Recipe for Seafood and Vegetable Stew with Rouille (Red Pepper Sauce)

Fish and Vegetable Stew with Rouille

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star. John Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du Gout (Physiology of Taste) (1825)

Where do recipes come from? Family, community, tradition, and serendipitous accident are easy but incomplete answers.

The primary source of recipes has always been an individual cook’s imagination and palate. Over time, original recipes are modified by other cooks’ imaginations and adjusted by yet more cooks’ palates, to infinity and without limitation.

The food articles I enjoy most are ones that explain how a dish was developed or why a cook chose to combine certain flavors. Although its authors’ cooking styles and skills are quite different from my own, Ideas in Food is one of my favorite blogs. It focuses on the techniques and thought processes that go into creating unique flavor combinations.

I recently made Seafood and Vegetable Stew with Rouille. Here's how it came into being:

My kitchen counter was overflowing with garnet yams, bounty from more than one Full Circle Farms CSA box. I wanted to do something other than oven-roasting the yams or making oven fries. Looking for inspiration, I randomly pulled cookbooks off the shelves.

Barbara Kafka’s book Soup: A Way of Life had an interesting recipe for Fall Fish Stew that included sweet potatoes. I decided to try it.

My first version of the stew was similar to Kafka’s, though I substituted sautéed sweet potatoes for boiled and edamame beans for limas. After tasting the broth, I wanted more flavor.

In my next version, I added sautéed onions and red bell peppers, and used a different Rouille recipe than Kafka’s. I seasoned the Rouille with dried, ground red Moroccan pepper (poivron rouge). This version was tasty, but I thought it could be better.

In my final version, I added crushed fennel seeds and shelled shrimp. This combination was exactly what I wanted. Although inspired by Kafka, the final stew is uniquely my own.

I internet-ordered poivron rouge from World Spice Merchants in Seattle, one of my favorite herb and spice purveyors. World Spice describes poivron rouge as “sweet red pepper … produced from sweet round red niora peppers grown in the lush valleys at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains to the northeast of Marrakech.“

Poivron Rouge and Sweet Hungarian Paprika

Although Moroccan recipes often call for paprika, niora peppers are what Moroccans use for “paprika.” The flavor of ground niora differs significantly from sweet Hungarian paprika. Niora is spicier and has a fruitier flavor than its Hungarian counterpart, which has a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Moroccan niora peppers are likely the same as the ñora peppers used in Romesco sauce and other Spanish and Catalonian dishes. In addition to having similar names, nioras and ñoras look the same. Most texts refer to nioras and ñoras only as members of the Capsicum annuum family; in other words, as domesticated peppers. However, in Catalan Cuisine, Colman Andrews says pepper scholar Charles Perry “thinks the nyora [ñora] pepper is the variety scientifically called Capsicum annuum grossum/provar. Pomiforme/sub-var. Conc. Humilirotundum Haz."

No matter what its scientific designation might be, poivron rouge has wonderful flavor and a permanent place in my spice cupboard. Its mildly spicy and fruity tastes make distinctively delicious Rouille and a mouth-wateringly good Seafood and Vegetable Stew.

Seafood and Vegetable Stew with Rouille (Red Pepper Sauce)
Serves 4
The stew may also be made with just fish or just shrimp; if so, use 1 pound of either ingredient. Although not necessary, steamed rice is a nice complement to the spicy, aromatic broth. Serve the rice on the side so eaters can stir the amount they desire into the stew.

1 cup peeled, diced garnet yams or sweet potatoes, 1/2” dice (1 garnet yam)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup diced red bell pepper, 1/2” dice (1-2 peppers)
1 cup diced yellow onion, 1/2” dice
1 tsp. freshly crushed fennel seed
4 cups fish stock or clam broth (nectar)
1 recipe Rouille (see below)
1 cup shelled edamame beans (thawed) or fresh fava beans
1/2 pound skinless fillets of halibut, rockfish, cod, or other white-fleshed fish, cut in 3/4” pieces
1/2 pound shelled and cleaned shrimp, 16-20 count, halved crosswise
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
Minced parsley for garnish

Sauté the garnet yams in olive oil, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until they start to brown around the edges. Stir in the red bell peppers and onions, and continue to sauté until the onions soften. Add the crushed fennel seed and sauté for 1 minute. Stir in the fish stock, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. (The recipe may be made ahead to this point.)

