Fish Stew

Packed with monkfish, gurnard, scallops, and mussels in a rich, saffron-spiced broth, Nathan Outlaw’s Fish Stew is a seafood lover’s dream. Served with crispy garlic croûtes and spicy anchovy mayo, it’s bold, hearty, and bursting with flavour!

Ingredients

1 monkfish tail, about 1.5kg, bone removed and reserved, trimmed of sinews
2 gurnard, 600g each, filleted (heads and bones reserved)
8 large or 16 medium scallops, shelled and cleaned
40 live mussels, de-bearded and rinsed
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 rosemary sprig, leaves picked and chopped
Zest of 1 lemon (microplaned)
100ml light olive oil
1 large cod head, cleaned
300ml white wine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the stew

2 onions, peeled and sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 fennel bulbs, finely chopped
2 red peppers, cored, deseeded and sliced
½ tsp dried chili flakes
Zest and juice of ½ orange (zest microplaned)
A big pinch of saffron strands
3 bay leaves
1 rosemary sprig
50g tomato purée
8 ripe tomatoes, chopped

To serve

1 large baguette
Light rapeseed oil for frying
1 garlic clove, halved
Spicy anchovy mayonnaise (recipe below)

Anchovy Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks
Pinch saffron strands
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 salted anchovies in oil
Juice of ½ lemon
400ml olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Print Recipe

Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 165°C fan.
Cut the monkfish into 8 equal chunks. Halve each gurnard fillet to give 8 pieces. Put the monkfish, gurnard, scallops and mussels into a bowl and add the garlic, rosemary, lemon zest, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix carefully, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.
To make the stock, line a roasting tray with a sheet of baking parchment. Lay the cod head and reserved fish heads and bones on the paper and roast for 25 minutes. Turn them over and roast for another 25 minutes.
Place the tray over a medium heat on the hob. Add the wine, stirring and scraping to deglaze. Simmer for 5 minutes, then tip everything into a big cooking pot and add water to cover. Bring to the boil and skim off any impurities from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat another large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. When its hot add the onions, garlic, fennel and red peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes. Now add the chilli flakes, orange zest, saffron, bay and rosemary and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes and the orange juice. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Pour the stock through a sieve onto the vegetables and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
In the meantime, cut the baguette into thin slices. Heat a 1cm depth of rapeseed oil in a wide pan. When hot, shallow-fry the bread slices until golden on both sides. Drain the croûtes on kitchen paper, rub with the cut surface of the garlic and season with salt.
Add the monkfish to the stew base and cook for 1 minute, then add the gurnard and mussels and cook for another 2 minutes. Finally add the scallops and cook for 1 minute.
Serve the stew in the center of the table with the croûtes and spicy anchovy mayonnaise on the side.

Anchovy Mayonnaise

Place all the ingredients except the olive oil into a blender or small food processor and blitz for 1 minute.
With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil through the funnel until you have a mayonnaise consistency.
Season and scrape into a bowl.
Serve with the fish stew and croûtes.