Portuguese Fish Stew by Tyler Florence

I am an Aquarius. My due date to be born was December 24th, but I held in there until January 26th. I tell my mom I was just making sure I could be born an Aquarius. She is not amused. Can't blame her really, I wouldn't be amused to be pregnant a MONTH longer than necessary just to then give birth to a 10 pound baby who grew to be an incredibly sarcastic and strong willed child. But I digress.

The reason my astrological sign is mentioned is because it was my birthday recently. For a gift a few of my friends got me what they knew I would love the most, an amazon gift card. With that gift card I purchased the beautiful masterpiece you see here:
No, amazon did not sell me a pot of soup, but I did get the fabulous pot it was made in. That is pure Lodge Logic enameled dutch oven greatness. In green, which happens to be my favorite color.

I could not wait to get cooking with it. Funny how I have made about a million recipes that call for a dutch oven, at which point I would bust out our hilariously huge 12 quart camp one, and curse that I did not have a smaller one. So of course when I finally get a smaller one I cannot find a single recipe to break it in with. So I searched The Food Network website and found one.

My only regret about the recipe I chose is that I did not take step by step pictures as I usually do. Once it was ready to serve I saw the error of my ways and managed to at least snap a few before eating it.

So here it is:

Portuguese Fish Stew courtesy of Tyler Florence (who I happen to kind of be infatuated with)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pound linguica or chorizo sausage, sliced in chunks
5 sprigs fresh thyme sprigs
1 handful fresh oregano, hand torn
2 bay leaves
2 pounds potatoes, sliced
3 quarts chicken broth
1 pound kale, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed
1/2 pound perch, cod, or bass fillets, skin and pin bones removed (I used cod)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 Recipe Rustic Crusty bread, for serving, recipe follows

Directions
Heat the oil in a heavy 4 to 6-quart pot over medium flame. Add the onions, garlic, and sausage; cook, stirring with wooden spoon, until the sausage renders out some of its fat and the onions are soft. Toss in the herbs and then the potatoes, stir that around for a minute to coat in the oil. Pour in the chicken broth and bring up to a simmer. Add the kale, season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are nearly tender.
Uncover the pot and add the clams; simmer, covered, for 15 minutes until the clams open. Add the fish and continue to cook for another 3 to 5 minutes until the fish is cooked. Serve with crusty bread.

There you have it, a soup pot to heaven.
Pardon the shadow, I was jittery with the excitement of sitting down to this fabulous feast. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese on it because... well why the hell not?

Now for a random picture. This was the scene out of our master bedroom window a few weeks ago. Unusually dry winter + high winds + a brush fire = this madness. We were incredibly fortunate that it didn't reach us. Anyhow. Make this stew and love it as I did. You certainly won't regret it. It is even better a few days later. YUM.

Now fellow foodies, please tell me, what is your favorite piece of kitchen equipment?

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie & Cast Iron seasoning tip!

So months ago, we went on a camping supply shopping frenzy. Well, not necessarily ME, it was more Mr See Marie Cook who went through this spell of temporary insanity. Of those purchases, there were two I was truly looking forward to getting. A cast iron skillet, and a cast iron dutch oven.

Of course, between buying those things, and now, our world was shaken up and tipped over like a snowglobe. Losing jobs, selling a house, starting a business, and moving have all taken the top priority, and now the dust is starting to settle. I have used the dutch oven, but have just recently gottten around to digging out the skillet.

A few weeks ago Brad said that he wanted something cozy, some comfort food to match the gloomy weather outside. Well, I happen to know one of his all time favorite old school dishes is chicken pot pie. What a perfect opportunity to use my skillet.

I had recently DVR'd an episode of Tyler's Ultimate on the Food Network. The topic of that episode was Chicken Pot Pie. Here is how it worked for me:
I was shocked to realize that I had no chicken stock in the house. None, not a drop. Luckily Mr Tyler Florence included his chicken stock instructions in the recipe. I love that man. Anyway...

Stock ingredients:
-1 whole chicken
-1 gallon cool water
-2 carrots, cut in 2 inch pieces
-2 celery stalks, cut in 2 inch pieces
-1 onion, halved
-1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
-2 turnips, halved (I did not use these as I did not have any on hand)
-2 tbsp dried thyme
-1 tbsp rosemary
-1 bay leaf

Chicken. Good. All right that's a line from the movie The Fifth Element that always makes me laugh. Oh, no one else knows what I'm talking about? ::ahem:: carry on...
You will need a large, heavy bottom stock pot for this. I believe this is one Brad's mom gave to him a while back. A lot of my often used items were gifts at one time or another from Brad's mom. A kitchen Goddess that woman is.

Veggies and herbs getting ready for a swim.

