Chilean Sea Bass & Mussels in a Tomato Broth

I was lucky enough this week to get my hands on some fantastic Ocean Wise Chilean Sea Bass. If you live in Canada, I’m sure you have seen this symbol next the seafood offerings on a lot of menus. Created by the Vancouver Aquarium, Ocean Wise is a program designed to educate about the problems surrounding sustainable seafood. For more information, please visit http://www.oceanwise.ca/about/sustainable-seafood. Over fishing & environmental destruction are such a massive problem that for me, it’s easy to get behind any type of program that promotes environmentally responsible practices. Even in a landlocked city such as Calgary, Ocean Wise products are becoming more readily available for consumers. You can visit Orca Fish Company at the Kingsland Farmer’s Market in Calgary to find a lot of Ocean Wise seafood.

The recipe I’m showing here today is in my opinion, a simple yet delicious option to complement the subtle taste of this fantastic fish. It’s a great vehicle for preparing any seafood in a quick and easy way that highlights the value of simplicity. You can make this with any combination you like, keeping in mind that it is prepared as a seafood stew and you should choose fish that is firm and will withstand the cooking method. Halibut, catfish & cod are great options. Also, if choosing to add more types of seafood, add them in stages according to what will need a longer cooking time to the shortest time needed, ie. Mussels only need to open fully and should be added last. For more detailed information please feel free to drop me a line.

	Chilean Sea Bass & Mussels in a Tomato Broth
	For the tomato broth:
	2 tbsp	Vegetable oil
	1/2	Onions, small diced
	3	Celery stalk, small diced
	1/2	Small fennel bulb, small diced
	3	Garlic cloves, minced
	2 tbsp	Fresh thyme, chopped
	1/2 cup	White wine (drinking quality)
	1/2 cup	Fish stock (substitute with vegetable stock)
	2 cups	Diced tomatoes, canned
	to taste	Kosher salt
	to taste	Black pepper
	1.5 lbs	Chilean sea bass, cut into large pieces
	1lb	Mussels, washed & de-bearded
	to taste	Cilantro, chopped
	Directions:
	1. Heat up the vegetable oil on medium heat.
	2. Add the onion, celery & fennel. Sweat veg. until soft.
	3. add garlic & thyme. Cook until aromatic.
	4. Deglaze with wine & reduce wine by half.
	5. Add the fish stock & bring to the boil. Reduce by half.
	6. Add the diced tomatoes. When broth comes to the boil, reduce heat to gentle simmer.
	7. Adjust seasoning as needed.
	8. Add the sea bass pieces into the broth. Simmer gently until the fish starts to become firm.
	9. Add the mussels, cover with a lid, and cook until the mussels open up fully.
	10. Finish with freshly chopped cilantro to serve.
	*Optional: add small diced jalapeños when sweating the veggies for a touch of heat.

My Last Meal!

If I could eat just one thing before dying, it would be Gallo en Chicha. A traditional Salvadorean dish, slow braised rooster (using mature chicken in the recipe here), in a rich sweet & sour tomato broth, perfectly balanced. Every time I eat it I’m reminded of my grandma, sitting at her table for some epic family meals. Thankfully, my grandma shared her recipe with my mom and after moving to Canada, this was yet one more thing to remind us of El Salvador. This dish is rustic, flavourful, soulful and just straight up, my epitome of comfort food. I can think of no better introduction than to share with you my favorite thing to eat in the world.

Mature chicken, and even rooster, if you’re feeling adventurous enough to try this, are a little bit difficult to find but not impossible. For both, I would suggest contacting your local butcher or meat provider and get them to check with their sales reps, usually a little bit of a higher price but it’s definitely worth it. The reasons you want to use an older bird are simply texture and flavour. The muscles are stronger and can withstand a longer marinating and cooking time and can develop a deeper flavour because of it. For those of you that are willing to go through the extra steps to find the necessary birds, I can assure you that it’s worth it. Now, if you would like to try this dish with the much younger birds found at your local grocery store I would suggest skipping the marinating process altogether and going straight to the braise.

With many of the recipes that you will find on this site, unless baking, the ingredient amounts are more of a guideline. We all have different palates and have preferences to different flavours. In this dish, the main thing you are looking for in regards to flavour, is a balance between the sweet, the sour and the salty. My suggestion for this, play with the amount of prunes, manzanillo olives & capers before adjusting seasoning with salt and pepper.

Most of the ingredients on this recipe should be easy to find except for dulce de panela, an unrefined whole cane sugar, obtained from the boiling and evaporation of sugar cane juice. You can find this at your local Latin American market, in Calgary you can look for it at Unimarket or La Tiendona.