In a small bowl, whisk one cup of the hot broth into the Rouille. Stir this mixture into the simmering stew pot, along with the edamame beans, fish, and shrimp. Do not let boil or the Rouille may curdle. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until the seafood is cooked through. Stir in the lemon juice. Taste and add salt or lemon juice, as needed.

Sprinkle with minced parsley and serve immediately with steamed rice and wedges of lemon.

Rouille
Recipe adapted from In the Hands of a Chef by Jody Adams
Rouille goes well with all fish, and is a tasty addition to fish salads. The recipe may be doubled or tripled and keeps for a week in the refrigerator.

1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. poivron rouge or sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Put the egg yolk, mustard, and lemon juice in a blender and mix well. While the blender is running, add the vegetable oil drop by drop so that it emulsifies with the other ingredients. While the blender is running, pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until the Rouille is very smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender to ensure all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
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This is my recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Dee from The Daily Tiffin.

Greek Cookbooks: Tastes of the Sea with Recipe for Halibut and Red Pepper Souvlaki (Kebabs) with Green Herb Sauce (Σουβλάκι Ψαριού με Πράσινη Σάλτσα)

Καλό Πάσχα! Happy Easter! Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen! Αληθώς Ανέστη! Truly He is Risen!

We’re just back from Antonia’s house where we ate too much Easter dinner. Antonia goes all out every year with an amazing Easter spread: lamb, moussaka, pastitsio, spanakopita, tsoureki, koulourakia, and salads of every kind. On Easter, no one leaves Antonia’s house - or any Greek’s house - hungry. The amount of food is similar to what one sees at an American Thanksgiving dinner.

I’m never eating again. At least not until tomorrow.

Last week we had our first fresh halibut of the year and broke out the grill in its honor. Halibut is a flatfish with white meat. An average-sized halibut weighs about 25 pounds (a little over 10 kilos), although large halibut can weigh over 500 pounds (about 225 kilos). Frozen halibut is fine, but the texture and flavor of fresh halibut is far superior, so it's always a happy day when the new halibut season starts.

Because halibut is meaty, it makes wonderful kebabs, aka souvlaki. I usually make halibut souvlaki with onions and bay leaves, but last week I used a new recipe from an award-winning Greek cookbook called Γεύσεις της Θάλασσας (Tastes of the Sea).

For this Halibut Souvlaki, chunks of fish are alternated on a skewer with red pepper pieces and topped with an herby, garlicky green sauce. The full-flavored sauce nicely complements the smoky red peppers and mild fish. The original recipe used two kinds of fish on the skewers; next time I make this, I’ll use both salmon and halibut.

Halibut and Red Pepper Souvlaki (Kebabs) with Green Herb Sauce (Σουβλάκι Ψαριού με Πράσινη Σάλτσα)
Serves 4
Adapted from Γεύσεις της Θάλασσας by Βασίλης Φραντζολάς (Tastes of the Sea by Vasilis Frantzolas) (Πατάκη 2004)
This quick and easy recipe packs a lot of flavor. It’s perfect for a mid-week meal, and is tasty and pretty enough to serve to company. Any fish that can be cut in large chunks may be substituted for the halibut.

Souvlaki:
1 1/2 pounds skinless halibut fillets (or 3/4 pound halibut and 3/4 pound salmon)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 red bell peppers

Green Herb Sauce:
1 packed cup parsley leaves
1/4 packed cup basil leaves
1/4 packed cup mint leaves
1 Tbsp. whole grain mustard
8 anchovy filets
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Cut the fish in 1 1/2” chunks. Mix it with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and freshly ground black pepper and let it marinate for 30 minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Don’t leave the fish in the marinade for longer than 30 minutes or it will begin to “cook.”

