Rockport Fisherman's and Farmer's Seafood Soup

My husband is usually the expert when it comes to cooking fish. So I was a little nervous putting this together. How would it turn out? I knew that you have to be gentle when cooking fish in a stew such as this. So as to make sure the chunks of fish don't disintegrate, so you actually get mouthfuls of wonderful fish.
I got home from the store and found that my husband had already planned a meal for himself, something I'm not fond of (tuna sushi) so I said I already had a plan for my meal and began to lay out the ingredients for cooking. He watched with interest. Now, I'm not much of a sausage person, and my husband loves sausage. This recipe calls for a little smoked sausage. Not too much, just enough to flavor the dish. When I finished cooking the soup (which seems to me to be more thick and stew-like, not soup at all), I ladled it into a bowl and began to eat. Perfect! Just the right mix of seafood and sausage and veggies and sauce. I casually said to my husband, "You might like this." He wandered out to the kitchen, tried a mouthful, came right back to me and said, "You can definitely make that again." He can be a little understated, sometimes, but trust me, that was high praise from the fish chef.

Oh, before I post this blog, I want to tell a funny story about the cooking of it. I thought the recipe said, cook a couple pieces of bacon in pot, remove, and saute onions and red pepper in bacon grease. So, I did that. And I'm happily standing at the stove, putting in this ingredient and that, and my eye wanders to the two pieces of cooked bacon that I set aside. Looking quite lonely on that piece of paper towel. And I was feeling awfully hungry. So, I ate both pieces! After supper, I sat down to review the recipe and make sure I had any special notes for the recipe written onto the page. Only then did I read the actual instructions regarding the bacon... crumble bacon into sauce. Note to self: read instructions more closely next time!
And speaking of bacon, the Candied Bacon in yesterday's blog? Yeah, the stuff I didn't really care for? Turns out my husband loves it! Who knew?! To each their own taste buds, I say!

Comments

Post a Comment

I welcome your comments. Please be kind and considerate. Thanks for stopping by!

Popular posts from this blog

Fiddlehead Cake

Image
 This cake hails from one of the northernmost points of our state, Van Buren, in Aroostook County. I studied at UMPI, and I have a friend who lives in Caribou, so I'm familiar with the far reaches of our beautiful state. Claudette Rossignol submitted this recipe, and she tells a hilarious story about how to clean fiddleheads, which you'll just have to buy the cookbook to read. Read it sitting down and I guarantee you will fall out of your chair laughing. This is a beautiful, moist cake. I guess the oil contributes in a large way to the heaviness of the cake, but not heavy in a detrimental way. When you cut a piece, just don't let your eyes be bigger than your stomach, because a little goes a long way to filling you up. I like the walnuts in the cake, as they compliment the fiddleheads. In fact, I'd probably add more, next time around. I did not use the recommended raisins. Just because I didn't want to fill up the cake space with too many flavors. When dealing with ...
Read more

Congolese Makayabu (Salt Fish)

Image
 Angelique Bitshiluala moved to Maine from the Democratic Republic of Congo and submitted this recipe. I was unable to locate the seasoning called for, Maggi seasoning, but was able to use Tamari sauce instead. We also don't have amaranth leaves or fried plantains in this region, so had to do without. Even so, this salt cod recipe compares favorably with the other salt cod recipe in this cookbook (see my blog on Salt Cod). I've never fried fish without a breading, so that was decidedly new for me. And I do wonder if a breading might have kept it moist. The fish was a little too dry/chewy for me, but maybe I overcooked it. We don't do much frying in this household, so I have limited experience in judging when to pull fish out of the oil. I loved cooking the eggplant, bell pepper, onions, and garlic in the olive oil. It just looked joyous, all jumbled together, with the bright red of the bell pepper as the vegetable star. I'm personally not an eggplant fan, but the Reside...
Read more

Maine Party Chicken

Image
 As I read the ingredients for this recipe, I had a flashback to my childhood. My parents enjoyed having friends over, and my mother was not a chef by any means, but she would look for recipes that were easy to prepare for a crowd. This is one of the recipes she used to make.  I used to be a can-of-soup cook, like my mom, when a white sauce was called for. But since I learned how to do a bechamel, oh my, there is no going back. Not that there is anything wrong with an easy pop-top cream of mushroom soup once in awhile. It does the trick, and you just tuck this dish in the fridge overnight and do a three-hour bake the next day, which gives you time to focus on putting up party banners, or whatever, for your company. I'm not sure I care for the dried beef in this dish. Awfully salty. But the bacon, when you do a slow bake, smells fantastic for three solid hours. Can you say Anticipation?! I say, when you go big, go easy. Try this recipe for a crowd. You'll be glad you did!
Read more