Tomato fish stew is my go to recipe for a quick nourishing dinner that’s full of flavour. I use a tin of sardines to provide all the flavour rather than a fish stock so this recipe is great for using store cupboard tins with the addition of some white fish. Having access to fresh food may be a little bit more difficult at the moment, I used frozen Haddock for this recipe and put it into the stew frozen. Check cooking guidelines if cooking from frozen.
I love garlic so couldn’t resist serving this with garlic toast. I used a thin bit of toasted rye bread, rubbed on raw garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled on some fresh parsley.
Serves 4
1 dsp rapeseed oil
300g of white fish (frozen is fine)
1 tin of sardines
1 medium white onion
1 small fennel bulb (or half a large)
1 carrot
1 tin of chopped tomoatoes
1 punnet (200-300g) of cherry tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
2 tbsp capers
2-3 garlic cloves
1-2 small chillies (optional)
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 lemon
Large handful of fresh spinach, chopped roughly (or 2 cubes of frozen spinach/kale)
Handful of fresh oregano or parsley
Salt and pepper
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil to serve (optional)
Method for making Tomato Fish Stew:
- Finely slice the onion and fennel, dice the carrot and garlic. Chop the fish into 4 even pieces. Peel 2-3 strips of peel from the lemon.
- Heat the rapeseed oil in a deep pan, add onions and fry for a few minutes before adding the fennel and carrot.
- Once the vegetables have softened (about 5 minutes) add the tin of sardines to the pan and fry for a few minutes. Add the garlic, lemon peel, chilli, paprika tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, capers and a can full of water. Bring to the boil then add the white fish and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
- A few minutes before ready to serve add the spinach, squeeze of half a lemon and season. Mix in half of the fresh herbs and save the rest to decorate each plate.
- Serve immediately with a side of garlic rye toast.
