Sunday, January 23, 2011

David's Dinner Menu: Thoughts on Fish Stew

I made a fish stew because, well it's winter, and stew is such a perfect winter dish. In part I was inspired by making a fish  Cioppino in Toronto for my brother David and his partner Kim.  It had shrimps, monk fish and clams in it and was made with a generous amount of clam juice.  I thought by  making it spicy and adding a complicated combination of spices to it would make up for the richness given to the one in Toronto by all the shellfish.  It didn't.  I used Mahi Mahi and used a spice combination I found in a North African cookbook - cumin, coriander, caraway, paprika and fennel.  It never really got to the place I wanted it.  It just lacked a depth of flavor....the next day I had made some toast from the left over bread and heated up some of the left over for lunch and it was delicious.  Reminding me again the rule of thumb for stews and soups is that they are always better the day after!  Mahi Mahi is a good meaty fish and if you live in a kosher household like I do I suggest you try it in fish stew, I also think nothing beats homemade fish stock which you can freeze in ice cub trays so you always have some on hand.  I didn't have and used white wine which made it too acidic for my liking, especially as it was a tomato based broth.  I used red wine in Toronto and think as counter intuitive as that may seem it really added a nice complexity to the stew.  

Oh and I noticed in writing this both fish stews were made for David's my brother in Toronto and my foodie friend here.

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