Mrs Huston's Seafood Stew

Photo courtesy of https://www.pexels.com/@markusspiske

My first attempt at one of my Mother in Law's recipes. The above picture is not mine I must admit. I tried to take a picture of it but it looked - soupy? I tried but none of the pictures I took did it justice so I headed over to Pexels.com and found a picture that looked like mine should have looked.

Pexels.com for all your royalty free imagery needs. (They did not pay me to say that by the way. I just like giving credit where credit is due.)

Seafood Stew

Ingredients

1T oil - Whatever you have on hand is fine but I would not recommend Olive Oil for sauteeing as it can burn easily.

1t minced garlic. - I always buy minced garlic in bulk. I go through a TON of garlic so I find having it prechopped is very time saving.

1 stalk Celery - I think I may have tripled this. I cut the celery thinly at a 45 degree angle. It makes it seem like you have more while at the same time being visually appealing.

1 large Tomato, Diced. - I did not dice the tomato too finely. They tend to break apart when cooked so don't worry too much about the tomato looking perfect.

4C Broth - Any broth you have on hand is fine but I would go with a lighter vegetable broth or a chicken broth as a beef broth might over-power the fish. You could even use plain water.

12oz. Fish fillets, cut into 1 inch peices - I used a combination as I had one small tilapia and 1 small bass, both were skinless. I used what fish I had so we probably used a lot more than called for in the original recipe.

1 pound shrimp - The original recipe called for large shrimp but I find then some people get more shrimp and some get less. So, I used smaller shrimp to make it easier to divide amongst the bowls evenly.

Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

In a saucepan, cook the garlic on medium until the garlic becomes fragrant. This was less than a minute for me as my burners tend to run high.

Add the celery and cook stirring frequently until the celery softens slightly. This took about 4 minutes for me but I prefer my celery softer than most

Add the diced tomato, salt and pepper to taste and cook until the tomato releases some of its juices and starts to break down a little - about 3 minutes

Stir in the broth and allow the stew to come to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for a few minutes.

Gently fold in the fish and cook until the fish becomes translucent. The recipe said 3 minutes but I simmered for 5 just to be safe.

Ladle into bowls and drizzle with a little oil.

The recipe said to serve with crusty bread but being Celiac, that was not an option for me so I used more celery and fish than in the original to make it a little more hearty

I have tried to make Gluten free bread in the past but it has never turned out well. One loaf, in particular, looked great on the outside but when I tried to slice it, it was rock solid and the knife got stuck midway. When I finally got it sliced, the interior was uncooked. It was like hardtack full of pudding.

If I try again I will document it and maybe one of the readers can tell me where I went wrong if that happens again

Until next time ...