Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Valentine's Day Dinner: Bouillabaisse

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I finally got off my ass and made my lady a bouillabaisse (a traditional Provençal fish stew originating from the port city of Marseille) as I promised when we first started going out 11 years ago and it turned out great. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Recipe for two:
1/2 lb cod cut in 2 slices
1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and cleaned
1/4 lb sea scallops
1/4 lb squids cut in rings
1/4 lb mussels
6 clams
2 cup seafood stock
1/2 cup wine (red or white, whatever available)
1 tsp tomato paste
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2 tbsp La Morena Chipotle Sauce or any hot sauce of your choice.
4 cloves of garlic diced
1/2 medium onion chopped
3 stalks scallion chopped diagonally
parsley chopped
pinch of saffron
pinch of rosemary
2 medium bay leaves
1/2 cup corn starch
3 tbsp olive oil

Cover the cod pieces with salt & pepper and corn starch both sides. Set aside for ten minutes then pan fry them in olive oil, make it crispy each side.

Sweat onion and garlic with tomato paste in olive oil 1-2 minutes. Add liquids, saffron, rosemary and bay leaves, bring it to a boil. Put clams and cook until they open, about 5-6 minutes. Throw in half scallions and add rest of the seafood, cook 3-4 minutes until shrimp turn pink in color.

Place generous portion in two large bowls. Add cod pieces on top. Sprinkle the rest of the scallions and parsley.

We had our soup with a good hunk of bread and a
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Hitachino White Ale. An amazing beer from a Japanese brewery and one of our favorites I might add.

Hope you guys try the recipe some time.