated cheese (I used a locally-made cheddar)


Instructions:

Put the fish pieces in a deep saucepan and pour the liquid over them. Toss in the half-onion and the parsley. Set over low heat and simmer until the fish is cooked but still tender.

Drain the fish in a colander, reserving the cooking liquid, pull out the half-onion and the parsley, and place in a casserole.

In another pan, melt 3 Tblsp butter, then add the flour and whisk together. Let the mixture cook over low heat to cook the flour. Then add the cooking liquid, whisking constantly, and cook until the mixture thickens. Add the chopped parsley, thyme, salt and pepper and mix. Pour the thickened liquid over the fish in the casserole.

Spoon the mashed potatoes over the fish and spread gently to cover completely. Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

I made mine--no leftovers!)

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, enough to heat the dish through and brown the top just a bit. Don't overdo it if you want the lovely fresh fish to be tender.

Can I stay in Ireland longer? I only just got the kitchen organized, and added the last piece of furniture yesterday, and there's still painting and patching to do, and the garden needs sorting, and...  In the spring? My police friend says the daffodils will be blooming.

I have so many new story ideas! I'll get back to work by next week. Really.

www.sheilaconnolly.com

Sunset at Garryglass