http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/dining/fish-stew.html 2016-10-07 21:46:19 Why Stews Always Beat Steaks A fish stew offers extraordinary flavor for minimal effort. === I think that a stew is more interesting than a steak, whether it’s a beefsteak, a cauliflower steak or a fish steak. In terms of flavor complexity and satisfaction delivered to the diner, a stew always wins, at least for me. The steak is one-dimensional; the stew transcends the sum of its parts. Take this Italianate fish stew. It is not really terribly complex, but simmering a sea bass in a savory broth seasoned with garlic, onion, olive oil, tomato and saffron gives it a lot of pizazz for minimal effort. Cooks around the Mediterranean know this. A simple stew of this sort is standard fare from Barcelona to Bandol, from Marseille to Messina. It’s actually rather easy to put together. Rinse a dozen large clams (or a couple of pounds of mussels). Chop some firm white-fleshed fish fillets, season them with salt, pepper and herbs, and let them marinate while you make the base for the stew. Soften an onion in olive oil and add garlic, tomato and saffron. Add a pinch of hot pepper, some crushed fennel seed and a splash of white wine. Finish making the broth with fish or chicken stock, though water is just fine as long as the broth is well seasoned. Now the hard part is done. (And it wasn’t too hard, was it?) You can make this base several hours ahead of the meal, or even the day before. From this point, dinner is a mere 30 minutes away. Just pop the stew into a hot oven. When the clams have opened and the fish is easy to flake, it is ready. Of course, you could cook the stew on the stovetop, but cooking it in the oven gives it heat from every direction, not just from the bottom of the pot. In my experience, this helps to keep the fish moist. Though it does simmer in the oven, it doesn’t get that “boiled fish” texture, and the broth gains in flavor, too. You’ll want to serve this fish stew with garlic toast. Just toast thick slices of good hearth-baked bread till golden and rub the surface vigorously on one side with a garlic clove. Now dip it into that glorious broth. You can’t do that with steak. Recipe: