Fish Stew (Moroccan Tagine)

Submitted by Nasseh

"This is a simple dish to make with a lot of flavor. Any of these firm white-fleshed fish can be used in this tagine; sea bass, stripped bass, red snapper, porgy, halibut, cod, haddock, or pollack. I adjusted the amount of lemon juice in this recipe after the reviews said it was too much. Thanks for the great input."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• Charmoula

• 59.14 ml cilantro, finely chopped
• 59.14 ml parsley, finely chopped
• 3-4 medium garlic cloves
• 29.58 ml white vinegar
• 59.14 ml lemon juice
• 4.92 ml paprika
• 1.23 ml cumin
• 1.23 ml coriander
• 0.25 ml cayenne pepper (optional)

• Tagine

• 907.18 g firm white fish fillets
• 3-4 carrots
• 2 potatoes
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• 2 sweet green peppers
• 2 medium garlic cloves, chopped
• 22.18 ml tomato paste
• 59.14 ml lemon juice
• 59.14 ml canola oil
• 118.29 ml water

directions

1. Charmoula:

2. Blend the herbs together in a bowl with the garlic & vinegar until pasty. Stir in the lemon juice & spices.

3. Tagine:

4. Cut the fish into 2 inch pieces. Rub each piece with the charmoula & then place into the bowl to marinate (at least 30 minutes).
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
6. Slice the carrots in half down the middle. Peel the potatoes & slice thinly. Slice the tomatoes crosswise. Remove the seeds from the peppers & slice into large pieces. Set aside --
7. Place the carrots across the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan (fat end, skinny end, fat end, etc). This becomes a sort of bed for the fish, keeping it from sticking to the bottom & assuring that there is always sauce underneath to give it flavor.
8. Arrange the fish on top of the carrots. Dip the sliced potatoes into the charmoula & spread over the fish. Repeat with tomatoes & peppers. Sprinkle the garlic over the vegetables.
9. Mix the remaining charmoula with the tomato paste, lemon juice, oil, & water. Pour this over the vegetables.
10. Cover with aluminum foil & bake 35 minutes. Remove the cover. Raise the oven heat to the highest setting & move the pan to the uppermost shelf of the oven. Bake additional 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked & a nice crust has formed over the vegetables.
11. Serve warm, not hot.

Reviews

[echo echo]

I'm trying to make fish my number one non-vegetable protein source in my weekly menu, and am very excited to add this wonderful recipe to my fish repertoire. I LOVE sour and I though the charmoula was just superb. I also used olive oil rather than canoula and halibut for the fish. I precooked the potatoes briefly in the microwave before slicing and adding to this dish as I was afraid they might not be cooked when the fish was done. I don't know if that was a legitimate worry, but at any rate the way I did it turned out great!

 

[French Tart]

Excellent! A really superb fish tagine recipe - the Chermoula making it extra special and very authentic! I used monk fish for my fish - they were superb in this dish as they hold their shape during cooking.I used olive oil in place of canola oil and cut back a little bit on the lemon juice. Other than that, this recipe was made as posted. A delicious change from my usual chicken, lamb or beef tagine. We ate this with couscous and cajik - Turkish cucumber and yoghurt dip alongside pitta bread. Made for NA*ME Tagine Treasure Hunt 2008. FT:-)

 

[Rinshinomori]

We really enjoyed this fish stew very much. I am not familiar with tagine or Moroccan food and it is a new taste experience for us. And maybe because it is such a new experience for us, I found the overall taste a bit too sour. Next time, I plan not to add the additional 1/3 C lemon juice to the dish. The first 1/3 C lemon juice in the Charmoula sauce was enough for us. Another minor change I plan to make next time is addition of tiny amount of sweetness to the dish. Maybe a smidgen of sugar to counteract the sourness. I made the mistake of not slicing the potatoes thinly enough and had to cook the dish much longer than was shown. It is important to slice the potatoes paper thin to cook within the timeline shown. I was not sure what to serve with this dish and made both plain white rice and garlic toast. The rich broth of this dish was very good for dipping garlic bread and rice worked out equally well. I am so glad I tried this recipe and will be making it again with some minor modifications for our taste preference. Thank you for posting this wonderful recipe.