Warm up with a rustic fish stew of cod cheeks, fennel, mussels and clams
How many times has the calendar hit Monday and you’ve found yourself swearing by healthy-eating resolutions but demanding simplicity? Or invited all your mates around for a mighty weekend brunch, then wasted days poring over incomprehensible recipe books? Anna Barnett’s new cookbook Eat The Week guides home-cooks through their daily meals, offering recipes catered to different moods and days of the week, from carb-loaded feasts to light, zesty dishes. This recipe sees fennel, mussels, cod cheeks and clams combined to create a delicious rustic fish stew, perfect for sharing on a cold winter’s night.
INGREDIENTS
glug of olive oil
2 white onions, roughly diced
1 fennel bulb, roughly diced – include any fronds
2 carrots, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
3 teaspoons smoked paprika
glug of white wine
2 x 400 g tins of chopped tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 litre fish stock
500 g mussels, scrubbed and debearded
300 g clams, scrubbed and rinsed
350 g cod cheeks
handful of roughly chopped parsley
juice of 1 lime
TO MAKE
Pour the oil into a large pan and place over medium heat. Add the onions, fennel and carrots and cook for four to five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, chilli, fennel seeds and paprika, season with salt and pepper, and cook for another four to five minutes, stirring every now and then. Add the white wine, tomatoes, bay leaves and fish stock and simmer for 15 minutes, then have a taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Add the mussels, clams and cod cheeks and increase the heat to high. Cover the pan with a lid (or foil) and cook for two to four minutes, giving the pan a shake after a couple of minutes. Once the mussels and clams have opened and the cod cheeks are cooked, remove the pan from the heat.
Sprinkle over the parsley, some extra black pepper and a squeeze of lime juice, then serve at least two big ladlefuls per person, making sure the fish and seafood is shared out equally.
A big crusty seeded loaf with butter is my favourite accompaniment to this. As is a nice glass of crisp white wine.
Recipes and images from Eat The Week by Anna Barnett. Published by Murdoch Books.
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