I first made this recipe about six years ago. It was cold out and I felt in need of a nourishing dish that would warm me from the inside out. Stew would be the obvious choice, but I don’t eat meat so, for me, salmon is the next best thing.
It’s also a big hit in our house. The kids love it. It’s brain food, the salmon of knowledge, it makes us smarter as we eat it … but there’s no need for all that encouragement, as they just love it. We all do.
So I started messing around with ingredients. I liked the idea of a bouillabaisse but thought the star anise might be off putting to a young palate. I wanted to create something tasty but healthy, bursting with vitamin C, Omega 3 and iron. And so this fish stew with rouille was born.
In winter, the kids call it dark winter fish stew with rouille. In summer it’s light summer fish stew with rouille. Suffice to say, we eat it a lot. In summer, we swap out some veg and add in lighter options, such as courgette. It’s always greeted with cheers when it’s on the menu and every bowl is polished off. It was one of the first ‘proper’ dishes that the baby had while weaning and she devoured it as fast as her older sisters.
It’s quite quick to make but I use quite a few vegetables as I like multiple textures in my bowl and I don’t like everything to taste the same. The carrots absorb that lovely orangey-tomatoey flavour as they cook, but blanching the green veg and adding them with the par-steamed potatoes towards the end ensures lots of different flavours and textures.
Everything can be chopped, prepped and cooked in advance, before reheating and adding the fish at the end. It also works really well with cod and shellfish, but salmon and prawns are our favourite. It’s great served with crusty bread to really clean the bowl.
What you’ll need:
Olive oil
Onions
Garlic
Orange zest
Bay leaves x4
Harissa paste x2 tsp
White wine x 100ml
Fish stock, 1/2 pint
Chopped tomatoes x 400g
Passata x 500g
Chopped carrots x 2 large
Baby potatoes
Broccoli
Green beans
Frozen peas
Salmon fillets x6
Prawns x300gms
Thyme
Mayonnaise
How to make it:
1. Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan. Add onions and cook for five minutes. Add garlic, orange zest, bay leaves and harissa paste.
2. Cook for five minutes and add wine, then fish stock.
3. Once hot, add tomatoes and passata, then bring to the boil and then add the carrots.
4. Meanwhile, steam the potatoes until they’re firm.
5. Fill a bowl with boiling water and place broccoli and green beans in it for one minute, covered, and then strain. Defrost the peas.
6. Chop the salmon into big chunks and add to the pot and reduce the heat.
7. After seven minutes, add the prawns and the par-cooked potatoes.
8. Once cooked through, toss in the greens, reduce the heat and cook, covered with a lid, for two minutes.
9. For the rouille, in a small dish mix one tablespoon of mayonnaise with one teaspoon of harissa paste.
10. Serve the fish stew in bowls, top with rouille and a few thyme leaves. Serve with crusty bread.
Sonia Harris Pope is managing director of Harris Public Relations.
