salmon stew

Here is a simple stew recipe that makes great use of sofrito. I used salmon, which is a little atypical. You can use chicken (either dark or white meat), beef, ox tails, or another kind of meat. To achieve a thicker, more starchy texture you can add yuca or potatoes.

Ingredients

3 medium salmon fillets (about ¾ to 1 lb) cut into ¾ inch cubes
3 to 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, depending on how much sofrito you use (Spanish works well with the recipe, but Italian, Greek, or Turkish is always nice)
2 to 3 tbsp sofrito
¼ c chopped onion
¼ cup green bell pepper, sliced
1 ají (small, sweet pepper), sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
10 manzanilla olives with pimentos (sliced)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce (if you use the “no salt added” kind, you will probably want to add salt to taste)
1 ½ cans cold water (just use the tomato sauce can to measure the water)
1/2 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
Additional water to boil salmon
Lemon

Instructions

Squeeze about ½ tsp lemon juice into a large saucepan of water, stir, add salmon, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer until salmon is cooked almost thoroughly. Remove salmon (preferably with tongs or a slotted spoon to avoid dragging water and excess fat along with it) and discard water.

Heat olive oil in a large pot (such as a Dutch oven). Add sofrito and stir lightly for about 30 seconds. Add ají, bell pepper, and onion. Stir. Add garlic about a minute later and stir. Cover and let cook for one minute. Add olives, tomato sauce, water, oregano, and bay leaf. Stir. Add salmon and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with rice, beans, and tostones, maduros, and/or yuca.

Oh, I finally made a decent batch of rice. Normally my rice comes out sticky, but this time the grains remained separated and well-defined. After washing the rice, I added a bit of olive oil to it and gave it a good stir to coat all the grains. I suspect that this helped me to achieve a better texture. I added a garlic clove for flavor.