Monday again. How does this keep happening? I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing it could just be the weekend forever. Maybe this will be the week I FINALLY hit that lottery jackpot! Anyway, The Hubs and I had a nice weekend of tooling around the house and just relaxing. I think the holiday/birthday bonanza has finally passed in full, and its nice to just take a weekend off and regroup. Of course, relaxing for me always means trying some new recipes!
A while ago a friend of mine asked me if I knew anything good to do with lobster. I sent her a bouillabaisse recipe and haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. This recipe is a little different, in that, it doesn’t have any lobster, but it still incorporates a ton of delicious seafood! This is a great special occasion dish. With Valentines day coming up, maybe stay in and cook dinner instead of going out!
Thai-Coconut Bouillabaisse recipe from Cooking Light
- Cooking spray
- 1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (reserve shells)
- 1 cup chopped celery, divided
- 1 cup chopped carrot, divided
- 1 cup chopped onion, divided
- 2 1/2 cups cold water
- 3Â black peppercorns
- 1Â bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
- 1/2 cup chopped tomato
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon red curry paste
- 4 (2 x 1/2–inch) lime rind strips
- 1Â (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk
- 12Â littleneck clams, scrubbed
- 12Â mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1Â (6-ounce) skinned halibut fillet or other lean white fish fillet, cut into 1-inch pieces
- Lime wedges (optional)
1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shrimp shells to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 cup carrot, and 1/2 cup onion to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in 2 1/2 cups water, peppercorns, and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain mixture through a sieve over a bowl; discard solids.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining 1/2 cup celery, 1/2 cup carrot, and 1/2 cup onion to pan; cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add bell pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomato, garlic, curry paste, and rind; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in broth mixture and coconut milk; bring to a boil. Add clams and mussels. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 2 minutes or until clams and mussels open. Remove from heat; discard any unopened shells. Stir in shrimp, basil, and remaining ingredients except lime wedges. Cover and let stand 5 minutes or until shrimp and halibut are done. Discard lime rind. Place 2 clams and 2 mussels in each of 6 bowls. Divide shrimp and fish evenly among bowls. Ladle 2/3 cup broth mixture over each serving. Serve with lime wedges, if desired.
A little note on unusual ingredients (such as red curry paste) These types of ingredients are often more readily available than you might think. Take a few minutes to really look around the asian or ethnic food isles in your regular supermarket. You’d be surprised at how large of a selection they carry. Also, if you can’t easily get an ingredient don’t give up! Just google a substitute for whatever you’re looking for!
cakebrain says
You don’t realize how much I want to eat this right now! I have a hankering for a great big bowl of this! It looks even better than the bouillabaise I get at fancy restaurants!
Mary @ Delightful Bitefuls says
This looks silly delicious!!!! Love the color!
Great blog; happy I found you!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls
Nancy says
OMG this was the best! I bought already-peeled shrimp with tails on, so I didn’t have the skins for making the broth. Instead I saved the tails of the fish and threw in a few jolts of fish sauce to compensate. The store I buy my fish at didn’t have little neck clams, so I guess I used regular neck clams. And, I had green mussels and used them. All that said, it was delicious and would have been if I had just followed the recipe. The flavors were amazing. We all loved it.