Breakfast
October 20th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Posted in breakfast
It only gets better after a few days in the fridge
Leftover Brazilian fish stew with tilapia and coconut milk.
Preparation time: 10 minutes to heat
Shopping: none
We still have a pot of this incredible stew left over from last week. I was inspired to make this at home after it was the subject of our food appreciation classes. My only real change to the original recipe was to use fresh hot peppers from the garden–of which we now have a bowl full sitting on the kitchen counter–instead of bottled red pepper flakes. Still featured is the dende or palm oil, which gives the stew its distinctive color and flavor.
The stew only gets better,the flavors more developed, after sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. What a way to start the day.
One of the reasons we like this stew so much is because it makes perfect use of farmed tilapia, an otherwise fairly boring fish. Tilapia farmed here in the U.S. are an excellent choice. We look for tilapia from Ecuador second. We try to avoid tilapia from Asia, following the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program, which takes a dim view of the chemicals frequently used in Asian aquaculture.
We also like tilapia because it is a vegetarian fish and (we thought) does not require hunting other wild fish for feed. But look out. Here comes Marc Rumminger on the Ethicurean blog with a two-part story citing recent studies that suggest all tilapia may not be created equal because some are getting fish in their feed mix, especially in China. Stay tuned….
I have a good friend who’s been diabetic since he was a kid and soup is what’s for breakfast for him every. single. day. Not bad, soup!
And thanks for that stew recipe. Believe it or not, I know someone out here who has greenhouses like ours and one greenhouse has a tank of tilapia in it. They like it warmer than the greenhouse gets in winter (thus requiring unsustainable supplemental heat) so they’re phasing out the tilapia and raising lake trout instead. Mmm! Lake trout! Anyway, I have a few fillets of the tilapia in the freezer and this seems such a perfect recipe for them, so thanks, Ed. The girl and I are alone for dinner tonight and it’s a fish night!
El, if you decide to make this fish stew and can’t find the dende, try substituting paprika.