Fish stew anyone?

Mr.Triffid

Hi, I'm new to this forum and I would like to learn how to cook good food because I really like to eat wholesome foods.

So I decided to do a fish stew or soup,
I bought parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and some whiting.

I will boil the vegetables first in a small amount of water and in the last 15 - 20 minutes I will add a vegetable stock cube.

I was told I could boil the fish by adding it in the last 10 minutes or so as it cooks very quickly when boiling.

Am I missing anything?

Will it taste ok?

Will the flavours of the different vegetables and the stock cube overpower the flavour of the fish.
Or will the fact that I've boiled the fish in the last 10 minutes will balance out the overall flavour of the fish and the vegetables.

Any suggestions would be welcome
thanks

Swiper the fox

You're not going to get a lot of flavour from that particular dish to be honest and your whiting is going to flake all over the soup, you should use a firmer fish, lots of tomatoes or a tin of them, use some wine and fish stock(cube is fine) as the base and add onions, garlic and herbs if you can get them, maybe a bit of curry powder or similar

I posted this recipe in a thread recently, I made it up myself and I love it, as do my wife and kids, lots of ingredients but easy peasy, feel free to use whatever you have but your original recipe will need a lot of work



I've always been a devotee of a good fish soup or stew, not talking Chowder here although I'm a big fan of that also. I hadn't made one in years and back then it was a very fiddly Bouillabaise recipe I followed. Anyway a couple of weeks ago I had a go by myself, the result is amazing, at least to me and my family. My wife is pregnant so I've not even used shellfish, I can't imagine how good it will be. The fish I used today was just cod and Monk, skinless boneless and without the annoying membrane.

I chopped some celery, garlic, peppers, onion, mushroom, 8 skinless tomatoes, I had dried lemongrass so put in 3 sticks(also used fennel in the past). Poured over a full bottle of wine and a pint of fish stock,tablespoon of curry powder also, brought to the boil and then into the oven for two hours at 140. Back onto the hob then and tossed the fish in for 10 minutes, squeezed a full lemon in for the last few.
Served with finely grated emmanthal cheese in the french style and crusty bread, liberal spinkling of chili flakes for myself.

The 3 kids loved it and they are all under 6.
I may have forgotten something but don't think so.

Anyway it is amazing, how could I improve on that??

Edit: Also had a big leek in there, chopped into fine rings.

huskerdu

I agree with swiper. a veg stock cube will dominate the flavour completely. however, you are going along the right lines, you just need to tweat the recipe a bit.

Swipers recipe looks great. Here is another recipe. there is no need to follow it to the letter, I left out the fennel and brandy, but it will give you some ideas. All fish, and no seafood is OK too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spanishseafoodstew_85040

I was told I could boil the fish by adding it in the last 10 minutes or so as it cooks very quickly when boiling.

Whatever stew recipe you use, you simmer everything except the fish until cooked and add the fish for the last 5/10 minutes, but not boiling, a very gentle simmer will be enough to cook the fish, if they are chunks of white fish, or salmon or anything similar to that. Whiting will cook in even less time as its thin.

good luck, give it a go, fish stew is lovely.