“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” ~ Maimonides
Fish Stew Provencal
As Christians enter the Lenten season, I can’t help but remember all those childhood Fridays during Lent. My mother had four non-meat meals that she cooked in an alternating pattern. One of them, macaroni and cheese, was the only dish that my siblings and I ate. The other three meals were salmon loaf, cod fish cakes and shrimp wiggle. Because we disliked those meals so much, we always tried to get an invite to a friend’s house on Friday. If that didn’t work out, our dog was our saving grace. We kept dropping bites for her to eat.
As I matured, I thankfully learned that fresh fish tastes completely different than dried fish or canned fish. The years that I spent living in New England certainly helped me to develop my palate.
This fish stew, by Mark Bittman, is a delicious blend of vegetables and seafood with a puttanesca-like blend of seasonings.
I adjusted the ingredients slightly because I wanted to use more fish in the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of cooked or canned chick peas
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs
- Salt and fresh ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/3 cup nicoise olives, pitted and chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons capers
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 pound baby spinach
- 3 cups fish or vegetable stock
- Pinch of red chile flakes
- 1 pound medium sized shrimp
- 1 pound calamari, sliced
- ½ pound sea scallops
For the preparation, see the recipe in the New York Times.
This looks like the perfect comfort food for a cold, winter night. We don’t get too many of those in San Diego, but still pinning for later.
Thanks for sharing your recipe.
You are welcome, Maggie. You are right about this stew being great for a cold night. Winter in upstate New York still has a firm grip on us. Spring can’t come soon enough. Have a nice evening!!