Sunday Night Supper: Cioppino (Seafood Stew) and Pumpkin Granola

This Sunday was quite similar to last Sunday… did some yoga, did some organizing, but other than that, I was quite lazy:)  Since completing the marathon a few weeks ago, I’ve been somewhat (okay, very) excited to reclaim my weekends and not spend them recovering from running crazy long distances.  I’ll be honest… I go crazy if I don’t run, but after clocking 8 miles on Saturday, I realized how nice it was to not have to take a nap after.  And to not be too sore for yoga the next day.

But anywho, I took a few minutes to decide what I was really craving and I decided upon seafood (remember how much I love fish).  Seafood that would reheat well.  In a stew.  So normally, I would mix up which cookbooks I use… I rarely use the same one in the same month, let alone two weeks in a row, but when I saw this recipe in Ellie Krieger’s So Easy, I knew it was exactly what I wanted.

Cioppino (Seafood Stew)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes (if you use no-salt-added, then also use ¾ teaspoon of salt when you add the pepper)
1 cup water (or fish stock)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ pound scallops
½ pound skinless halibut fillet, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1.      Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.

2.      Add the garlic, thyme, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, an additional 1 minute. Stir in the tomato paste.

3.      Add the wine, bring to a boil, and cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes.

4.      Add the tomatoes with their juices and the fish stock or water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and pepper. (This base may be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

5.      If necessary, when ready to serve, reheat the soup base on the stovetop, and bring to a boil. Add the shrimp, scallops, and halibut. Reduce the heat and simmer, until everything is just cooked, about 5 minutes.

 6.      Divide among 4 bowls (or 2 and refrigerate the leftovers) and garnish with the parsley.

Look, I even included nutritional info for once!

Nutritional Info Per Serving: Calories 440, Total Fat 8g (Sat Fat 1.5g, Mono Fat 3.5g, Poly Fat 2g), Protein 40g, Carb 36g, Fiber 4g, Cholesterol 125 mg, Sodium 1100 mg

*Original recipe can be located in Ellie Krieger’s So Easy.

Now the original recipe included a loaf of whole wheat Italian bread to be served with the stew.  But now’s as good of a time as any to mention how much I love garlic.  However, I’m not really a fan of garlic bread with my pasta as I feel it detracts from the main event.  But alongside seafood stew, that’s another story.  And I decided the bread needed to be dressed up a bit, so I quickly whipped a very quick, easy garlic bread.  Which can easily be customized to any flavor palate as one could easily throw in some oregano, goat cheese, etc.!

Simple Garlic Bread

Ingredients

1 loaf whole wheat Italian bakery bread

6 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup olive oil

Directions

1.      Preheat broiler.  Slice the bread and arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Combine the garlic and olive oil, and brush onto the bread slices.

2.      Broil until the tops are just starting to brown, about 3-5 minutes.

Serving suggestion:)

Moving onto dessert… at dinner on Saturday, Sarah had told me how she’d been cooking a lot lately, and had just whipped up some pumpkin granola.  I had some pumpkin to use up, and have made my pumpkin muffins/pumpkin bread multiple times since the chili cook-off, so I thought, “ohhh, something new!” and decided I must make it.  But I also really wanted a dessert.  The original recipe recommended serving this granola with some milk or yogurt, so why not vanilla ice cream.  Which is exactly what I did:)

Pumpkin Granola

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (apparently I don’t have this in my spice cupboard, so I had to omit it)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used my trusty Madagascar Bourbon vanilla powder)
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. (Since I used vanilla powder, I combined it with the dry ingredients.)  Whisk until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist. Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and stir in dried cherries and sunflower seeds. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

*Original recipe can be located here.

Like I said, this works great as a topping on vanilla ice cream as dessert, but as I’ve been munching on it a few times a day since Sunday, you can also eat it alone… or with milk or yogurt… or something untraditional we haven’t thought of yet!

But I think it's best on ice cream:)