Seafood stew

This is a hearty dish and you can make this is basically in two stages, first you make your veg broth then you cook you fish in it. It is some thing that you might find in the south of France, Spain Italy in fact any European country around the Mediterranean.

You will need,

Butter
50g/2oz shallots, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
½ fennel bulb, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 tbsp tomato purée
4 tomatoes
175ml/6fl oz white wine
1 bay leaf
750ml/1¼ pints fish stock
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 or 3 potatoes sliced
400g/14oz assorted fresh fish and shellfish
100g/3½oz fine beans cut in to 3cm or 1 inch lengths
Handful fresh parsley, chopped
sprig tarragon
1 lemon, juice only

Now take your root vegetables and chop them up to a similar size so the all cook at the same time. Then get a big heavy saucepan and put that on the heat. Pop in the butter and add you onions and garlic. Now get you sliced potaoes in the pot, get them cooking with the onions and lake up some of the liquid and butter. Let this all sweat down for a bit and add the carrot, fennel and celery. Once you have all the root veg in and they have all stated to cook add the chopped tomatoes and the leeks. Finally add the tomato purée, bay leaf, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Then add your fish stock and your white wine and cook till the vegetables are fully cooked.

Now you have this veg broth add your fish. You can use any sort of fish for this dish , salmon prawns hake , you name it , just as long as it has no bones or skin in it and it is all fresh.

Throw in the beans, tarragon, and cook until the fish is all cooked. Then add the lemon juice and parsley to finish.

Ladled out in to big bowls and have with crusty bread and ailoli.