Spicy Seafood Stew

From the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis

Introduction

Stews made with meat usually require long, slow cooking to tenderize the meat. Conversely, fish and shellfish are usually ruined by long cooking. This stew is a blend of vegetables and liquids to which you add your choice of fish and/or shellfish almost at the last minute! A combination of clam juice and chicken broth serves as a fine substitute for homemade fish stock. Your job as cook is to find honestly fresh fish and seafood. It should scarcely smell at all, and what odor there is should be faintly sweet rather than strongly fishy. The flesh should almost glisten, rather than looking dry around the edges. Full-flavored and firm-fleshed fish work best. Try albacore tuna, varieties of shark, salmon, marlin, swordfish, sturgeon, as well as halibut. We would avoid soft-textured soles, sablefish, and the like. Rock shrimp and scallops would be two fine choices for shellfish. The stew goes well with a crusty loaf of bread. Or serve over cooked rice or cooked small shell macaroni.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Finely chop ⅓ of the onion, celery, and carrot. Finely chop garlic and 1 of the jalapeños. In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan or straight-sided frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Then add finely chopped vegetables and sauté until they are softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Add clam juice, chicken broth, the water, Worcestershire, wine, tomato paste, cumin, and thyme. Over high heat bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 5 minutes. Cut the bell pepper and remaining onion into large dice. Cut remaining celery and carrot into medium slices. Add these vegetables to the pan, cover, and cook another 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and taste the broth for salt, adding some if necessary. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
3. Finely chop remaining jalapeño. Stir fish and/or shellfish into broth and cook about 2 minutes. Add chopped jalapeño, scallions, oregano, and tomato.

Notes

• 1 cup of oregano leaves is a lot, and may require 2 or 3 bunches. It is one of the primary flavors in the stew, so don’t skimp!
• Some shark flesh looks beautifully fresh but at the same time smells slightly of ammonia. The smell goes away when the flesh is cooked.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis.