Lobster And Sea Bass Moqueca Stew Recipes

SEAFOOD MOQUECA

Steps:

• For the sauce: Heat a 12-inch saute pan with a lid or a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, then add oil and garlic. Stir for 30 seconds or so, until it gets a little color, then add onions, salt, pepper and Pepper Sauce. Cover pan and sweat the onions for 4 to 5 minutes. Add bell peppers and tomatoes, then cover, lower heat and very gently simmer, scraping the bottom to prevent burning every 5 minutes or so, until peppers and onions are cooked but still have a bite, about 30 minutes. Check your seasonings again.
• For the seafood: Meanwhile prepare the seafood: cut fish fillets into thumb-size pieces (same size as the shrimp), scrub clams and mussels, and cut calamari into rings.
• Increase temperature of the sauce to medium-high. Add clams, fish, shrimp, coconut milk and dende oil and season with salt and pepper (and more Pepper Sauce to taste). Cover the pan until clams start to open, 2 to 3 minutes. Add calamari and mussels, then cover again and cook until all shells are open and calamari and shrimp are opaque and cooked through, another 2 to 3 minutes.
• Serve family-style, from your Dutch oven, or split into four large bowls.
• Garnish with green onions, parsley and cilantro, if using. Serve with white rice.
• Combine the peppers, olive oil and salt in a food processor until fully incorporated.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

CHEF JOHN'S BRAZILIAN FISH STEW

Steps:

• Bring water and rice to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir just until onions start to get soft, 3 or 4 minutes. Add tomato paste, garlic, paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Continue cooking about 3 minutes. Pour in coconut milk and add soy sauce. When mixture starts to bubble, let it simmer about 5 minutes.
• Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and green onions. Let mixture come back to a simmer. Transfer fish to skillet; stir. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until fish starts to flake, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add salt, cilantro, and lime juice; stir carefully to avoid breaking up the fish. Serve with rice.

MOQUECA (BRAZILIAN FISH STEW)

Steps:

• Make the farofa if desired: Melt butter in a skillet or shallow saucepan on medium heat. Add sliced onion, and cook, stirring, until it turns light brown. Stir in manioc and cook, stirring, 5 to 8 minutes, until it starts to toast. Cover and keep warm.
• Make the fish broth: Cut each bass fillet in 4 or 5 pieces, cover and refrigerate. Place trimmings in a 3-quart stovetop casserole, preferably an earthenware pot. Lightly salt shrimp, cover and refrigerate. Place shells in the pot. Add 5 cups water; the bay leaves; the turnip; 2 onions, chopped; 2 tomatoes, chopped; half the shishito peppers; the garlic; and half the cilantro and chives. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 45 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut a slit in the skin of the plantain, wrap in foil and bake 20 minutes, until flesh is tender. Cool.
• Strain broth into a bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard solids and return broth to pot. Cook over medium heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups.
• Slice remaining tomatoes and remaining onion 1/4 inch thick and add to pot. Add bell peppers, Cubanelle peppers, remaining shishito peppers, remaining chives and all but 1 tablespoon remaining cilantro. Bring to a simmer and cook about 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
• Peel plantain and slice it 1/2 inch thick. Add to pot. Add coconut milk and dende oil. Add fish and octopus, if using, and simmer 5 minutes. Rinse and dry shrimp and squid, if using, and add to pot. Simmer 3 minutes. Check seasonings. Strew remaining cilantro on top, garnish with a red chile and serve over rice directly from the pot, with farofa and piri-piri on the side.

MOQUECA (BRAZILIAN SEAFOOD STEW)

Steps:

• Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut along the length of each prawn deep enough to expose and remove the vein. Place the fish chunks in a large bowl and season with 1 teaspoon salt. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime and toss to coat. Set the prawns and fish aside while preparing the sauce.
• In a large, shallow Dutch oven or large, deep skillet, melt 2 tablespoons dendê oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until softened and fragrant, 1 minute. Add the onion, stir and cook, stirring until translucent, about 2 minutes.
• Increase the heat to high, add the peppers, tomatoes and chile. Season with salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the peppers are softened and any liquid from the tomatoes is beginning to evaporate, 4 minutes.
• Pour in the coconut milk, stir and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens and reduces to a creamy sauce, about 10 minutes. Taste, adjust the salt, if necessary, and stir in 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro.
• Carefully place the prawns in the sauce in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes. Turn the prawns to cook the other sides and add the cod. (Discard any juices in the bowl.) The fish will be partly submerged. Cook until the fish is tender and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Remove from heat, drizzle in the remaining 1 tablespoon dendê oil and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro. Slice the remaining lime into wedges. Serve immediately, with steamed rice and lime wedges for squeezing.

MOQUECA (BRAZIL)

Steps:

• Place the fish in a large non-reactive mixing bowl. In the carafe of a blender, combine the chopped onion, the chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of cilantro, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the lime juice. Blend until smooth in the blender, then pour directly over the fish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan, and once hot, add the julienned onions to the pan and saute, stirring often until translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the minced garlic to the pan and saute for an additional 30 seconds. Pour the fish and the marinade into the saute pan and add the remaining teaspoon of salt, the Piri Piri, and the coconut milk and stir to combine. Once the liquid comes to a boil, dot the top of the pan with the sliced tomatoes and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until the flesh starts to flake, about 10 minutes.
• Remove the cover from the pan and sprinkle the remaining 4 tablespoons of cilantro over the fish. Serve accompanied by steamed white rice.
• Heat a small saute pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to the pan. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and peppers to the pan. Saute, stirring often, until the edges of the garlic start to turn brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the lemon juice to the pan, and remove from the heat.
• Place the contents of the saute pan in a blender and add the salt. Puree the peppers and garlic in the blender until mostly smooth. Drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil through the feed tube of the lid of the blender. Let cool before using, and store refrigerated in an airtight container.

LOBSTER AND SEA BASS MOQUECA STEW

Steps:

• Roughly chop nearly all of the cilantro and parsley, reserving a little of each for garnish. Place the cilantro, parsley, garlic, tomatoes, onions, peppers, salt, pepper, and most of the spring onions (reserve some for garnish) into a large heavy bowl. With a pestle, mash together all ingredients, gradually squeezing in the lime juice.
• Score the sea bass diagonally 3 times on each side. Stuff some of the vegetable-herb mixture into the slits and the inside of each fish and close back together. Cover the lobster halves with the vegetable-herb mixture, reserving about half of the vegetable-herb mixture for later.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange the sea bass and lobster, flesh side down in the hot pan. Cook for 2 minutes, and then pour over the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. After another 2 minutes, turn over the fish and lobster. Add the remainder of the vegetable-herb mixture, and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the fish and lobster are tender and the vegetables are cooked through.
• Transfer to a large serving dish and sprinkle with remaining cilantro, parsley, and spring onions. Ladle dende oil, if using, in a slow circular motion over the top.

MOQUECA (BAHIAN FISH STEW)

Steps:

• First make the fish stock. In a stockpot, combine the shrimp shells; fish heads and scraps; the quartered onion; 1 of the garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed; 4 of the scallions; the bay leaf, and parsley. Add the water, and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat, and just barely simmer for about 2 hours or until the stock is well flavored. Strain, discarding the solids, and reserve. You should have about 5 cups of stock. The stock can be made well ahead of time and refrigerated or frozen until ready to use.
• Place the shrimp, fish steaks and scallops on a deep platter, and sprinkle with lemon juice; lime juice; 1 clove of the garlic, finely chopped; salt, and pepper. Cover and set aside to marinate not less than 1 nor more than 2 hours. Turn the seafood at least once during this time. Rinse and debeard the mussels. Pick over the crab, discarding any bits of shell and cartilage. Reserve the mussels and crab until ready to use.
• In a large stockpot over medium heat, saute the chopped onion; the remaining 6 cloves of garlic, chopped; the remaining scallions, and the bell peppers in olive oil, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are thoroughly wilted, about 10 minutes. Add 2 cups of the strained fish stock, the tomatoes and coriander, and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer very gently for about 1 hour.
• When the sauce has finished cooking, puree in a food processor or pass through a food mill. For a more elegant presentation, strain the resulting puree through a sieve. Return the puree to the stove over very low heat. Stir in the coconut milk, and let cook gently for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the palm oil and stir it in. Taste, and add a little cayenne pepper. Add the marinated seafood along with any juices that may have accumulated. Add the mussels. Cover and simmer until the shellfish have opened and the fish steaks are thoroughly cooked, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the crab meat, stir in, and serve immediately.
• Pass the pepper sauce with the stew. A little spoonful (or more, depending on taste) should be drizzled over each serving.