Bouillabaisse, kind of

French for a fish and vegetable stew. i had a bunch of vegetables in the crisper, and felt like eating some fish, so this is what came to mind. key flavors from fennel & saffron. probably lots of variations out there. this was mine. a long list of ingredients.

a medium onion, sliced
4 shallots, halved
a medium eggplant, in large chunks
a small zucchini, about quarter inch slices
half a bulb of fennel, sliced. save a few pieces of the fronds for the seasonings
a small container of mushrooms, washed, stems trimmed, but left whole
a red pepper, 1 inch pieces
about a cup and a half of fish or shrimp stock (i use a good quality cube dissolved in hot water)
about 3 tbs of tomato sauce
evoo
about a pound and a half of firm fish, monkfish is great, in big chunks, like an inch and a half or so
season with: a pinch of saffron, some of the fronds from the fennel top, about a tbs of chopped fresh mint, a good pinch of thyme, salt & pepper

prep all the vegetables, cut the fish into chunks, prepare the fish stock.
i used a 9" non stick skillet to get some color on the veggies first, one at a time, dumping them into a big bowl as they finished. then put it all together in a large saute pan with a lid.

so in the skillet, on medium high heat, with a liitle evoo, brown the eggplant, peppers, onions, shallots, mushrooms, zukes, one at a time. doesn't matter what order. keep the pan hot, use as little evoo as possible, you want color on them, but you don't want to completely cook them through in the skillet, otherwise you will have mush later on. when you are finished with the veggies, you should have a big bowl of them and basically no liquid. while you are standing there doing one veggie after another, that's a good time for a cocktail in between batches.

now in your big saute pan, heat a couple of tbs of evoo. put in 2-3 sliced garlic cloves. after a minute of sizzling, add the fish, stir to coat with the oil. after another minute, add the vegetables right on top. add the seasonings. make sure the pan is still hot. add enough fish stock to cover about half the depth of the contents. DON'T cover everything with stock; you're not making soup. add the tomato sauce. give the pan a good shake or stir to mix it all well. cover and simmer for about 5 minutes more. that's it. it only takes a few minutes to finish the fish and vegetables. remove from the heat, let it sit uncovered for a few minutes. then serve.

you could serve it with couscous, or rice i guess. i served it over some crusty bread in the bottom of my serving bowl. this would feed 4-5 people as a first course; 2 or 3 as a main dish.