Showing posts with label Women's Day December 1954. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women's Day December 1954. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Savory Fish Stew Women's Day, December 1954

I'm not a big fan of fish unless it's grilled but hubby and my dad, who is visiting from California, love bouillabaisse and I'm sure not up for that.  (I once texted hubby from the grocery store asking what he'd like for dinner and he sent me a recipe for bouillabaisse with 25 ingredients!  Seriously.  And no, I didn't make it.)  This recipe was better than I thought it would be and I got me over my distaste of non-crunchy fish.



The original recipe

  • 3 Large onions, sliced thinly
  • 1/4C Olive oil (I used less- about 2-3T)
  • 2 Large potatoes, sliced thinly
  • 2t Salt
  • 2 Cloves garlic
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 1/4C Tomato paste
  • 1T Paprika
  • 2lbs Cod or haddock, fresh or frozen and thawed (I used cod), cut into bite sized pieces


As you can see I omitted/changed a few things; The green pepper (Hubby absolutely HATES it!), the peppercorns (I hate them.  But I'm not quite as vocal about it.  Thus no caps necessary.),  and I swapped the salad oil for olive oil.  I really used 3 onions.  My dad and I were wondering if onions were smaller in the 1950's because it looked like a lot of onions in the pot.  But I wanted to stay true as possible to the recipe and I'm glad I did.  The onions added a nice texture.

The original recipe says it serves 4-6.  I think it's more like 6-8.  It was a hit with the adults but my girls wouldn't even consider tasting it.  My son, the 9 year old foodie, tasted it but gave it a thumbs down.

So here's how to put it all together:

Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat.  (I used a Dutch oven but whatever you have is fine.)  Cook the onions until light brown.  Add potatoes, salt, garlic and bay leaves.  Stir gently and cook for a few minutes.  Add 4 cups water, bring to a boil and cover.  Lower the temp and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and paprika to the pot.  Stir gently (To keep the bay leaves intact.).  Add the fish and simmer covered for another 20 minutes.  Remove the bay leaves before serving.

This is what you get:

The finished stew

I had this bread in the freezer and it was perfect with the stew!  Surprisingly this reheated well for leftovers the next day.  (Usually reheated fish doesn't do well.  I've tried.)  I gave a little taste to my pooch and he loved it too!


Sarah