Greek Seafood Stew with Vegetables (p. 114) with Aioli (p. 274)

Okay, it's starting to warm up a little bit here, but I still have soup on the brain. Matt had to work late last night so I was flying solo for dinner -- the perfect chance to make a seafood stew that I knew Matt wouldn't love. (I quartered the recipe so that I wouldn't have leftovers forever.)

Full disclosure: I did leave a couple of potentially "key" ingredients out. Saffron, because it's ridiculously expensive, and anise-flavored liqueur because I've always disliked the flavor of licorice.

Sauté onion in olive oil until soft and then add in carrots, celery, garlic, dried red chili pepper, dried thyme, and a bay leaf.

Throw in a peeled chopped tomato and let everything cook for about 10 more minutes.

Add in water and orange zest and simmer for 20 minutes before adding the fish pieces. I used haddock cut into four nice-sized chunks as well as shrimp. Put in the white fish first and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the shrimp and cook until it has become pink and is fully cooked.

Remove the seafood from the dish and pour a mixture or orange and lemon juice into the liquid base of the stew. Simmer briefly before pouring back over the seafood.

The recipe recommended serving this stew with aioli, which is just garlic mayonnaise. It's also a super quick and easy recipe; just blend together one whole egg, an egg white, and salt. Slowly add olive oil and lemon juice to the mix.

Combine garlic and salt into a paste.

Gently stir the garlic mixture into the mayonnaise until it is well combined.

Then just spoon some on to your stew!

Yum. This stew was lovely. I really enjoyed the large chunks of fish and the delicious shrimp, which made it feel very hearty and filling. There is just a hint of citrus from the zest and juices, and the dollop of aioli gave a tiny bit of creaminess to the dish. I'm glad Matt wasn't here because I didn't have to share.

onion -- $1.29

orange -- $.60

lemon -- $.69

haddock -- $4.14

shrimp -- $3.77

tomato -- $1.17

Total Cost of Greek Seafood Stew with Vegetables: $11.66

($5.83 per serving)

Total Cost of Aioli: Free

(I had everything I needed at home.)