Seafood Stew

Sunday, April 20th was Easter and we had a terrific celebration of Our Risen Jesus Christ! One of the many traditions we have in our family is a huge seafood feast with dear friends from the East Coast. We cook some veg, fish and seafood and enjoy the tasty delights. Then we plays some games and enjoy fun fellowship until evening, when they return home for a little family time and rest and we rest up from the day as well.

This year was no exception. After church, we hurried home and started cooking. We had done prep on Saturday, so there wasn't a lot of work to do to get the meal ready, but here is our menu:

Vegetable Roast - Green Beans, Onion, Tomato and Mushrooms
Grilled Vegetables - Asparagus and Corn on the Cob
Tossed Salad with choice of dressing
Shrimp Cocktail
Grilled Tuna Steaks
Smoked Salmon (my husband has a smoker and we do this ourselves)
Pan-fried Polluck
Stuffed Clams
Steamed Mussels
Steamed and Pan-seared Calamari
Herbed Cheesy Biscuits

Yum!

Now comes Monday. We had our colored eggs, so I made Egg Salad for lunch. We had some of the Polluck and Tuna leftover with some of the veggies and Calamari, so I made a Seafood Stew similar to a Cioppino. Below is the recipe:

2 T. Olive Oil
1 med. Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 T. Italian Seasoning
1 T. Red Pepper Flakes (more or less to taste)
2 c. Leftover Vegetables (estimated)
1 1/2 c. Leftover Fish/Seafood (estimated after chopped to bite sized pieces)
4-6 c. Liquid (I used 3 c. Chicken Broth and 3 c. water)
1 can Diced Tomatoes
1 can Tomato Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

On Med heat, saute onion and garlic in the olive oil briefly (about 2 minutes) just to soften. Then add in all remaining ingredients and allow to simmer for up to an hour. Serve hot.
*Note: Calamari will get tough if cooked too long, but will get softer again when simmered in liquid.

Once it's heated through it's technically ready to eat. However, you can thicken the soup with tomato paste if you prefer a thicker broth or you could add more water if you want to add and cook in some pasta or rice to the soup.

As always, make it to your own taste. Add hot sauce or pasta/rice, or italian sausage or andouille sausage. Whatever you think would be good, add it in. Cook accordingly and enjoy!