Marseille-Style Shrimp Stew from Food and Wine

It has been 8 weeks since my daughter was born and in some ways, I'm glad to be back in the kitchen.  This week I'm making 3 meals from the new issue of Food and Wine, October 2011, which praises things French.  Last night we had Roast Beef with Root-Vegetable-and-Green-Peppercorn Salad, tomorrow we will have the Chicken Baked on a Bed of Bread and Swiss Chard and tonight, of course, we will be having the Marseille-Style Shrimp Stew.

Don't bypass Bon Appetit or Food and Wine because you think the recipes are too long or complicated for a weeknight.  Tonight's active time is 45 minutes, and it is 30 minutes for the other two recipes.  And, it doesn't have to be perfect.  It will still be good if you are missing an ingredient or two:-)

Here is the recipe with my pictures and comments:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium fennel bulb, cored and finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Three 1-inch strips of orange zest
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup bottled clam juice
• 1 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Toasted baguettes, for serving

1. In a bowl, mash the garlic with a pinch of salt. Whisk in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, paprika and cayenne. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Set the rouille aside. 

Comment:  I skipped the paprika because I didn't feel like digging it out of my spice cabinet.   And, I skipped the saffron in the next section for the same reason!

2.In a large, deep skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Add the fennel and onion and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until softened, 7 minutes. Add the garlic, orange zest and ground cloves and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the wine and cook until nearly evaporated, 5 minutes. Add the clam juice, tomatoes, saffron and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, 10 minutes.

Comment:  I used ground cloves as I didn't have any whole cloves.  Here's a tip:  Don't dirty your kitchen by chopping up the whole tomatoes as the recipe suggests.  I like to put them into the pot and use my metal spatula to chop them.  Also, I used a zester, which sort-of grates the orange and put in far more zest than called for by the recipe.

3.  Add the shrimp to the skillet, cover and cook over moderate heat, turning once, until cooked, 5 minutes. Discard the zest. Spread the rouille on toasts and serve with the stew.

 Comment:  I accidentally purchased frozen "cooked" shrimp at Fresh Market though I meant to grab a bag of frozen raw.  Too often people stress if they cannot follow a recipe exactly.  Case in point, I've changed or omitted a  good bit of things about this recipe, measured nothing and I'm sure it will still be a fine meal for a weeknight.  I hope you'll give ones of these recipes a try! 

 
 Bon Appetit!
Carson

How to Reupholster a Stool

Earlier this year, I posted about two cross-bar stools.  At the time, I spray painted the legs black, but knew that I eventually wanted to recover them.  I am embarrassed to say that I never finished the post; therefore, I started where I had left-off finishing this project just prior to the birth of baby #2.  Though that was 6 weeks ago, I'm just getting around to publishing the post.
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My sister-in-law, who is an interior designer/owner of Kathryn Robertson, suggested that I get cross bar stools to put in front of my fireplace.  What a great idea!  Only....I could not find affordable upholstered stools.

I felt confident that I could find an alternative and found great stools for $60 each at Sears/Kmart. 
Not a bad deal!  I never liked the cherry finish, so I spray-painted them with high-gloss black Krylon spraypoint.  (Sorry-I deleted pictures of the stool!)

About two months ago, I was at U-Fab and spotted the perfect fabric for these stools, which I purchased, but they remained uncovered until last week.  In an effort to distract myself from the impending birth of baby #2, I decided to bite the bullet and recover the stools.  The process ended up being easier than I thought:

As with any reupholstry project, begin by deconstructing the furniture noting how the piece was put together.  Taking pictures is a good idea for helping you remember how to re-assemble the piece.

First, I removed the legs, then I removed the black fabric that lined the bottom of the stools.

Next, I used scissors and pliers to remove the leopard fabric.  The original stools were tufted, and when I began the reupholstry project, I thought I would tuft my stools, but ended-up deciding again it.  If your stools are tufted, pay careful attention to how the buttons are attached to the bottom of the stool.

 I tried to remove as much of the fabric and staples as I could, but it was difficult to get it all.

Next, I cut my two yards of fabric into two, one-yard pieces.  I centered the foam wrapped frame on top of the fabric (upside down) being sure to line-up the pattern--just eyeballing it.

Next I stapled a center staple on all for sides making sure to fabric had equal tension on all sides and that the pattern was straight.  Next, I added many staples to the sides until I got near the corners.

Decide how you want your fabric to fold at the corners--play around with it a bit--then pick a method for folding.  Use the same method for folding on every corner.

Be sure to cut back the fabric so that is doesn't cover the holes where you will re-attach the legs of the stool:

This project didn't take too long since I decided not to tuft the stools.

Here are the before and after stools pictured together:

After:

Thanks for reading!
Carson