Spicy Moroccan Stewed Fish with Couscous

Stew in the summer! Are you crazy? No, just lazy. We made this in February and I'm just now posting about it. This spicy (or not, depends on your taste or what you forget) stewed fish recipe is quick and adaptable, which is good because I wanted to use food that was already in the house and when I went to the store to buy ingredients I forgot the shrimp. So now there's no shrimp. But it's not called spicy stewed shrimp now is it? Oh, it's called spicy...and I don't have a hot chili, well fine*, I'll substitute a nice red bell pepper and call my dish Moroccan Stewed Fish with Couscous. Mmmmm good. Don't worry I added some special olives and pickled lemons to make up for my forgetfulness.

The pepper* and the lemons. Let me tell you about these lemons. I bought them in an international grocery in St. Louis near the Crown Candy Kitchen. CCK is awesome, so awesome and sugar overloading that it made me forget the name of the lemon store. I love these lemons and they make almost every dish better, but alas I can't find them here and as you can see the jar is almost empty!

Recipe Time: Spicy Moroccan Stewed Fish with Couscous
adapted from Cooking Light January/February 2010
which was adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution by Jamie Oliver
serves 4

1 Cup uncooked couscous
2 Tbs olive oil
3 Tbs lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 Cups fat-free chicken broth
20 oz uncooked white fish, cut into large pieces
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp diced garlic
1 bell pepper, diced (*okay, it should be 1 fresh hot chili, thinly sliced)
14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup frozen green peas
6 large olives stuffed with feta
1/4 medium-sized pickled lemon

1. Place couscous in a medium bowl or sauce pan (basically anything with a lid); add 2 Tbs lemon juice, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper. 
2. Pour boiling chicken stock over couscous; cover and let stand for at least 5 minutes. 
3. Fluff couscous with fork before serving.
4. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper over fish. 
5. In a large skillet, warm 2 Tbs oil over medium heat. 
6. Add remaning lemon juice, cumin powder, cinnamon, garlic, and *bell pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
7. Then layer the fish and tomatoes. Cook for 5 min.
8. Add peas and cook for 5 more min.
9. Serve the stew over couscous, garnish with pickled lemons and olives.

Smoked Paprika and Potato Soup

The last day of the farmers' market is a crazy day. Do we really need more produce if we never can or freeze? But there won't be good tomatoes until next year! It's rainy and cold, no one will be there. My life is a barren wasteland without fresh fruit! But every time I buy onions I get a bad batch. And so on ...but you can never go wrong with potatoes. Unless of course you have too many spuds and not enough space.

I wasn't going to post this recipe since it doesn't "come from somewhere," unless you count my desperate state as a destination, but once I tasted the spicy soup I don't regret only taking pictures at the halfway mark. This is a quick recipe and most of the time takes place in the microwave. The soup is also fairly hands-off except for watching the onions in the beginning and watching the knife when you cut the microwave softened potatoes into large chunks.

The flavor comes from a rough-chopped yellow onion cooked in a few teaspoons of olive oil with smoked paprika, dried parsley, dried thyme, salt and black pepper. Just throw it all in the bottom of your soup pot while you microwave eight medium potatoes (or whatever you've got on hand).

When the potatoes are fork tender carefully remove them from the microwave - those little devilspuds are HOT! The eight potatoes magically equals eight cups. How convenient. After the onions become translucent add four cups of chicken stock and the potato chunks. Let it simmer, check your Facebook, stir it around, get a drink, think about serving it, then decided to blend it with an immersion blender.

less creamy

more creamy

I'm always looking for a reason to use the immersion blender, mainly because it is the one kitchen gadget we own. For creamy but not overly smooth texture I removed roughly a cup of the soup before blending and then added that back to the blended portion. You do whatever makes you happy.

Recipe Time: Smoked Paprika and Potato Soup

serves 8

4 cups organic fat free or low-fat chicken broth
1 cup onions
8 cups potato
1 Tbsp parsley
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp paprika
2 tsp table salt
2 tsp black pepper

1. Microwave the potatoes until they are fork tender.
2. While the potatoes are cooking roughly chop the onion.
3. Cook/sweat the onion in a stock pot with the oil and the seasonings until the onion turns translucent.
4. Add the chicken stock and simmer.
5. Cut the cooked potatoes into large chunks.
6. Add the potatoes to the soup and simmer about 10 minutes.
7. Eat or blend the soup with an immersion blender for a creamy texture.