FISHY BUSINESS: SEAFOOD STEW

Besides the introduction of sexy starches, for the Burn phase, we're enjoying a lot more freedom in our food plans. It's been quite fun getting creative with developing recipes and it really feels good trying to turn healthy, whole foods into yummy meals. Definitely a much bigger sense of accomplishment than I ever got baking a kickass cheesecake or a really good lasagne, because lbr, Paula Deen nailed it when she said butter's the bomb. It's so much easier to make full-fat, full-sugar, full everything-but-the-kitchen-sink meals taste good.

So everyone, please meet my favorite meal on the plan to date: this amazing seafood stew. Alex put it on our meal plan as Brazilian seafood stew, but I'm not sure I added any of the spices that Moqueca calls for, so I'm just going to be legit and call it a straight-out seafood stew. 

From his plan, I subbed out squid for catfish and replaced coconut milk with unsweetened almond milk, and it was SO. GOOD. I'm not a fan of coconut milk stews and honestly, I think this would have killed the wonderfully rich seafoody goodness of the whole dish. 

Here's the recipe for the stew. It's seriously so easy to make and tastes so good. 

Seafood Stew

(Makes 5 servings)

Ingredients:

- 900g shrimp

- 600g catfish

- 50g dried scallops (this is the dealmaker for the broth, trust me.)

- Organic tinned crushed tomatoes

- 250ml unsweetened almond milk

- 1 tsp olive oil

- 2 cloves crushed garlic (or 2 tbsp garlic powder)

- 1 tbsp oregano

- Sea salt to taste

- Black pepper to taste  

Method:

1. Sous vide catfish (or lightly broil catfish until cooked). Chop into small pieces and set aside.

2. In a deep pot, heat the olive oil and brown the garlic. 

3. Add shrimp and stir well. Cover pot and let cook. 

4. Pour in crushed tomatoes and bring to boil. 

5. Add in dried scallops and lower heat to simmer for about 10 minutes. 

6. Add in sea salt, black pepper, oregano and almond milk to thicken. Lower heat further and let stew for another 10-30 minutes.

7. Depending on how flaky you like your fish, add in the cooked catfish at the end (I like it break-apart flaky and soft, so I add it in much earlier and let it stew for around 40 minutes on low heat)

8. Serve hot with cauliflower rice, or real rice if you're up for some carby goodness.

That's it - so super easy! Our entire apartment smelled like lobster bisque the whole time I was cooking this, and the husband was salivating and asking to "help taste" the stew. So I guess the alternative name for this could be: The Poor Woman's Imaginary Lobster Bisque?