Seafood Stew

4.58 from 7 votes

Our Seafood Stew is a delightful combination of shrimp, crab legs, scallops, salmon and halibut in a savory tomato based broth with a variety of spices and veggies. Serve this flavorful stew with crusty sourdough bread to mop up that broth!

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 20

Total Time1 50

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bouillabaisse, cioppino, crab and fish stew, fish and crab stew, mixed seafood stew, seafood soup, seafood stew, seafood stew with crab, soup with seafood

Servings: servings

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

For the broth:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 medium fennel bulb chopped
¼ cup chopped fennel fronds
¼ chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
5-6 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 bay leaf
5 sprigs fresh thyme
½ teaspoon saffron threads crushed and soaked in 1/4 cup of hot water
1 cups white wine
2 14-ounce cans diced tomatoes
4 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cups chicken stock
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Seafood:

1 pound shrimp medium or large peeled and deveined
1 pound mussels
4 cooked crab legs
⅓ pound scallops
⅓ pound skinless halibut fillet or other firm white fish, cut into 1-inch pieces
⅓ pound skinless salmon fillet cut into 1-inch pieces

Instructions

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, fennel, and fennel fronds. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to brown, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the parsley, garlic, lemon zest, bay leaf, thyme, and saffron along with the soaking liquid. Add the wine and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, uncovered.
Add the mussels and cook over medium heat until they are all open, about 3 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, crab legs, scallops, halibut and salmon. Cook another 3-5 minutes until the fish is cooked. (Discard any mussels that did not open.) Remove from heat and serve with hot garlic bread and a salad.

Notes

When choosing the fish for this seafood stew you should choose a firm-fleshed fish such as halibut, sea bass, cod, swordfish or mahi-mahi. Fish that is tender and flaky will fall apart in the stew. Examples of flaky fish that will fall apart are: tilapia, smelt, snapper, and tuna. Salmon is a medium texture fish and has a tendency to fall apart if it is cooked well-done. If you use salmon, add it last.
Saffron is expensive but you only need a small amount to make a big impact on the flavor. There is no point in using it if you don't prepare it correctly. To release the flavor of the saffron, crush it with a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder then let it soak in hot water for at least 10 minutes. If you can't find saffron you can substitute it with turmeric. However, turmeric will not give you the same unique, floral flavor that saffron imparts.
We usually shell the shrimp but if you leave the shells on then they will impart more flavor to the dish.
Inspect the mussels closely and give them a good sniff with your nose. They should not smell fishy. Fresh mussels have a clean, ocean smell. Toss out mussels that have broken shells. Toss out dead mussels. If any mussels are open give them a tap and wait a few seconds. Live mussels should close within a few seconds after you tap them.
Store leftovers in the fridge for 2 days. Re-heating the stew can over-cook the seafood and make it tough. To reheat, place it on the stovetop over medium-low heat and heat it just until the seafood is heated through.
Another option for reheating this stew is to transfer as much of the seafood as possible to a large bowl then add the broth to a saucepan over medium-high until hot. Turn the heat off and add the seafood, cover the pot and let the stew sit for 5 minutes before serving.
This stew can be frozen but we don't recommend it. It is so much better eaten right after you make it. If you do decide to freeze the leftovers, let it thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Nutrition