Printer Friendly Version - A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That, And A Twist Of The Wrist

My daughter came home for the holiday recently, and we weren’t sure what we wanted to cook, but we did know we wanted seafood. So I put in a big order at Star Fish Market in Guilford, and then I asked friends for recommendations. I was in the mood for a seafood stew. I wanted something delicious and easy.

I received a variety of great recommendations. I will share others in this column over the course of the summer. We had a hard time deciding how we were going to use our shrimp, scallops, and cod, and finally decided to try two recipes, a traditional seafood chowder and a Brazilian stew.

My daughter Mary tackled the seafood chowder, a recommendation from my friend Janet Brown Connolly. Mary was inspired in part by a trip we had taken the day before to Lobster Landing in Clinton, where she ordered their truly delicious clam chowder. I tried it, too, and we both liked that it was flavorful but not too, too rich. So Mary endeavored to duplicate that while she made her stew. Here is the recipe she started with: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/seafood-chowder/. She used a lot less than the two quarts of half and half called for and adjusted the other liquids–the clam juice and the milk–accordingly.

We asked her how much half and half she ended up using, and to answer, she demonstrated by holding out her arm and quickly twisting her wrist once, mimicking her quick pour. We laughed because that’s how the rest of us there that night like to cook, adding a bit of this and a bit of that and adjusting to taste as we go while eyeballing ingredients. But now we had a new unit of measurement to reference: a flick of the wrist.

I decided to make Moqueca, recommended by my childhood friend Ann Edelstein Kisin, adapting a recipe from www.taste.com.au. Some neighbors stopped by while we were making the stews, they ended up staying for dinner, and I think we pretty much decided that our favorite recipe was whichever one we were eating at the time.

You can find most of the ingredients at your local markets, but I do think it’s worth splurging on a fishmonger you know and can trust, whether at your local supermarket or a specialty market like Star Fish Market. For the seafood chowder, we also splurged on some Isigny Sainte-Mère butter, also from Star Fish Market, and we agreed that it was worth every penny.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, cut into a small dice
1 sweet red pepper, cut into a small dice
1 to 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled, finely diced (you can go with less if you want, but why would you want less garlic?)
2 fresh red chilies, finely diced
2 to 4 tomatoes, diced
1 13-ounce can coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
½ pound firm white fish filets, cut into bite-sized pieces
½ pound peeled, deveined shrimp with tails cut off
¼ cup fresh parsley or cilantro, or both
1 to 2 limes, juiced
4 shallots, thinly sliced
More fresh parsley and cilantro, to serve
Cooked rice, to serve

Heat oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the onion for 3 minutes or until soft. Stir in combined sweet red pepper, ginger, garlic, and chili for about 3 minutes. Stir in tomato and cook until soft. Stir in coconut milk and stock. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to low.

Add fish and simmer until just cooked through, at 2 to 3 minutes. Add shrimp and scallops simmer for about 3 to 4 more minutes. Stir in chopped parsley/cilantro, lime juice, and shallots. Serve with rice.