A simple Scandi-inspired dish with oodles of flavour that’s perfect for those wintery evenings with a cooking time of circa 30 minutes.
The stew itself is a combination of trusty root veggies with a few herbs, topped with a piece of fish, creme fraiche and a dill infused fennel slaw for added crunch.
Change the fish as you see fit or swap it for an alternative protein.
I have previously used the base and added leftover roasted chicken to it. It’d also work with some smoked tofu or a few chickpeas if you are looking for a plant-based version.
It’s a versatile dish so make it your own.
Ingredients for 4 portions
For the stew:
1/2 medium celeriac, peeled & cubed (300g approximately)
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced (220g approximately)
400g new potato, washed and cut in half
Leaves from a sprig of rosemary, finely chopped, (1 tablespoon approximately)
Leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme, (1 heaped tablespoon approximately)
3 heaped tablespoons of tomato purée
1 stock cube, any kind
Oil for cooking
Sea salt and black pepper to season
4x fish fillets of any kind, I used lightly smoked salmon
1 pot of full-fat creme fraiche
For the fennel slaw
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch of dill, leaves only (substitute for parsley if dill isn’t your thing)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Sea salt and black pepper to season
Method:
To make the stew, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
Add the celeriac, potato and carrot and saute for 5 minutes, until the veggies are beginning to colour.
Add the herbs, stock cube and tomato purée and cook for a further minute, stirring occasionally.
Season really well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Pour in enough water to just cover the veggies and allow it to simmer gently, without a lid, until the veg are cooked through. This will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
The sauce will thicken up as the stew cooks. Give it a stir every now and then to stop the bottom from catching.
Taste the stew and add more sea salt and black pepper if needed.
Whilst the stew is cooking, make the fennel slaw.
Simply combine all of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper and set aside. This won’t taste of much by itself but it does come into its own once combined with the rest of the dish.
Cook the fish fillets either by pan-frying them or by preheating the oven to 180 degrees C and baking them for 10-minutes or so. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
If you are unsure how to cook fish, there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere on the tinterweb. Give it a Google.
To plate, add 1-2 ladles of the stew to a pasta bowl. Top with a fish fillet, a tablespoon of creme fraiche and a tablespoon of the fennel slaw.
Note: this dish doesn’t freeze well, but the stew will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and the fennel slaw for up to 2 days.