Creating a new recipe may involve borrowing from a well-loved classic, using some of its culinary building blocks—and then reshaping it.
Start with Chicken Marbella from the wonderful Silver Palate Cookbook, for example. Replace chicken with fish, change the format to a stew, and add a new herb variation that includes the nutritionally powerful thyme and rosemary. Remove the dried fruit, add cannellini beans for plant-based protein and pre-biotic power, and, finally, add the sweetness of balsamic glaze, as well as the unique flavor—and detoxifying properties—of pomegranate molasses. Voilà! A new invention!
Ingredients
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 3 (or more) cloves garlic, minced
- Powdered rosemary (1/2 tsp) and dried basil (1-2 tsp)
- 1- 1 &1/2 cups chopped bell peppers, green and red
- EVOO
- Grapeseed oil (GMO-free, in glass container)
- ¼ cup shallots
- Additional 3-5 tsp rosemary and thyme, both fresh, minced
- 1/3-1/2 cup bottled roasted red pepper, chopped
- 20-40 small organic, bottled Kalamata olives
- 3 small-medium red potatoes (organic if possible), chopped in ½ inch cubes
- ½-2/3 cup Pinot Grigio or similar dry white wine (example “La Vieille Ferme” [2018] from France)
- 14 oz. can diced tomatoes (or greater amount, to taste)
- 1/2 cup tomato paste and/or sun-dried tomatoes, drained
- Vegetable or organic chicken bone broth/stock – 2-3 cups, to correct, stew-like consistency
- 1 can organic white/cannellini beans
- 1 – 1 & ½ pounds of fresh fish (such as hake and halibut), cut into 1 – 1 and ½ inch chunks
- 2 tsp balsamic glaze
- 1 tsp pomegranate molasses
Optional Additions and Substitutions
- Fresh lemon
- Scallops (instead of hake/equivalent)
- Fresh tomatoes
- Additional diced carrots for sauté #1
- Additional marjoram (1/2 tsp) for sauté #1
Preparation
Sauté the onion, garlic and dried herbs in EVOO and canola oil in a medium-size stew pot for about 4 minutes. Add the chopped potato and sauté for an additional 5-7 minutes in additional EVOO. Add bell pepper and sauté another 1-2 minutes.
Sauté shallots (with EVOO and grapeseed oil) in a separate pan for 3 minutes. Add fish and sauté for another 4 minutes, adding olives and fresh herbs. Deglaze with white wine, adding diced tomatoes toward end of deglazing.
Add the second sauté to the first, adding in all the remaining ingredients, adjusting herbs, balsamic glaze and pomegranate molasses and stock/bone broth at the end. (If bone broth is used, you’ll have additional “leaky gut syndrome” protection.)