Now of course you will need to handle the chicken, and after handling and raw meats make sure to wash your hands thoroughly. Before handling the bird, I take off my ring...

Oh who am I fooling, this is just a chance to show off my gorgeous engagement ring! The man has good taste.

Of course I cannot chop carrots without snagging a few for the beasts. Carrots are their favorite.

Chop the carrots and celery into 2 inch pieces.

Half the onion and garlic head horizontally. Like so.

Put the chicken in the stock pot, and cover with the gallon of cool water. Add the veggies and herbs, then bring the pot to a boil.

I also had to add some salt and pepper. Couldn't help myself.

Bring that to a boil. Skim it well, then reduce to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 45 minutes, skimming any oil off that rises to the surface.

This is when, in my recipe, the box in the freezer that I THOUGHT was puff pastry was actually pie crust. Awesome. Well I figure in a pinch, I could use the pie crust instead. But in the end I decided to go with the good old Bisquick biscuit topping.

Once the chicken has cooked for 45 minutes, remove it to a platter to cool. At which point it looks a hot mess, but we will remedy that I promise.

Let the chicken stock continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes. This helps to condense the flavor. You should end up with about eight cups when you are finished, which is why the ingredients specify a gallon of water.

Ahhh Bisquick. You've saved me again. I made a double batch of the recipe on the box for chicken pot pie. Of course, I just made the dough portion of the recipe.

Now strain the chicken broth into another large pot. Discard the solids.

I pick out the cooked carrots, again, for the dogs. They had quite a treat that night for dinner.

When the chicken is cool, shred the meat and discard the skin and bones.

Picked clean.

This is the chicken I will be using for the pie.

And THIS is the chicken that ensures my dog's endless love for me. This is what they got on their kibble for dinner. Their eyes glazed over I swear it.

Now for the pie.

Ingredients:

-1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

-1/2 cup all purpose flour

-Salt and pepper

-3 carrots, cut in 1/2 inch circles

-1 onion, chopped (next time I will dice them finely)

-1 box of frozen peas (though I used shelled edamame)

-1 tbsp parsley

-1/4 cup of shredded parmesan

Now wipe out the stock pot, and put it back over medium heat. Melt the butter in the pot.

Then add the flour a little at a time, whisking to form a paste or roux. Whisk until smooth.

Gradually pour in eight cups of the chicken stock. I did it one cup at a time. Whisk the entire time to prevent lumps.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Now, I cannot emphasize this enough, make sure to use plenty of salt! It's not often that you will hear me say that, but in this case it is crucial.

Run your frozen veggies under cool water for 2-3 minutes to thaw them.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

While the edamame thawed, I prepared the dough for the top of the pie. This is the recipe, which I doubled:

-1 cup bisquick mix

-1/2 cup milk

- 1 egg

Stir the ingredients together with a fork until smooth.

Set aside until you have the pie assembled in the skillet.

Now go back to the roux. It should be nice and thick. Fold in the chicken,

Carrots,

Onions,

and edamame or peas.

Stir to combine.

Spoon the mix into the skillet.

Get the bisquick mix, and spread evenly over the filling.

Sprinkle the top with the parmesan cheese, and sprinkle some pepper on as well. Makes it look a little prettier in my humble opinion.

Bake the dish for 30-35 minutes at 400 degrees. You want the top to be nice and brown, like this!

Isn't it pretty?

Nice and ready for it's close up.

I mean my goodness. At this point I heard Brad yell from the livingroom "Are you going to eat it or make out with it?!". Never you mind buddy boy...

Now, no matter how good this smells, how beautiful it looks, or how many men and children you have wailing about their growling bellies, you must let this set for at least 25 minutes. Otherwise you are going to cut into a soupy mess. That would really be a shame considering all the work you just put into it. I won't lie though, it was a test in patience and strength to go about our lives for the whole half hour I let this sit, pretending that it wasn't just right there on the kitchen counter.

After we could take it no longer, I cut into it...

Behold!

I will tell you, Brad thoroughly enjoyed this dish. Though he did use even more salt at the table. He enjoyed it so much, that this is the chunk that was missing when we were done.

And it was even better as left overs a few days later.

Since I want my relationship with my cast iron to be a very long and successful one, I know that I need to take good care of it. This requires some maintenance after every use. According to the pamphlet that came with this skillet, I was instructed to wash it out with warm water right after using it. A small amount of dish soap in a sink full of hot water is acceptable as well. Then dry it completely. At which point it this is what I have:

Then I sprayed it generously with a cooking spray, I used PAM.

Flip it over, and spray the backside also.

I let that sit overnight. Then in the morning I wiped any excess oil off, and put the skillet away.

Enjoy!