Cut the red peppers in half lengthwise and remove the stems and seeds. Cut each half pepper into lengthwise thirds, and cut each third in half crosswise.

Put all the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add salt or freshly ground black pepper as needed.

Starting with red pepper, alternate the peppers and fish on skewers. Season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill over a hot fire, or on a white hot cast iron grill pan. Halibut cooks very quickly, and is dry when overcooked, so watch it carefully.

Serve the skewers drizzled liberally with herb sauce.
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This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Margot from Coffee and Vanilla.

Recipes: Roasted Beet and Thyme Risotto & Halibut Confit with Lemons and Capers (Παντζάρια Ριζότο με Θυμάρι & Ψάρια Κονφί με Λεμόνι και Κάπαρης)

A couple days ago I read a recipe for beet gnocchi that caught my imagination. That night, I had yet another bout of insomnia. Instead of sleeping I thought about beets and gnocchi, and beets and pasta, and beets and rice.

Beets and rice: why not beet risotto? Once I thought of it, I could almost taste the earthy sweetness of beets in a creamy risotto, laced generously with Parmesan cheese and fresh thyme. I had to make it.

Luckily, there were beets in my last Full Circle Farm CSA box. I had previously roasted the beets to concentrate their flavor, which simplified the task of making beet risotto.

I paired the risotto with Pacific halibut poached in olive oil, known around my house as Halibut Confit. The recipe originally came from Gourmet Magazine; I remember Ruth Reichl writing it was one of her much-loved dishes. It is definitely my favorite way to cook halibut that’s been frozen.

Even when fresh, halibut can be dry; freezing makes this problem worse. However, when previously frozen halibut is cooked while submerged in olive oil, it stays moist - so long as you don't overcook it. This is because its juices can’t evaporate into the air, and stay in the fish under the protective coating of olive oil. Although the recipe uses a lot of olive oil, the fish doesn’t absorb the oil, and is not at all oily.

To avoid waste, I always strain the lemony oil and reuse it. Surprisingly, the oil doesn’t take up the flavor of the fish. The flavored oil makes wonderful salad dressing, and can be used in any dish that benefits from lemon.

To serve, I spread the beet risotto on plates, and topped each serving with a chunk of tender halibut. I spooned capers and parsley over the fish, and garnished the plates with the oil-poached lemon slices that cooked with the fish.

The result was better than I imagined. Every bite contained flavor bursts that excited my taste buds. The capers were so good with the beet risotto I returned to the kitchen and spooned extra capers and parsley out of the olive oil.

The dishes pair amazingly well; each compliments and improves the other. However, the two don’t need to be served together to taste wonderful.

Roasted Beet and Thyme Risotto would be good served with a salad for a light supper, or as an accompaniment to chicken or turkey. Halibut Confit is an excellent way to cook halibut, no matter what side dishes are served with it. It’s been on my permanent recipe rotation since it first appeared in Gourmet, seven years ago.

Roasted Beet and Thyme Risotto (Παντζάρια Ριζότο με Θυμάρι)
Serves 6
Fresh thyme is an integral part of this dish, and is worth seeking out.

7 – 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 cups diced onion, 1/4” dice
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups roasted and grated beets (2 medium beets) (see Note below)
1/4 cup minced fresh thyme
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring the stock to a simmer, or heat it in the microwave until it is warm.

Sauté the onion, lightly seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until it softens and begins to turn golden. Stir in the rice so it is completely coated with oil and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, and stir until it is almost absorbed. Stir in the grated beets.

Add 1/2 cup of stock and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the stock is almost absorbed. Keep adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time, and stirring until each addition of stock is almost absorbed. When the rice is half done, stir in the thyme. (The recipe can be made ahead to this point, and finished right before serving. If you are going to make it ahead, after you take the rice off the burner, stir it until it cools down.)

Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is tender, but still firm in the center (this takes 18 – 22 minutes). There may be stock left over. Stir in the cheese. Add stock until the risotto is the consistency you desire; it should be moist and creamy, not dry. Taste and add salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed.

NOTE on Roasting Beets: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wash the beets, cut off the greens leaving an inch of stem (don't cut into the beet itself), rub the beets with olive oil, and wrap tightly in a foil packet (or place in a tightly covered baking dish). Bake for 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how fresh they are. The beets are done when they're tender if poked with a knife or skewer. Let the beets cool, and slip off their skins (I wear gloves when I do this to protect my hands from staining). (These can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for about a week.)

Halibut Confit with Lemons and Capers (Ψάρια Κονφί με Λεμόνι και Κάπαρης)
Serves 4 - 6
Adapted from March 2000 Gourmet magazine
Because it is cooked at such a low temperature, the olive oil can be reused. It picks up the flavor of lemons, but not of fish.

2 pounds halibut fillets, skinned
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup capers, 1/4 c. roughly chopped and 1/4 c. left whole
1/2 cup minced parsley
2-3 lemons, sliced 1/8” thick
1 1/2 – 2 1/2 cups olive oil

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Wash and dry the halibut. Season it on both sides with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using a glass baking dish just large enough to hold the halibut, line the bottom with lemon slices. Put the fish on top of the lemon slices. Mix the capers and parsley together, and spread evenly on top of the halibut. Cover the fish and herbs with a layer of lemon slices. Pour enough olive oil over to completely cover everything.

Bake for 45 to 70 minutes depending on the thickness of the halibut fillets. After 45 minutes, remove the pan of fish from the oven, carefully lift up a few lemons, and test for doneness. The fish will flake easily if it is done. If the fish isn’t done, return it to the oven. Halibut is dry when overcooked, so be careful not to leave it in the oven for too long. Remember the oil is hot and cools down slowly, so the fish will continue to cook if you leave it in the oil, even after the pan is taken out of the oven.

Serve the halibut with some of the capers and parsley in oil spooned over the top and slices of the lemon that cooked with the fish on the side.

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This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Anna from Anna's Cool Finds.

Anatomy of a Recipe (with Recipe for Savory Fish Cakes / Ψαροκεφτέδες)

Before I wrote Tastes Like Home: Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska, I rarely wrote down recipes, though I occasionally made a few notes about what I had prepared. If I ever went back to the notes, and I rarely did, they were incomprensible, full of half sentences and incomplete thoughts. I could sometimes read my handwriting, but too often the content was less than clear.

“Butter, golf.” read one such note. “4 dill.” read another. “Don’t table.” Don’t table? The mysterious scribblings meant nothing to me.

When I began work on Tastes Like Home, I knew I had to do better, to write more clearly, to be more precise. As I worked my way through the dishes that I ultimately included in the book, I typed up the details of that day’s effort as soon as dinner was over. I thought I was being disciplined. I thought I was writing recipes. I thought that what I had written would make it simple to put the book together.

I was wrong, very wrong. When I went to organize the book that became Tastes Like Home, I discovered my dutifully typed writings were merely more refined versions of the handwritten notes to myself, albeit slightly more intelligible. To go in a book, everything needed to be completely rewritten, and then rewritten again.

Doing a project the size of Tastes Like Home taught me many things, among them the need to write complete and finished recipes contemporaneous with cooking a dish. I promised myself that if I ever thought about doing another book, I would reform my ways, and discipline myself to write finished and complete recipes in small bites, day by day, as the food came out of my kitchen.

Tastes Like Home, The Blog is how I am keeping that promise.

So what goes into writing a recipe?

Inspiration comes first. Inspiration from glorious ingredients, inspiration from restaurants or other people’s cooking, inspiration from conversations about food, inspiration from reading or research, or inspiration that springs mysteriously into my mind at odd moments, or during nights of insomnia. Inspiration is the easy part.

