seafood

aegean kakavia (beautiful fish stew)

servings
4

method

What’s great about this recipe is that you can use whatever fish you like. Sea bass, wrasse, pickerel, pollock, bream and red mullet all work well. You could even use lobster if you have it and feel like splashing out! Just talk to your fishmonger and get him to recommend a few of his freshest fish. Greek fishermen make this out at sea, using whatever they’ve hauled into their boat that day, and cooking it in seawater. That’s how I learnt to make this. Because their water is ready salted they don't need any seasoning at all to achieve a perfectly delicious stew. Genius! Try to use a mixture of fish, so you get all sorts of different flavors and colors in this wonderful stew.

Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured.

Add the tomatoes, potatoes and bay leaves and pour in the stock. Season lovingly with salt and pepper and bring it all to the boil. Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, add your fish filets and bring back to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for a further 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the fish is cooked through and flakes apart. Stir in the lemon juice and herbs, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then have a quick taste to make sure you've got a good balance of acidity, freshness and seasoning and serve with chunks of rustic bread.

• from Jamie does...

ingredients

• olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 beef tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks
• 3 fresh bay leaves
• 1 liter vegetable stock, preferably organic
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 700g fresh fish filets (see introduction), scaled and pin-boned
• juice of 1 lemon
• a small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• a small bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped
• Greek extra virgin olive oil
• a loaf of rustic bread, to serve

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Panos Miltiadou on Fri 14 Oct 2011 @ 13:49

Going to try make this today, dont know if i got the correct fish, but the fishmonger said it should work, will let you know!

2. by maha alghanim on Sat 08 Oct 2011 @ 13:32

hi, jamie<br /> i saw your program in athens and i liked the pistachio honey cake you done , can you plz send me the receipe for this cake.<br /> thank you

3. by Sally on Mon 15 Aug 2011 @ 17:12

Made this the other day, gorgeous, going to use pinto beans instead of potatoes next time, make it more of a soup

4. by Sally on Mon 15 Aug 2011 @ 17:11

Made this the other day, loved it, think i may subtitute the potatoes for pinto beans, make it a bit more soupy as opposed to stewy with the taties.

5. by Keleigh on Wed 20 Apr 2011 @ 17:11

This is properly tasty, love cooking it up in the spring.

6. by Bek on Sat 26 Mar 2011 @ 04:10

This is such a great soup. I chuck in 300g of prawn meat on top of the 700g of fish and use 3 cups of stock plus a cup of white wine. It tastes even better the next day. Dinner party favorite at our house :)

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