Italian Fish Stew
In Chinese medicine, heat in the body may be exacerbated by a diet rich in meats, oils, sugar or alcohol and cooking methods such as roasting and deep frying. More cooling foods such as white fish, seafood, tomato, parsley are a great alternative choice and should be included in your diet on a regular basis to help reduce heat in the body.
Serves 4 | Prep 30 mins | Cook 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients
2 white fish fillets (cod/ bream/monkfish) cut into large chunks
8-12 large raw prawns
200g mussels
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons of fennel seeds
2 cloves of garlic Olive oil
100 mls of white wine (optional)
6 large tomatoes, chopped (or 1 tinned whole tomatoes)
A small bunch of parsley
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Method
In a large pan, steam the mussels in 200mls of water (and the white wine if using – otherwise compensate with water or fish stock) for 5-7 mins with the lid on until all the shells open. Discard any mussels that remain closed.
Remove the mussels to a bowl, keeping the cooking liquid in the pan. Add the prawns and simmer for around 3 mins just until they turn pink, then take aside, again keeping the cooking liquid. This can now be used as the fish stock for the stew.
Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to a large saucepan and gently fry the sliced fennel bulbs along with garlic and fennel seeds for around 5-10 mins. When the fennel starts to brown, add the tomatoes and the fish stock, bring up to a simmer and cook the sauce for 20-30 mins - you may need to add more liquid if it gets too thick (especially if using fresh tomatoes).
In a separate pan, boil some new potatoes for 10-15 mins. 10 mins before serving add the potatoes into the tomato sauce, add the chunks of white fish on top and simmer with the lid on for 10 mins until the fish is cooked. Add the prawns and mussels on top for the final 2 mins.
Gently spoon the fish stew into bowls (the white fish will fall apart easily), add fresh chopped parsley as garnish.