Weeknight Cooking

Dinner Tonight: Dad's Favorite Seafood Stew + Grilled Corn with Basil Butter

August 27, 2013

Surreal as it may seem, it is officially the final week of summer. The season has flown and hopefully you were able to take advantage of all the lovely ingredients summer has to offer. And if not, you still have time. This week's Dinner Tonight takes advantage of summer's favorite offerings, turning them into an easy dinner that gives summer the delicious goodbye it deserves. A hearty seafood stew and some grilled corn with basil butter are two appropriate ways to send summer off with a last hurrah. But it's not really goodbye -- it's more of a see ya later. Thank goodness.

The Menu

Click through on the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes, but we've also written you a handy grocery list and game plan below. 

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Dad's Favorite Seafood Stew by inpatskitchen 

Dad's Favorite Seafood Stew

 

 

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter by Lisina 

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter

The Grocery List 

4 garlic cloves
6 roma tomatoes
1 cup fish stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 pound skinned saltwater fish fillets (snapper, sole, halibut, cod) cut into 2 inch chunks
16 large peeled and deveined raw shrimp
16 sea scallops
1 1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
8 ears of corn 

We know you have a well-stocked pantry so you'll have olive oil, salt, pepper and butter on hand.

The Plan

1. Preheat your grill and shuck your corn.

2. Throw 2 sticks of butter, 1 cup of basil, and 1 tablespoon salt into the food processor and crank it up. Set your basil butter aside.

2. Pour 1/3 cup of olive oil into a sauce pot and bring it to heat. Crush the garlic and sauté it on low until fragrant, but not browned. Then toss in the tomatoes, stock and wine, and simmer for around 10 minutes.

3. While the broth is simmering, focus on your corn. Roll it in olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then send it to the grill and cook, rotating occasionally, until kernels are blistered and shiny. 

4. Add the fish and seafood to the broth and simmer for 5 more minutes, just until cooked -- then stir in the remaining basil and parsley, and scoop gorgeous spoonfuls into big bowls.

5. When well charred, slather the corn in your green butter. Serve alongside the stew and take rotating bites, appreciating your final chews of summer.

Photos by James Ransom

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The kitchen is my haven and feeding people is my activity of choice. Butter is as crucial to my life as air, and if you put avocado or bacon on anything and put it in my vicinity, consider it gone. Check out my recipes and food adventures on stayhungree.com.

1 Comment

RichardM August 20, 2022
A little short on information such as making sure the butter is softened before putting it in the free processor. Maybe obvious but not for everybody. Also, are the tomatoes wedged, chopped, diced..? In the process now so I think it's going to be really