Peppercrab Stew

“‘I’d work in your castle, milord. I can clean fish and bake bread, and churn butter. Father says my peppercrab stew is the best he’s ever tasted. You could find me a place in your kitchens and I could make you peppercrab stew.'” (A Clash of Kings)

Peppercrab Stew

Our Thoughts:

We bought these crab at the local market, using feminine wiles to coax a few more crab legs out of the fishmonger’s stall into our bag, free of charge. Imitation crab meat can be used for the faint of heart, or if fresh or frozen crabs are not available- although demolishing the crabs by hand and harvesting the succulent meat is half the fun! Our recipe makes a hearty, fiery crab stew, suitable to warm you from the inside out on even the coldest of days on the Iron Isles.

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Sister’s Stew

“The beer was brown, the bread black, the stew a creamy white. She served it in a trencher hollowed out of a stale loaf. It was thick with leeks, carrots, barley, and turnips white and yellow, along with clams and chunks of cod and crabmeat, swimming in a stock of heavy cream and butter. It was the sort of stew that warmed a man right down to his bones, just the thing for a wet, cold night...”

-A Dance with Dragons

Sister’s Stew

Our Thoughts

Ohmygoodness. This stew is exactly as good as it sounds in the book. Where to even begin describing it?

The vegetables are wonderful, and add a welcome splash of color that is absent from many seafood chowders. Your brain will think the turnips are potatoes, and the sliced leeks separate in the mix such that every bite is bursting with both veg and fish. Despite the vast quantities of fish that went into the stew, it did not taste overly fishy. Instead, the seafood flavors melt into the creamy broth, mingling with the aromatic garlic and the very subtle hint of saffron.

We served ours in a loaf of black bread, which adds so many additional complex flavors that we found ourselves spooning up more and more to try and experience them all.

Definitely a keeper, and a must try recipe that’s now in the cookbook!!

Thick Stew of Mussels, Crabs, and 3 kinds of Fish

“The food was plain, but very good; there were loaves of crusty bread still warm from the ovens, crocks of fresh-churned butter, honey from the septry’s hives, and a thick stew of crabs, mussels, and at least three different kinds of fish. Septon Meribald and Ser Hyle drank the mead the brothers made, and pronounced it excellent, whilst she and Podrick contented themselves with more sweet cider.” -A Feast for Crows

Modern Fish Chowder

Thoughts

For this dish I opted for a hearty New England style fish chowder. I threw together a couple of different recipes, tweaked them to suit, and this is the incredibly tasty result!

One bite of this modern stew will make you forget the effort that went into creating it. This is the earthly realization of platonic fish chowder. We asked the guests at our dinner table to give their thoughts, but only received grunts of approval and moaned delight. Imagine yourself eating this meal in a tranquil sept on an island, savoring the hearty broth in peace while chaos rages around you. Imagine that, because eating this stew can transport you out of your everyday life.

Part of the challenge of food blogging is making the photos show just how delicious the dish is, and that’s often done with atmosphere. The building in the photo is a perfect stand-in for the Sept from the books. In reality, it’s a gutted and abandoned church near where my parents used to live, in West Boyleston, MA. I drove by the place once, and immediately knew I would have to use it for a photo. I must have been quite a sight as I made my way down the embankment, folding table, dishware, food, and camera all teetering precariously. But the photo made it all worth it, and I got a great picnic lunch, to boot!

Modern Fish Stew Recipe

Ingredients

1.5 oz salt pork or thick cut bacon, diced
1 lb potatoes (about 2 medium), chopped into 1/2″ cubes
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1.5 lb fish (we used salmon, haddock, and cod), about 2 fish or 4 fillets, cut into 1″ chunks
2 c water
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz can evaporated milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
~1/2-1 cup crab meat (imitation is fine, and cheaper!)
around a dozen mussels (ours were precooked)

Place 1/2 lb fish (about 1 fillet) in a pot with 2 c cold water. Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes.

While that is cooking, fry up the salt pork over medium heat. Once the bits are beginning to turn crispy and brown, add the diced potato. Cook 5 minutes over medium-high, stirring frequently. By now the fish broth should be done, so add it and the fish to the potato, then spread the remaining cubed fish atop this mess. Let this burble for about 10 minutes on medium-high.

At this point, if your pan won’t hold an additional 3 cups of liquid, transfer everything to a larger pot. Add heavy cream, evaporated milk, salt & pepper, crab meat, and whole mussels still in the shell. Bring to just under a boil, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer about an hour.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with additional pepper. To really round out the meal, serve it with the other original components from the book: crusty fresh bread with butter and honey, mead, and cider.