| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 40 min |
| Active: | 55 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 bulb fennel, top only, coarsely chopped, fronds reserved
- 1 onion, diced
- Kosher salt
- Crushed red pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 1/2 pounds cod fish bones
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 small bundle fresh thyme, tied with twine
- Olive oil
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1/2 bulb fennel, diced
- 1/2 onion, diced
- Pinch crushed red pepper
- Kosher salt
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- One 16-ounce can cannellini beans, drained
- One 16-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
- Pinch of saffron
- 2 cod cheeks
- 4 shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 2 calamari, cleaned and cut into rounds
- 10 mussels, cleaned
- Good-quality olive oil, for finishing
- Pinch of fennel pollen
- 4 slices crusty bread, grilled with olive oil
Instructions
- For the fish stock: Heat a large pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the celery, fennel and onions, and season with salt and crushed red pepper. Cook until soft and very aromatic, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Add the fish bones, stir, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the white wine and reduce by half.
- Add enough cold water to the pot to cover the fish bones by 2 inches, about 10 cups. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Toss in the bay leaves and thyme bundle. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid.
- For the stew: Coat a Dutch oven with olive oil. Add the celery, fennel, onions, crushed red pepper and salt to taste. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables start to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the white wine and reduce by half. Add the cannellini beans, tomatoes, fish stock and saffron. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes. Add salt to taste.
- Meanwhile, heat a saute pan over medium-high heat and coat with olive oil. Pat the cod cheeks dry with paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Add the cod to the hot pan and cook until golden and crisp on both sides and three-quarters of the way cooked through. Remove the fish from the pan and reserve. Repeat with the shrimp and calamari.
- Add the cod, shrimp, calamari and mussels to the simmering fish broth. Turn off the heat and cover, letting the fish gently cook through and the mussels open up, about 3 minutes. Discard any mussels that don’t open.
- To serve, evenly distribute the seafood and vegetables in bowls and top with fish broth. Drizzle with finishing oil, sprinkle with fennel pollen, and top with reserved fennel fronds. Serve with crusty grilled bread.
Reviews
Made this with a few changes, added thinly sliced heirloom carrots, seafood mix with clams, squid, shrimp and mussels in addition to the called for shrimp and mussels, and some shrimp stock I had in the freezer. I made my stock with the heads and carcass from Gulf of Mexico grunt fish I had caught, used the skin on fillets. I used a single Calabrian chili instead of red pepper flakes. I added store bought basa fillets and Krab product. I was skeptical about the need to brown the seafood first, but I added a nice depth of flavor. The ski on the grunt fish crisped up nicely. I cooked the stock much longer than called for (about 2 hours) to get all of the goodness out of the fish bones. This dish was absolutely fabulous. We gave some to our neighbors who raved about it.
Outstanding
I wrote down the instructions while watching this episode of Worst Cook in America and made the dish before I was aware the recipe is available online. I cooked with the ingredients I have on hand. I used lobster tails, shrimps, and a golden pomfret fish. I put the fish bone and head plus shrimps shells and lobster shells to make the stock. Pan seared the shrimps and fish filets like the recipe. I put fresh tomatoes in the stock instead of using canned tomatoes in the stew. It turns out great, very light and tasty dish. Highly recommended to try this recipe.