I love me some fish stew

Lately, I've been mostly inspired to cook....from trying on new recipes to bringing out old memories of my mom's cooking. Last night I got a vivid image of her fish stew and just had to make it. Apparently fish stew is not popular with most Americans (my boyfriend refused to eat it but that just left more of it for me and our kitty!) but it's a staple in almost any other cultures' cuisine. (Thanks, Anthony Bourdain for the informative yet funny travel cook books you write!) So I decided to share the recipe for the more adventurous of you.

Ingredients:


About a pound of a fish of your choice. I use salmon cause I love the texture and it gives the stew a nice pinkish color
A small jar of kosher dill pickles. The crunchier, the better and definitely no sweet pickles!
Half a pack frozen peas
Half a pack frozen corn
A can of your favorite tomatoes 
Parsley
Black pepper
Salt to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon juice

As with pretty much everything my mom cooks that's not baking, it's all about eyeballing and you can do very little to ruin this stew. Bring a medium-sized pot of water to boil and put the cleaned fish in, cut to medium-size pieces. (Everything will fall apart later anyway.) Add the tomatoes, frozen veggies and all pickles chopped in little pieces. Since there is nothing in there that will expand, you can put as much veggies as you wish and make the stew as liquidy as you want it. Simmer everything for about 45 minutes, then add the chopped parsley and lemon juice. The fish will be falling apart, so fork it around to smaller pieces so that it blends with the liquid. Taste for salt and adjust; add black pepper. Simmer for a few more minutes. The liquid should thicken from the mixing with the fish but if it's too watery for your taste, add some tomato paste.

Serve hot or cold. There is nothing there that's bad for you, so help yourself with a second serving!

On the Mexican side....

I've been quite into homemade Mexican / South American dips lately, for the sole reason that we can never find the perfect store-bought salsa. During tomato season, I love my fresh salsa roja, and only a few days ago I tried making guacamole for the first time and cleared the bowl within an hour. I also have a spice mix for chimmichurri that I'm also making for the next steak dinner.

I was browsing some blogs today and came across this great looking recipe for salsa verde by Kristina and would love to share it. I never thought much of the green salsa version but now I'm very curious to try the tomatillos too!

Salsa Verde

8-10 larger tomatillos, or 20-25 smaller ones
2 cloves garlic
1 green jalapeño
1/2 bunch chopped cilantro leaves
sea salt

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rise them. Add the tomatillos and jalapeño to the pot and boil until all are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork.

Mash the garlic cloves, then add the cilantro and grind until a rough paste forms. Then add the jalapeño and combine, followed by the tomatillos – a few at a time.

Add sea salt to taste. (I might also drizzle a little olive oil.)

I'm trying it this weekend!

Sweet and savory meatballs with couscous

The other day my co-worker Sarah mentioned making meatballs in grape jelly and chilli sauce and it immediately got my attention. Mixing sweet and savory has always been my favorite. I got the recipe and tried it next day:

1 lb ground beef
1 egg slightly beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp. parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 onion chopped finely
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper

Mix well - make small balls.  I usually start out small and end up with jumbos

1 bottle chili sauce
  Half 10 oz. bottle grape jelly
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp. soy sauce

Boil on medium low until smooth.  Add meatballs and cook 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

My little variation of the recipe: I used only half jar of jelly and should have used even less - it gets a little sweet. I add extra lime juice and chopped onion (the remains from the meatball mix) and green peppers because I add these to just about anything:-). I served the meatballs and the sauce over couscous, mixed and it turned out great!  Can be prepared as a party appetizer, with a toothpick on each ball.  

I would include a picture but we were so starved that we served and ate right away before the camera could even say hi!


Enjoy!