At a recent camping trip, Matt Goves made a tasty and easy seafood stew for dinner.  I asked for his recipe, which was based on foodwishes.com, and made it last night as a change from two nights of Thanksgiving foods.  Following Matt’s lead, I made this with a 50/50 mixture of cod and shrimp, but it could be made with a larger variety of seafood, or with just the fish or just the shrimp.  This is not quite the way it would have been made in Brazil, since they would have used red dende oil, which is hard to get in Richmond.  This will make 4 servings in about 30 minutes, and can be eaten with steamed rice.

I made it very mildly spicy with 1 jalapeno

2 Tbs. olive oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 tsp. of salt, divided (plus more to taste0

2 Tbs. tomato paste

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 can (14 oz.) coconut milk (not low fat)

1 tsp. soy sauce

1-1/2 cups sliced assorted sweet and hot peppers (I used 1 large jalapeno and the rest small sweet peppers)

¼ cup green onion, chopped and divided

¾ lb. cod, cut into even chunks

¾ lb. peeled shrimp

¼ cup chopped cilantro

2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and a sprinkling of salt.  Saute for about 2-3 minutes until the onions are translucent.  Add the tomato paste, garlic, paprika, and cumin, and saute for another 2 minutes until fragrant.  Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and stir well.  Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes to blend flavors.  Add the peppers, most of the green onion, the fish and shrimp.  Stir to mix everything up and to coat the fish and shrimp with the sauce.  Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.  Check to see if the fish and shrimp are cooked.  (Does the fish flake?)  If not, cook for another minute or two until cooked.  Stir in the rest of the green onions, the cilantro, and the lime juice.  Check the seasoning.  Serve with steamed rice.