There are two very nice things about making Larsen’s Fish Stew.  The first is that while you’re chopping the onion, celery and potatoes you get to think about Larsen’s Fish Market, one of two fish markets that sit right on the dock on the eastern side of Menemsha Pond in Menemsha, a tiny commercial fishing harbor in Chilmark, Massachusetts, Martha’s Vineyard, coordinates 41.352507°N 70.765193°W.

 

Larsens sells fish unloaded off boats often parked at the store’s back doors.   Making this fish stew, I remembered an afternoon of running away from the kids and in-laws with my husband, and sitting on picnic tables outside Larsen’s, having a deliciously sequestered adult moment of cold white wine and freshly shucked littlenecks, and watching those boats unload.  A sign on the Larsen’s fish menu warns, “Call for daily specials, prices and availability.  Sunset in Menemsha is very popular, so please order early in the day.”

You’ve got to love a place that warns you about the power of its sunsets, which I’ve seen, and they’re correct to caution.  If you’ve ever been to Menemsha, or even if you haven’t, sunsets are another bonus daydream that comes when chopping vegetables for this fish stew.

The second really good thing about this stew is the most important -  how delicious and unusual it is.  Yes, it begins with the usual celery and onions sauteed in butter, but then the recipe calls for Mirin, or Japanese Rice wine, which adds a sweetness akin to sherry but not as alcoholic and English tasting.  It’s sweet but light.  Next, the recipe calls for Old Bay.

I knew I’d owned the can of Old Bay in my cupboard longer than my eldest child has been alive, so I decided to google it and make my own.  At first it’s amazing, and then it’s just funny that the yellow, blue and red box associated with all things seafood below the Mason Dixon line is basically a little bit of every spice in most people’s cupboards.  “A blend of 18 herbs and spices,” the Old Bay site says.  Born in Baltimore, and named for an old steamship that traveled Chesapeake Bay between Maryland and Virginia, Old Bay is mace, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, clove, celery seed, white pepper, smoked paprika, dried mustard, etc. - a flavor profile that looks like the spilled kitchen contents on a French - English battlefield.

Without the ponderousness of cream and sherry, but with the sweetness and spice from the Mirin and Old Bay, Larsen’s Fish Stew is a beautiful holiday meal.  We had it last night with Swedish Coffee bread, and Tom Stockton’s endive and pear salad.  If we’re all very good maybe Tom will release his recipe, because this was where the road to beautiful, simple holiday meals ends.

I’ve made a perfectly acceptable version of this with cod and scallops alone, picky-eaters acknowledged.

 

 Larsen's Fish Stew

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter

1 large Spanish onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1/8 cup mirin (sweetened sake)

1 tablespoon  seasoning (recommended: Old Bay) http://busycooks.about.com/od/homemademixes/r/oldbaymix.htm

Freshly ground black pepper

2 quarts fish stock

2 quarts clam broth

4 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 pound crab meat, picked over for shells

1/2 pound lobster meat, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 pound sea scallops

1 pound small shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 pound skinned whitefish, such as cod or halibut, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 pound firm whitefish such as monkfish or swordfish, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 pint half-and-half or cream, heated (do not boil)

Salt

Directions

Melt butter in a large stockpot. Saute onions and celery in butter until soft and translucent. Add mirin and continue to cook until it is almost reduced. Stir in crab boil seasoning and 1 tablespoon pepper. Continue to cook approximately 1 minute. Pour in fish stock and clam broth and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook the potatoes until just tender. Continue to simmer and add crab, lobster, scallops, and shrimp. Return to a simmer and add fish. Gently poach fish until just cooked.  To be precise, put a thermometer into the soup.  At 140 degrees the fish will be perfectly cooked.

 

After that it will begin to toughen.  Add heated half-and-half, and bring back up to temperature. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.