Recipe Rursday: Spicy Seafood Stew

Taken 11/2/09.

Sometimes I crave chunky seafood dishes. The Shrimp & Scallops recipe posted on Dooce's partner's website (way back when) is a good example of an easy, chunky seafood dish. Chris has been making stews left and right as a way to get through the heavy cooking greens (chard & kale) from our CSA. This particular recipe was his idea and led to a gigantic pot of hearty spicy goodness - perfect for a winter evening. He started with a slow-cooker recipe in Joy of Cooking, but took the preparation quite off-book. Note: the pot was so big, it fed us both 2-3 dinners.

Spicy Seafood Stew (variation on a recipe in Joy of Cooking)
The original recipe uses a slow cooker and no actual clams.

• 1T Olive oil
• 1 Medium white onion
• 1-2 chopped carrots (not used in Joy)
  
• 1 medium celery root, diced (A very new CSA vegetable for us, Joy uses a celery rib)
• 1 jalapeno pepper (we skipped)
• 2 -3 garlic cloves
• 1 28 ounce of canned whole tomatoes, broken up with a fork (Joy uses crushed tomatoes)
• 1 container of fresh clams & the juice inside (Joy uses 2 C bottled clam juice)
• 1/2 C dry red (or white) wine
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (more to taste!)
• 1 lb. of skinless cod fillets, cut into 1 in. pieces
• 8 oz. of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Cook the onion, carrots, celery, red pepper flakes, and garlic, over medium heat until the onion is translucent & carrots have softened. Stir in the tomatoes, clams/clam juice, wine, oregano. Cover and cook on low for at least a 1/2 hour.

Turn the heat to high and add the cod and shrimp. Cook and cover until the fish is opaque & the shrimp are starting to become opaque (12-15 min. but checking periodically). Season with salt & pepper, optionally with 1/4 C chopped basil or parsley).

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