Seafood Stew With Winter Squash Tomatoes And Saffron Recipes

CIOPPINO (SEAFOOD STEW)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until onion is translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in thyme, oregano, red-pepper flakes, and bay leaf.
• Add crushed tomatoes and their juice, white wine, water, and clam juice; bring to a simmer.
• Add crab and clams. Simmer, covered, until crab shells turn bright pink and clam shells open, about 10 minutes. Season fish with salt and pepper. Add fish and shrimp to stockpot. Simmer, covered, until fish is opaque and shrimp are pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Discard bay leaf and any unopened clams.
• Remove pot from heat. Stir in parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

TOMATO-SAFFRON FISH STEW

Steps:

• Slice a piece of orange peel about 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and the length of one side of an orange. Briefly whirl tomatoes and juice in a food processor or blender, just until broken up, but not puréed.
• In a large saucepan or soup pot, stir tomatoes with 4 cups (1 L) water, bay leaf, peel strip and saffron. Place over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, thyme, fennel, salt, celery salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to develop flavor.
• In a measuring cup, stir flour with 1/3 cup (75 mL) cold water until no lumps remain. After tomato mixture has simmered 15 minutes, slowly add to flour and water mixture while stirring constantly. Continue simmering, uncovered and stirring often, until mixture has thickened and no taste of flour remains, from 10 to 15 minutes.
• Taste, and add salt and pepper, if needed. Broth will have a very strong taste, which mellows when seafood is added. If making ahead, remove from heat at this point and refrigerate. Covered, broth will keep well for 3 days.
• Meanwhile, removing any bones or shells (but not from mussels or clams), cut fish or seafood into bite-size chunks.
• When ready to serve, remove bay leaf and orange peel from broth. If using clams, stir into hot stew and simmer 10 minutes before adding remaining fish and seafood. Stir fish, seafood, including any mussels and parsley, into simmering stew.
• Simmer, covered and stirring often, until clam or mussel shells have opened, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with more chopped fresh parsley. Serve with a crisp baguette or sourdough bread to dip into the broth.

SAFFRON-AND-ORANGE-SCENTED SEAFOOD STEW

Steps:

• In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. When it shimmers, add tomato paste and shrimp shells. Cook, stirring, until shells turn pink and opaque, about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups water and gently boil 5 minutes. Strain shrimp broth into a heatproof bowl; discard solids. Stir saffron into broth.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a braiser pan or wide, shallow pot over medium. Add celery, shallots, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and thyme. Cover and cook until tomatoes collapse and release their juices, 6 to 8 minutes. Add wine and boil until mostly evaporated.
• Add clams to pan, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, covered, just until they begin to open, 6 to 8 minutes (discard any that don't open). Transfer clams to a large heatproof bowl and cover with a plate to keep warm. Add mussels to pan and cook, covered, just until they begin to open, about 5 minutes (discard any that don't open). Transfer mussels to bowl with clams.
• Add seafood stock, shrimp broth, and orange zest and juice to pan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; simmer 5 minutes. Meanwhile, remove about half of clams and two-thirds of mussels from their shells, reserving meat and juices and discarding empty shells.
• Stir shrimp and fish into pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, just until shrimp and fish are firm and cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Return shelled and in-shell clams and mussels and any accumulated juices to pan, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, sprinkle with celery leaves and parsley, drizzle with more oil, and serve with bread, if desired.

SEAFOOD STEW WITH WINTER SQUASH, TOMATOES AND SAFFRON

Steps:

• Steam squash until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Cool. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)
• Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion, chopped fennel and minced garlic and sautéuntil translucent, about 3 minutes. Add tomato paste, chopped fresh thyme and bay leaf and stir 1 minute. Add clam juice, tomatoes with juices, white wine, Sherry and 1/2 cup water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors. Discard bay leaf.
• Add clams and saffron to pot; cover and cook until clams open, about 4 minutes (discard any clams that do not open). Add sea bass and steamed squash to stew. Cover and simmer until squash is tender and fish is just opaque in center, about 5 minutes. Season stew to taste with salt and pepper.
• Ladle stew into bowls. Garnish with fennel fronds, if desired, and serve.