Recipe - Mediterranean Seafood Stew

One fourth cup Olive oil
2 lg Onions, thinly cut or sliced up
6 lg Cloves garlic, crushed or
finely minced
1 teaspoon Sweet curry powder, optional
3 Roasted red peppers (the
Peloponnese brand is good),
pureed in food processor or
blender
2 cup Flatleaf Italian parsley,
chopped
3 tablespoon Dried herbs: any combination
of basil, oregano,
rosemary, savory and
marjoram, crushed
1 cn (28ounce) Italianstyle
tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper, to taste
One half teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 Bottle of dry white wine,
sauvignon blanc preferred
One half teaspoon Saffron threads, crushed and
mixed with a little juice
from the stew broth,
optional
2 Lemons , Juice of
2 pound Cod or other white fish
fillets, broken up into
chunks
24 Mussels, scrubbed and
debearded
18 lg Shrimp, shelled and deveined
Three fourths pound Scallops

In 6quart (or larger) casserole, place olive oil and onions and heat over
mediumhigh flame, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until
onions are soft. Add crushed garlic, stirring to combine, then curry
powder, if using. Cook several minutes, until garlic is wellintegrated
into onions.

Add red pepper puree, stirring to combine, and cook for 2 minutes. Add
parsley, then dried herbs, stirring to mix in well. When parsley has
started to soften, add tomatoes, then season to taste with salt and black
pepper. Add cayenne pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5
minutes.

Add white wine to the pot, stirring it in well. If you wish to use saffron,
crush the threads in a mortar and pestle, then add a few tablespoons of the
stew broth from the pot to the mortar, smushing the saffron in the liquid.
Add to the stew pot. Don't waste that saffron: Add more stew broth to the
mortar, if necessary, to use up every last bit of this precious spice. Add
the juice from the lemons, and cook, stirring once or twice, for 2 minutes.

Add the fish fillets first, stirring to incorporate in the stew. When
fillets have turned from transparent to white, add the mussels, cook for 1
minute until shells start to open, then add the shrimp and the scallops.
Cook for no more than 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp are pink and the
scallops just turning white. Serve in large bowls, over linguine if you'd
like, but definitely with crusty bread. Serves 6.

Posted to FOODWINE Digest 17 Jan 97, by "=Mark P. Stevens"
mstevens@EXIT109.COM on Fri, 17 Jan 1997.