Italian Fish Stew

May again. The heat is back, right on schedule, like a relative who overstays every visit. Eighty-seven on Tuesday. Ninety on Thursday. The school kitchen was a furnace and LaVerne said, "Dot, we need to talk to maintenance about that vent," and I said, "LaVerne, I have been talking to maintenance about that vent since 2003. The vent is not getting fixed. We are getting through it the way we always do — water, fans, and stubbornness."

Mother's Day is coming and this year I told my children — all of them, including Kayla — that I want one thing: a day in my garden with nobody asking me for anything. No cooking. No phone calls. No "Mama, can you." Just me, the dirt, the plants, and the quiet. Denise said, "You want to spend Mother's Day alone in the garden?" I said, "Baby, I am never alone in the garden. Your daddy is there. Hattie Pearl is there. Willie James is there. The garden is full of people. I just want a day without the living ones interrupting."

She didn't know what to say to that, which is fine. My children don't always understand that a woman who has spent her whole life feeding people sometimes needs to feed only the tomatoes. The tomatoes don't talk back. The tomatoes don't need their laundry done. The tomatoes just grow, and that is all I want to watch on Mother's Day — things growing.

I made shrimp scampi this week, which is another one of those dishes I learned from television and adopted into my Lowcountry kitchen. Butter, garlic (so much garlic that Earl can smell it from the living room and yells, "What are you making?" and I yell back, "Mind your business!"), white wine, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and shrimp. Over angel hair pasta. It takes fifteen minutes, which makes it a weeknight miracle, and it tastes like someone who loves you and also has good taste in wine. I don't drink wine myself — Baptist, remember — but I cook with it, and the Lord and I have an understanding about that.

Brittany called from Jacksonville. She got the pharmacy position in Orlando — the one Patricia was worried about. She starts in July. I said, "Baby, I am so proud of you." She said, "Granny Dot, I just filled out applications." I said, "You filled out applications with a pharmacy degree that you earned, and don't you diminish that." She went quiet. Then she said thank you. Young people need to be told they've done well. They need to hear it out loud, from someone who means it. I meant it.

Now go on and feed somebody.

The scampi started it, but the fish stew is what I keep coming back to on the weeks when life is loud and the kitchen is a furnace and I still want something that tastes like I meant it. Same principles — garlic you can smell from the living room, white wine I cook with and do not drink, a little heat, a little lemon — but with enough body to feel like a real supper. Brittany called right as I was finishing it that Tuesday, and I stood at the stove with the phone tucked against my shoulder, telling her she had done well, and the whole pot just waited on me like it had good sense. That’s the kind of recipe a woman needs.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced (more if you want Earl asking from the living room)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 cup seafood stock or clam juice
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb firm white fish (cod, halibut, or grouper), cut into 2-inch chunks
1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Crusty bread or angel hair pasta, for serving

Instructions

Soften the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
Deglaze with wine. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble and reduce by half, about 2 minutes. Scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan.
Build the broth. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, seafood stock, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and cook for 8 minutes, letting the flavors come together.
Add the fish. Nestle the white fish chunks into the simmering broth. Cook for 4 minutes without stirring, until the fish is just beginning to turn opaque.
Add the shrimp. Add the shrimp to the pot and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until the shrimp are pink and curled and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Do not overcook — the seafood will finish in the residual heat.
Finish and serve. Remove from heat. Stir in the butter and lemon juice until the butter melts and the broth goes glossy. Taste and adjust salt. Scatter parsley over the top and serve immediately with crusty bread for soaking or over angel hair pasta if it’s that kind of night.

Nutrition (per serving)

Italian Fish Stew — A Fifteen-Minute Miracle for the People You Love