Simple Fish Stew

This is a really great Mediterranean inspired family meal, that's delicious, healthy and easily adaptable according to the fish you have available; perfect for lock-down. You can also make the base ahead of time, and freeze or chill until you're ready to cook making it super convenient. 

For anyone following Slimming World, this is a completely syn-free meal. (Glen and I have just joined, so expect to see a few more Slimming World friendly recipes soon.)

Here I served this over pasta, but you could also add cooked rice, orzo or serve with a hunk of crusty bread. I use cherry tomatoes as they have a gorgeous sweetness to them; but you could also use any other tomatoes, even tinned if that's all you have available.

Simple Fish Stew

The below serves four-five.

Here's how:

For the base:

• 6 sprays of Fry Light Olive Oil Spray
• 600g cherry tomatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 celery sticks
• 1 roasted red pepper
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• Pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp paprika
• 300ml fish stock

The fish:

• 2 fillets of cod (or any white, flaky fish)
• 2 fillets of smoked haddock (any smoked fish would work)
• 200g raw prawns

To garnish:

• Fresh parsley

To make the base of the stew, spray the Fry Light into a heavy bottomed saucepan and place on a low heat.

Now peel the onion and finely dice, peel and mince the garlic, and finely slice the celery and place all into the saucepan to gently sweat down.

Once the onions etc. are softened, add the cherry tomatoes, capers and tomato puree. Chop the roasted red pepper and add to the saucepan; season generously, add the paprika and allow to cook down for fifteen minutes or so, gently mixing with a wooden spoon every few minutes. You want most of the tomatoes to be smushed down a bit, but now completely mashed. 

Now add the fish stock and the pinch of saffron and cook for a further five minutes. 

Remove from the heat, and allow to cool a little, before taking out half of the stew, and blending until smooth. I use a Nutribullet for this, but a hand blender or food processor would be great too. Don't be tempted to blend all of the sauce, unless you have fussy eaters, it's nice to have a mixed texture throughout the stew.

When you're ready to cook the fish, bring the stew back up to heat on the hob, it should come almost up to boiling, before being put on a gentle simmer. 

Now cut the cod and haddock into large, bite sized pieces and place directly into the stew, and gently move around with the wooden spoon so each piece is completely immersed in the liquid. 

Cook for a few minutes, until the fish is almost cooked through, then add the raw prawns, and again push them right into the stew and allow to cook for about 3 minutes until they're cooked through (this is easy to tell, they will have turned pink). 

Ladle the fish stew into a serving bowl, and scatter over chopped parsley. Serve with some lemon wedges over your choice of pasta, orzo or rice. 

Here are 15 other fish recipes you may enjoy:

• Plaice with Mediterranean Vegetables and Lemon Parsley Butter
• Quick and Chunky Cod Tagine
• Jerk Salmon
• Seafood Spaghetti with Saffron and Chilli
• Prawn and Chorizo Jambalaya
• Seafood Burger
• One Pot Coconut Fish Curry
• Pesto Topped Salmon with Half and Half Pasta
• Sea Bass with a Warm Jersey Royal Salad
• Thai Salmon Fishcakes with Quick Chilli Oil
• Quick Thai Salmon Noodle Soup
• Pesto Topped Haddock with Herby Couscous
• Paella Mixta
• Sticky Asian Salmon
• Tuna Fishcakes

Moroccan Fish Stew

As part of my 2019 resolve, I'm trying to step away from the same old meals and recipes that I cook time after time and instead focus on building up a more varied repertoire to stop us from feeling we are stuck in a food rut. 

I cooked this Moroccan inspired Fish Stew as a New Year's Day dinner for the four of us and just had to share. Whilst I leant on my Mum Vicky's Special Seafood Stew for technique in terms of the almonds and brandy which we know work so well together, this is a far more modest dish making the most of cod and flavoured quite heavily with saffron - a favourite for us. It's a really lovely, fragrant but light dish - perfect for January. You could also make with vegetable stock and a few veggies in place of the fish for a vegetarian or vegan meal if you're doing Veganuary. 

I served with toasted pitta, lemony couscous dotted with pomegranate seeds and a little garlic yoghurt dip - simple but tasty.

The below serves a family of 4-5. 

Moroccan Fish Stew

Here's how:

• Four fillets of cod or about 650g in smaller pieces
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 white onion
• 1 green chilli
• 1 large clove garlic
• Thumb sized piece of ginger
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 12-14 Cherry tomatoes, halved
• 600ml fish stock
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 3 tbsp almonds
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 tbsp brandy
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 1 tsp dried cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried coriander
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• Natural yoghurt and fresh coriander to serve

Firstly finely dice the onion, mince the garlic and finely chop or grate the ginger and slice the chilli. Add to an oven-proof and stove-proof dish to gently saute in the olive oil and once softened add the spices (cumin, coriander, paprika) and the tomato puree, stir and allow to cook for a few minutes.

In the meanwhile make up the fish stock or gently heat it then add the saffron to the warm stock and allow to stand.

Now to the pot of onions, garlic, chilli and ginger add the tomatoes, ground almond, brandy, honey, cinnamon stick, orange juice, the cooked chickpeas and finally the stock - give a good stir and allow to gently cook for ten minutes or until the liquid has started to slowly thicken up a little.

Now add the cod fillets in all around the dish, pres down so they are immersed in the stew and cook for three to four minutes. Now very gently turn over each piece of cod, and cook for a further three minutes or until the cod is cooked through. 

Serve at the table with a few blobs of natural yoghurt and handfuls of coriander leaves alongside your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!