A Sustainable Seafood Stew

This week is crazy busy for me for some reason. Tons of reading for class, work for my internship, errands to run and events to attend. Somehow (not sure exactly how) I found time to make a pretty delicious meal tonight. Fortunately I have leftovers, so if I'm too busy to cook tomorrow, I won't have to starve.

This Spanish Fish Stew with Peppers, Almonds and Saffron is really quite healthy. I'm on phase 2 of South Beach, so I served it on top of some brown rice to make a really filling and awesome meal. I try to be really conscious about what seafood I eat; this summer I worked for an environmental non-profit organization called Oceana that does a lot of marine conservation, and I learned a lot about unsustainable fisheries and the damage to the oceans that a lot of fishing practices can do. Fortunately there are some kinds of seafood that aren't so terrible to eat, and those are what I put into my stew. Farmed clams are one of those OK seafoods - they don't have to be dredged off the ocean floor to be eaten. (Dredging kills everything that lives on the sea floor, like coral reefs and turtles.) Pacific halibut is also a fish you can eat with a clean conscience, because that's a fishery that's responsibly managed and not in huge danger of overexploitation. For a complete guide to ocean friendly seafood, Oceana publishes a great list and you can find it here.


Spanish Fish Stew with Peppers, Almonds and Saffron
Serves 4

• 1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tsp. Spanish smoked paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• 1-1/2 c. dry white wine
• one 14-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1-1/2 c. water
• 1/4 tsp. saffron threads, crumbled into 2 Tbsp. hot water
• 1/4 c. salted roasted almonds
• 1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed
• 1-1/4 lbs. Pacific halibut, meat cut into 1-inch pieces

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy casserole. Add the onion, bell pepper strips and garlic and season with salt and black pepper. Cover and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add the rosemary, paprika, and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute. Add the white wine and bring to a boil. Simmer until the liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, water and saffron and bring to a boil. Cover the casserole and cook over medium high for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, finely grind the almonds in a food processor. Stir in the almonds into the stew and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the clams, cover and cook until most of them open, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the fish and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer until the fish is cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Transfer to bowls; serve over brown rice if desired.

Warmest January Ever!

This has got to be the warmest January I have ever experienced in Boston. Granted, this is only my fifth winter in the city, so my sample size is somewhat limited. But really - it was almost 70 degrees today. In Boston! In January! In protest, I decided to make cold-weather-appropriate soup. Actually, it was mainly because I was home studying all day and felt like using my slow cooker, but I can think of it as a weather protest if I want, ok?

So you know how you're in line at the supermarket and they have those little mini-magazines with recipes and stuff in them on the shelf above the check-out conveyor belt? I actually bought one while I was at home for break. It's all slow cooker recipes, which is why I bought it. The soup I made tonight is the first recipe I've tried, and it's not bad for coming from one of those crappy little grocery store cookbooks. It's a Chipotle Chicken Stew and, yes, it probably would have tasted even better if we'd been having real January weather today.

The most important ingredient in this stew – and indeed, the stew's namesake – is the chipotle pepper. Chipotles are smoked jalapeno peppers that date back to Mexican civilization before the time of the Aztecs. Nowadays, a full fifth of the Mexican jalapeno crop is dried and smoked to turn into chipotles. The natural heat of the jalapenos is preserved in the process, so the chipotles end up at between a 5,000 to 10,000 on the Scoville scale used to measure hot peppers (this is usually considered a "medium" heat level). Chipotles are often used to add a smoky, hot flavor to Mexican and Southwestern dishes.

You can buy ground dried chipotles, whole chipotles, or, most commonly, chipotles canned in adobo. Adobo sauce is made of spices, vinegar, tomato sauce, and sometimes other chilies. I've never made anything with adobo sauce, but I hear it's great on its own. That could be something new and fun to try in the future!

This is my entry for this week's edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, in which food bloggers write about their favorite herbs, plants, vegetables, and flowers. This week, WHB is hosted by the event's creator herself, the famous Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Chipotle Chicken Stew

• 1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups chicken broth

Combine all ingredients, along with a generous squeeze of lemon if desired, in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high about 4 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Remember, if you want to make this on the stove top, cook the chicken first, and add more liquid because it will boil off during cooking. It should probably cook for about 30 to 45 minutes.

*note: apologies for the formatting errors in this post. Stupid blogspot doesn't want to let me publish all my text in the same font. Boo!

Florida, Sweet Florida

I'm at home in the sunshine state for the holidays. I've been spending my days studying for finals, which unfortunately fall in January, forcing us poor, wretched Harvard Law students to spend our Hanukwanzistmas break with our noses buried in exciting books like Gilbert's guide to Property Law. Today I went so far as to take my laptop, books and notes to the Odessa public library. I live in the middle of nowhere, so the library consists of one room with some bookshelves (not entirely full) and a couple of tables that have been arranged to look vaguely like desks/study areas. But at least it was an excuse to get out of the house and drive 5 minutes each way with the car windows down singing out loud to Rascal Flatts. Oh yeah, and it's 75 degrees here.

But I digress. After rotting my brain with studying all day, I like to cook. And I'm familiar with my mom's kitchen, so at least I can do it with some ease, despite the crap she's got lying around everywhere. I made dinner for my parents last night, which they always appreciate after a long day at work. I decided that while I'm home, I'm going to try to make as many things as possible with key limes and/or coconut. Reason? Key Lime & Coconut is the title of my blog (surprise!), and these two flavors are central to what Floridian/Floribbean cuisine is all about.

My Bahian Seafood Stew with Coconut and Tomato incorporated both of these delicious ingredients. Bahia is a region in Brazil, so this stew draws lots of Latin American influences. If you can get super-fresh ingredients (particularly the tomatoes and seafood), I think you'll find that this dish will transport you to somewhere warm, sunny, and tropical... maybe like Florida.


Bahian Seafood Stew with Coconut and Tomato
(serves 4-6, depending on appetite)

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small onion, diced (1+ inch pieces)
  
• 1 red bell pepper, diced (1+ inch pieces)
• 1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1 stalk fresh lemongrass, outer leaves discarded and stalk smashed, or 1 Tbsp. dried lemongrass
• 3 tomatoes, halved, seeded, and diced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1/2 pound lump crab meat, picked over
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 12 cilantro leaves, plus 1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 pound grouper (or similar) filet, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp. fresh key lime (or regular lime) juice
• White rice
• Lime wedges

Heat the oil in a medium enameled cast-iron casserole. Add the shallots, garlic, onion, bell pepper, ginger, and lemongrass, and cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are softened, about 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Season the shrimp and crab with salt and pepper and add them to the casserole along with the coconut milk and cilantro leaves. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Season the grouper with salt and pepper, add to the casserole, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Discard the lemongrass stalk, if using. Add the lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve over white rice with lime wedges.

Suggested wine pairing: a Latin American white, such as a Chardonnay from Argentina's Mendoza region. A chardonnay is a sturdy enough white to stand up to this rich dish, and additionally, food and wine from the same general region tend to complement one another.