Summer

The Ultimate Summer Seafood Stew

August 11, 2014
5
2 Ratings
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This summery seafood stew highlights the best of summer produce --vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh fennel bulb. The technique of sautéing tomato paste adds incredible flavor and depth, while lemon and parsley add a welcome brightness. The whole thing can be made in 30 minutes flat! —feastingathome

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces ground chorizo
  • 2 cups finely diced fennel ( one large bulb)
  • 1 cup finely diced onion ( half a large onion)
  • 4 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly diced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups Chicken Stock ( or a good fish stock)
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce ( leave out -if using fish stock)
  • 2 tomatoes- diced
  • 8 ounces firm fish like halibut, talapia, mahi mahi, or salmon
  • 1 pound mussels ( frozen are OK, but get fresh if you can)
  • 1 pound large prawns, raw, peeled and de-veined
  • ¼ teaspoons cracked pepper
  • cups chopped flat leaf parsley
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 loaf Crusty Bread
  • 1 pinch salt to taste ( if necessary)
Directions
  1. In a large heavy bottom deep skillet or Dutch oven, brown chorizo in a little olive oil. (Remove from casing and break up or crumble into small bite size pieces). Once browned, set aside. Pour off the fat, wipe out skillet with paper towel.
  2. In same skillet, heat 2 T olive oil on med high heat. Add fennel, stirring often for about 3 minutes. Add onion, turn heat down to med and saute both until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic, sauté 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until garlic starts turn golden. Add tomato paste. Turn heat up to high, constantly stirring, until paste darkens, about 3 more minutes. You are basically frying the paste to deepen the flavor of the dish.
  3. Add white wine and turn heat down to medium high, stirring until it mostly evaporates, about 1-2 minutes. Add chicken Stock, tomatoes, browned chorizo, and fish sauce and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, taste for salt. Surprisingly, I didn't need to add any salt ( salt content in stocks and chorizo can vary greatly - so make sure to taste. Add cracked pepper. Add fish, simmer a couple minutes and add prawns, simmer a couple minutes, then add mussels. Remember the larger the prawns or mussels or fish pieces the longer they take to cook, so look at all your seafood ingredients and determine which will take the longest to cook, putting them in first.
  4. Finish with a squeeze of a half a lemon and sprinkle generously with flat leaf parsley.
  5. Serve with crusty bread. I like to cut a loaf of good quality garlic or rosemary bread into thick slices, arrange on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and fresh rosemary sprigs, and bake in a 400F oven until toasty, or even better, grill the bread. If you are going gluten free, try adding a cup of cooked cannellini beans to the stew for added heartiness, instead of serving with bread. Details Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 4
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  • feastingathome
    feastingathome
  • Michelle DiStefano
    Michelle DiStefano
  • Atiya Hakeem
    Atiya Hakeem
  • Shannon Wolcott
    Shannon Wolcott

4 Reviews

Michelle D. July 1, 2024
I made this dish for my client and he really enjoyed it. I used Halibut, prawns and mussels from a tin, that had been marinating in a chorizo sauce, so it really added to the flavor. I served it with some crusty bread to soak up all of that wonderful sauce. Will cook this again, for sure. :)
 
Atiya H. February 6, 2023
I ran into this randomly looking for a seafood recipe, and it was easy and delicious! The chorizo gives it a great spicy flavor. I made it as written (with fish stock, frozen mussels, and shutome). It's definitely going into our regular rotation. Why does this only have two reviews?!
 
Shannon W. August 23, 2014
I made this last night as the recipe called for although I used a pretty spicy chicken chorizo instead of pork, and it was amazing! Highly recommend, and perfect with toasty, crusty bed.
 
feastingathome August 24, 2014
Thanks Shannon!!