Midweek culinary inspo: Mediterranean fish stew

An appealingly colourful dish, ideal for entertaining. Serve with slices of baguette to soak up the fragrant broth.

Mediterranean Garlicky Fish Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 bay leaves
5 sprigs of thyme
½ tsp fennel seeds
50ml Pernod or dry white wine
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
50ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp grated orange zest
a pinch of saffron strands, finely ground and soaked in 1 tbsp hot water
a pinch of Turkish chilli flakes
500ml fish stock
a handful of freshly chopped parsley, plus extra to garnish
500g fish fillet, skinned and chopped into chunks
200g raw prawns, peeled and heads removed, deveined
150g squid rings
salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
a deep sauté pan

Method
Heat the olive oil in the deep sauté pan. Add the shallots and fry gently, stirring often, until softened and lightly browned. Add the celery, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and fennel seeds and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes until fragrant.

Pour in the Pernod or white wine and fry, stirring, until largely reduced. Mix in the chopped tomatoes and cook, stirring often, until thickened and reduced. Stir in the orange juice and zest, saffron soaking water and chilli flakes. Add the fish stock. Taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Mix in the parsley.

Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the fish, prawns and squid rings and simmer until just cooked through – this takes just a matter of minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve at once.

Extracted from Garlic by Jenny Linford (Ryland Peters & Small, €20.99). Photography by Clare Winfield © Ryland Peters & Small.