ongoing adventures in cooking

[quietann]

So because the challah was such a success, and because there are just two of us to eat the huge thing, I made fish stew tonight using a Sephardic/Israeli recipe, mostly because the notes said that one could soak up the broth with challah.

It was yummy.

Here's the basic recipe, a variation on the one that appeared in this week's Boston Globe food section:

In a dutch oven, layer in the following order:

Approximately two pounds baking potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices.
2 sweet red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into 1/2 inch strips
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed*
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and quartered*
a little bit of kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds whitefish filets (I used cod and cut the filets into ~4 inch pieces, mostly to get them to fit in the pot.)
1 tablespoon sweet paprika (sprinkle over the fish)
a little bit more kosher salt
2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 cup chopped parsley
a little bit more kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Put on the stove, cover, and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Then take the cover off and simmer for another 15 minutes. Check to be sure the fish is done before serving in bowls. Add more salt if desired (I did; Ben didn't.) Serve with challah or other bread.

Serves 4. Extra broth can be served as a soup course at another meal.

* ingredients can be increased if a spicier brew is desired. Mine was mildly hot and I would have doubled the garlic and added at least another jalapeno.

Comments

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

sounds yummy!

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Sounds yummy. Do you think the recipe would suffer if one left out the bell peppers?

That challah you made looks amazing.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I don't know what sort of flavor the bell peppers contributes, but visually it adds nicely to the colors.

If they're left in, I'd suggest dicing them into bite size pieces, so you can easily eat them with a spoon (but it might be a good idea to leave the jalapeno pieces large to serve as a warning).

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't eat the bell peppers, since I only like raw green bell peppers. But I do think they flavored the broth nicely. Are you dealing with an allergy issue or a mere dislike of the things? If the latter, it's easy to remove them from the cooked stew (if they are in slices not chunks...)

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

No alleriges, just don't like cooked bell peppers. I also only like them raw. Since we both dislike cooked bell peppers it sounds like leaving them in the recipe will be ok. Thanks.