Fabulous Fish for Good Friday - Marmite Ecossaise – Luxury Scottish Seafood Stew
Fabulous Fish for Good Friday
~ Marmite Ecossaise ~
Luxury Scottish Seafood Stew
Today is Good Friday, a day traditionally associated with fish, and I must admit that I usually cook one of my fish pies for our Good Friday lunch or dinner, but this year I have developed a new recipe – my take on a classic French fish and seafood stew, Marmite Dieppoise which originates from Normandy in Northern France. And, this recipe was a dream to make, as I had the most amazing fresh fish delivered recently from John at Delish Fish in Peterhead in Scotland; my fresh fishy package contained an amazing array of fish and seafood – monkfish, lemon sole, cod, sea bass, halibut, scallops and some dried salt cod too. I have many more recipes planned to make with my fresh fish, but just for Good Friday I have developed this luxury fish stew, a concoction of delicious fish and seafood with wine, cream, curry and fennel bulb……my take on this classic French stew……perfect for a Good Friday lunch or dinner, serve it with crusty bread and a super chilled white wine, a luxurious recipe to mark the beginning of the end of Lent.
Marmite Ecossaise
I used monkfish, cod, lemon sole, scallops, mussels and king prawns in this recipe, but any white fish can be used, such as hake, coley, haddock or ling. I decided to serve my mussels out of their shells, but again, if you want a more tactile meal then serve the mussels in their shells in this stew…..you can also cook this fish stew with cider instead of white wine, but I wanted a dry crispy flavour for this dish, and so I used a Muscadet………
Muscadet in sunshine
I bet a splash if Pastis would be a great option in this stew too, although the fennel bulb and fennel seeds add that wonderful aniseed flavour, which is a perfect foil to the fish and seafood. You can prepare the vegetable and wine base beforehand, as long as no fish or seafood is added, and then just gently reheat it and continue as posted in the recipe below. All that remains is for me to wish you all a very Happy Easter, I will be sharing some more Easter cake recipes over the weekend, as well as another fishy dish over the weekend. Karen.
Scottish Fish and Seafood Stew
Marmite Ecossaise – Luxury Scottish Seafood Stew
Print recipe
| Serves | 4 |
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
| Cook time | 20 minutes |
| Total time | 30 minutes |
| Allergy | Fish, Shellfish |
| Meal type | Appetizer, Lunch, Main Dish, Side Dish, Snack, Soup |
| Misc | Gourmet, Serve Hot |
| Occasion | Casual Party, Formal Party |
| Region | British |
| By author | Karen S Burns-Booth |
Ingredients
- 50g salted butter
- 1 leek, cleaned and thinly sliced into thin rings
- 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced thinly
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
- 100ml dry white wine
- 2 tomatoes, finely diced
- 25g plain flour
- 600ml fish stock
- 450g fresh mussels
- 150g fresh monkfish fillets, cut into small chunks
- 250g fresh cod fillets, cut into strips
- 150g lemon sole fillets, cut into strips
- 12 large fresh scallops and corals
- 16 large fresh king prawns, peeled
- 75ml crème fraîche
- Juice of 1 lemon
- cayenne pepper or paprika
- salt and pepper, to season
Note
LA MARMITE DIEPPOISE is a fish dish invented in the 1960's by the lady who owned the Restaurant of the same name.
When she retired, she sold the restaurant to her head chef and gave him the rights to her recipe, although not the secret of the ingredients. However, he had watched carefully over the years and knew exactly what went into it!
This is my take on that classic stew/soup, but using prime fresh Scottish fish and seafood.
Directions
| Step 1 | Heat the butter in a large saucepan, and then add the chopped leeks, chopped fennel bulb, diced onion, fennel seeds and curry powder. Sauté over a low to medium heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft. |
| Step 2 | Add 50ml of the wine along with the chopped tomatoes, heat for 2 to 3 minutes before adding the flour, then gradually add the fish stock mixing in to the vegetable sauce until smooth. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. |
| Step 3 | Meanwhile, steam the mussels in the remaining 50ml white wine for 3 to 4 minutes or until the shells open. Drain the mussels in a colander, catching the cooking liquor into a bowl before straining through a sieve and adding the wine mussel cooking liquor to the vegetable and wine sauce. Shell the mussels and set to one side; you can keep a few in their shells for decoration if you like. |
| Step 4 | Place all the fish pieces into a grill pan and dot with butter, then grill for 4 to 5 minutes under hot grill; add the scallops for the last 2 minutes, turning them half way through the cooking time. |
| Step 5 | Add the lemon juice to the stew base and then add the cream; stir well, add the king prawns, before heating up the stew and cooking for a further 2 minutes over a medium heat until the prawns are just cooked, then add the cooked mussels. Season to taste and then arrange the fish and scallops in pre-heated bowls, and spoon the stew with the mussels and prawns over the cooked fish. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper or paprika and serve with crusty bread and a chilled white wine. |
~ Marmite Ecossaise ~ Luxury Scottish Seafood Stew
If you fancy making a fish pie, I have several recipes on the blog here:
Yorkshire Fish Pie with a Rosti Potato Topping
Old-Fashioned Fish Pie with Cheesy Mash
Charlotte @gofreecakes says
This looks fabulous Karen and really not difficult to make as sometimes these dishes can appear daunting to make.
I will give it a go! Happy Easter to you x
Karen says
Thanks Charlotte, this is an easy recipe, and I LOVE the fact that the fish is grilled separately too, so it doesn’t all fall to pieces in the stew base. Happy Easter to you too…..
Janice Pattie (@serialcrafter) says
All my favourite things in there. Must be a Scottish thing, seafood love certanly runs in my family. I made a salmon and prawn fish pie for Good Friday, but not blogging it, really rather basic compared to your gorgeous stew.
Karen says
I absolutely adore seafood and fish Janice and this really was a special recipe for Good Friday. I NORMALLY make a fish pie, but wanted something a bit different this time.
Ren Behan says
Wonderful Karen and what a luxurious selection of fish! We had coley and chips for supper – feel like your poor relation LOL! Have a wonderful Easter weekend. X
Karen says
Happy Easter to you Ren! This was a VERY special meal and I was pleased with the flavours too……
A Trifle Rushed says
Karen it’s perfect! It looks so delicious . I feel like I’ve been running a clam processing plant today, my husband brought back 7KG from his dig, in the end I made a very simple clam soup, and am planning two more’ clammy’ meals over the weekend! As well as ll the other seafood. I do love eating in France!
Karen says
I have just been drooling over your spider crab lunch, it looked fabulous and I agree that the shells always look so pretty afterwards too…..I look forward to your clammy recipes over the weekend! Karen
Javelin Warrior says
Karen, I’m once again terribly behind in my blog reading since I was traveling most of last week, but I wanted to let you know I’m drooling over this seafood stew – it looks marvelous and so many beautiful colors…
Karen says
Thanks so much – it was a delectable stew and packed full of amazing seafood and fish too.