Once inspiration strikes, I plan the recipe in my mind. I carefully think through the components that make up the particular flavor I’m after. What ingredient is the focus of the dish? What are the high notes, or the subtle background flavors? As I think these things through, I often make a list of ingredients most likey to create the taste experience I’m after.

At this point, I enter the kitchen and start cooking, but a kind of cooking that is unlike my normal style. Normally, I don’t measure my ingredients. Normally, if I taste what I’m making and add something to give the dish a flavor boost, I won’t remember a day later what exactly I added. I’ll remember being happy with how my dish tasted, but exactly recreating it is impossible.

In contrast to my normal free-form style, when I intend to share a recipe with others, I measure everything, a task that requires a high degree of discipline (not my strong suit). I frequently stop myself mid-air as I’m about to add an ingredient, having realized it has not yet been weighed or measured. I add flavorings in smaller increments than normal, so I can find the exact point at which a recipe has enough, but not too much, of a particular flavoring.

And most importantly, I write down everything while I’m cooking. At least I try to do this, I really try. Sometimes I succeed. But not always, so my back-up strategy is to write the recipe in finished form within hours after I have finished cooking. At this stage, I remember exactly how I prepared the dish, and what went into it, and in what order.

If I don’t take notes while I’m cooking and don’t finalize a recipe the same day I cooked it, I make the dish again before I put its recipe in writing. I want to make sure I didn’t leave anything out, so that anyone who uses the recipe will enjoy its flavors, just as I did when I originally decided it was worth passing on to others.

A couple days ago, I finalized a recipe for Savory Fish Cakes, called Psarokeftedes in Greek. I once enjoyed this dish in a seaside taverna in Greece, and wanted to make it using ingredients available in Alaska. The day before I made the fish cakes, we had fresh halibut for dinner; the leftovers were perfect for fish cakes. (Note: The Alaska halibut season closes tomorrow -- 11/15 -- at noon, so there is no time like the present to buy halibut.)

The Savory Fish Cake recipe turned out well. My husband pronounced them the best he’d ever had (and he is not shy about telling me when a dish could be better or that he never wants to eat it again). My friend Teeny had been over to take pictures of me cooking and I gave her some raw fish cakes to cook at home; both her and her husband pronounced them excellent. I loved them and ate too many.

Having succeeded in achieving the taste I wanted, I only had to write down the recipe, which I did immediately. My work is done. The recipe is complete and final and ready to be made again, in your kitchen and mine.

Savory Fish Cakes (Ψαροκεφτέδες)
Serves 4 – 6 (makes 12 fish cakes)
Savory Fish Cakes are an ideal way to use up leftover fish. However, if you don’t have any leftovers, you can quickly poach the fish needed for the cakes: cook 3/4 pounds of raw fish until done in simmering water, a little wine, a few peppercorns, 3 bay leaves, and salt. The shaped fish cakes can be made hours ahead of time, and refrigerated until ready to use. Although it is not absolutely necessary to chill the fish cakes before cooking them, doing so helps them hold together as they brown.

2 cups flaked, cooked halibut, rockfish, cod, or other white fish (5/8 pound)
2 cups cooked, peeled, and grated potatoes
1 1/2 cups diced onion, 1/4” dice
2 tsp. finely minced garlic
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. finely grated lemon peel
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
2 Tbsp. minced fresh mint
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil for frying

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together in a bowl; this is easiest to do with your hands. Divide the mixture into 12 portions; a 1/4 cup scoop or measuring cup works well for this task. Shape into flat cakes, and place them on a waxed paper lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Fry the fish cakes, in batches if necessary (don’t crowd the fish cakes or they won’t brown properly). The fish cakes are done when they are golden-brown on both sides and cooked through. Drain on paper towels and serve.

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This is my entry for Leftover Tuesdays, sponsored this month by Pam at Project Foodie.