Seafood waterzooi

This Belgian style fish stew is a great winter warmer. A bit like potato and leek soup with fish in it, I put smoked eel in this one (which I get from Paul Utting, of Cambridge's Wednesday Fish Van, near Stir Café). Serves three.

300g baby potatoes, cut into thick oval chunks
1 large leek, sliced into coins
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 onion, roughly chopped
big handful fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
400g mixed seafood
600ml vegetable stock
100ml cream or milk
butter
rapeseed oil
Salt and white pepper to taste

Heat butter with a bit of oil (to prevent burning) in a big heavy pan. Add the garlic, then sauté the leeks until just done, then remove them and set them aside.
In the same pan, sauté the onion, then add the carrot. When coated with the infused butter/oil, add the potatoes, then the stock.
Bring to a simmer, and add the potatoes. Part-cover and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add a big pinch of white pepper, the cream, and the seafood (and in order of required cooking time) and cover. When just done, add the reserved leeks and the parsley, stir in another knob of butter (optional, for added richness/gloss - if using cream you probably don't need to), and ladle into warmed bowls. Serve with crusty bread and maybe chilled Belgian blonde beer.

Waterzooi

Recently in Bruges we tried the famous Belgian fish (or chicken) stew, washed down with Bruges Zot, the great local beer. The fish version can be made with any combination of available white fish, mussels, shrimp and eels. Here's my version:

Serves two

Ingredients

300g fish fillets, prepared and cut into large chunks
8 small waxy potatoes, scrubbed
100 ml cream
550 ml vegetable stock
15g butter
small handful of flour
1 leek, sliced finely
celery, cut into julienne
carrot, cut into julienne
1 white onion, finely sliced
1 handful of fresh tarragon and flat leaf parsley
Juice of half a lemon
salt and white pepper to taste

Method

Make the vegetable stock and leave to cool (I'll post a recipe for vegetable stock sometime - if you're stuck, use a good quality bought stock)
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the potatoes for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
Clean the pan, put in the butter and flour and stir constantly over a medium heat to make a roux. Gradually add a little of the stock, stirring to make the basis of the sauce. It should start to thicken after a few minutes. Add the vegetables (not the potatoes) and lemon juice, mix well, then add the rest of the stock.
Simmer for ten minutes then add the potatoes and fish. Cook covered for just a few minutes until the fish is just done, stirring gently so as not to break up the fish too much.
Using a draining spoon, arrange the fish chunks and potatoes in warm bowls.
Add the herbs and cream to the remaining sauce and vegetables, stir well, then pour over the fish and potatoes.

If you're using mussels, cook them separately in a pan, covered, with a splash of white wine (or Belgian beer) for a couple of minutes, shaking the pan. Discard any that don't open. Set them and their cooking liquor aside and add them to the main dish near the end, when you arrange the fish in the bowls.