Leelanau Fish Stew

This is a hearty country fish stew with some colorful patty pan squash, aborio rice, fresh red tomatoes and herbs. A quart of good homemade chicken stock gives the stew some body, but if you do not have homemade stock, a can of chicken stock can be used.  To the chicken stock add some good fish stock or a bottle of good clam juice.  This gives the stock a wonderful rich body. 

Use several different kinds of fish filets such as perch, wild-caught lake trout or whitefish, or whatever is available from the fishmonger or grocer that day.  The fresh herbs and lemon juice are the key to the delicious flavor of this simple fish stew.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of fresh perch, trout or whitefish filets, skinned and cut into large pieces
1 medium onion peeled and roughly chopped
2 small carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped with the pale green upper leaves reserved
2 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves only chopped
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried crushed chili flakes
1 large can of plum diced plum tomatoes, or 3 large fresh tomatoes chopped
1 quart good homemade chicken stock
1 quart of fish stock, or a bottle of clam juice
1/2 cup of Aborio rice
2 patty pan squash sliced and roughly chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 or 5 leaves of fresh basil finely chopped
juice and zest of one lemon

Directions:

Chop the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and parsley stalks. Heat a splash of olive oil in a saucepan, and add the chopped vegetables, parsley and dried chilli flakes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.  Skin the fish by sliding a sharp knife between skin and the flesh.  Once you get  it started, the skin will peel away.  Cut the fish into large pieces.  Add the rice and bring back to the boil.  Next put the tomatoes, the patty pan squash and the fish pieces into the hot broth. Simmer for 15 minutes, just until the fish has poached and flakes apart when prodded with a fork. Gently break up the flakes of fish through the soup, taste and season with pepper, salt and some freshy squeezed lemon juice. Chop the parsley, celery leaves and fresh basil and scatter over the soup. Drizzle with a little more extra virgin olive oil.