This is a recipe for Seafood Stew with white fish and shrimp. Made creamy with coconut milk, sassy with Thai basil and fresh with lime juice. Shrimp and cod are perfect partners for the Island Seafood Stew Recipe.
White fish, shrimp, bell peppers and tomatoes swimming in a broth of coconut milk and seasoned with lively island spices and finished with lime makes for a delicious seafood stew. A wonderful change in our traditional meat and potato stew recipes.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have an arsenal of soup recipes. Some are extravaganzas to prepare, and others easy enough to prepare after work on a week night. This is one of those easy fixes.
I’ve had this recipe for years. I love the flavors and I don’t know how I ever lived without the combination of coconut milk, cilantro and lime.
If you’re efficient in the kitchen this is easy enough for a weeknight meal and ready in around 30 minutes. This one pot seafood stew just requires some chopping. Canned tomatoes make this even easier. Just start chopping the onions, bell pepper, garlic and jalapenos and the rest is a breeze.
Add the seafood and you’ve got a quick and delicious seafood stew that will become one of your family favorites. I used easy peel shrimp and a package of frozen cod. Don’t forget a shake or two of your favorite hot sauce.
When a Recipe Calls for Whitefish, what Does It Mean?
Whitefish is not a type of fish, it generally means a mildly flavored, quick cooking fish, usually not very expensive. If a recipe calls for whitefish and doesn’t indicate a specific kind of white fish, popular choices are Cod, Tilapia, Bass, Grouper, Haddock, Snapper and even Catfish. These are great for frying, searing and soups and seafood stews.
- Ask the fishmonger. Tell them what you’re making and let them guide you to the best choice.
- Thickness matters. And example is this fish stew recipe. You need chunks of meat, so cod is a great choice.
- Freshness matters. If your seafood counter doesn’t have a good choice, head for the frozen seafood section. Most quality seafood is flash frozen soon after being caught. This is your best bet for fresh flavor. And being land locked in Colorado, it’s pretty much guaranteed that the fish at the seafood counter is simply thawed from frozen and probably from the same source as the freezer section.
- Sustainability matters. It’s a privilege to eat seafood so we need to make sure we’re taking care of our oceans and the fish population. I love this site managed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Seafood Watch. Be in the know.
Recipe for Seafood Stew with Whitefish and Shrimp
I hope you give this easy Jamaican seafood stew recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite seafood stew recipe with coconut milk recipe let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
Light, bright and full of flavor simply serve this with a tossed green salad or some crusty bread to make sure you soak up all that wonderful broth.
And if you’re looking for more seafood soup recipes, you won’t want to miss:
- Shrimp and Cod Bourride, a French Seafood Stew
- Ale Poached Shrimp in Saffron Cream Sauce
- Mexican Shrimp Soup
- Easy Shrimp Gumbo
- Cuban Shrimp Stew
And you won’t want to miss my Soup Category. You’ll find a ton of slurp-worthy recipes. Including the most popular soup recipe on my site for Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Chili.
Island Seafood Stew with White Fish and Shrimp
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh or frozen cod fillet
- 12 medium shrimp deveined, peeled, tails removed
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 small sweet onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
- 1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes undrained
- 1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 Tablespoons Thai basil chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- Your favorite bottled hot sauce
- Hot rice for serving
Instructions
- Rinse cod, pat dry and cut into 1 inch cubes.
- In a bowl combine 1 T. olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper. Add fish and toss to coat. Set aside.
- In a pan heat remaining oil to medium high and add onions, pepper, garlic, and jalapeno. Cook for 4 minutes stirring occasionally until onion is tender. Stir in the can of tomatoes and the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat immediately and simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Stir in shrimp along with fish mixture, Thai basil, and 1/2 of the cilantro. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes or until fish flakes and shrimp are pink.
- Serve with hot rice. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and sprinkle on some hot sauce if you’d like.
Nutrition
Island White fish and Shrimp Seafood Stew …It’s Whats for Dinner.
Delicious made the stew with what I had in the house. Very adaptable. Had everything but fresh basil used dried added grated ginger and fish sauce instead of jalapeño used crushed chili peppers. Didn’t put the fish in the marinade and didn’t need it. Mini red/yellow peppers Rotel tomatoes and a couple of frozen tomatoes from the last harvest in 21. Cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. Loved that it was easy and so very tasty. I love soup and stews & your site just found it and look forward to making more your recipes.
I made this for dinner tonight. It was fabulous! My grocery store didn’t have any cod, so I ended up with orange roughy and was a bit worried about that, but it turned out great. The blending of flavors was perfect, the fish was very moist, and you just can’t go wrong with fresh shrimp. My hubby gives this two thumbs WAY up. I do think the recipe as you have it is much more than 2 servings, however. With a little bit of rice, I would say this is four generous portions.
Yikes I am going through your blog posts and realize I would be very happy at your table! I am with my friend Chris, you had me at lime, cilantro, and all other ingredients!
Hey Elizabeth, thanks for stopping by! 🙂
This looks like a perfect soup/stew for me–I love all the ingredients and flavors. Thanks for sending it along to Souper Sundays. I just got the round-up posted.
Aloha,
Deb
Thanks Deb.
What a fantastic dish! I love the coconut milk and seafood combo.
I agree, always.
Thanks for stopping by
Yum! I always feel seafood and coconut lends itself to an island feel which is nice especially when you’re in the middle of Winter 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and I couldn’t agree more
Sounds great for a light summer meal!
Well BD, not even bad for an almost light Winter meal. 🙂
As always, thanks for stopping by
I’m with you on the coconut milk, lime and cilantro . . . love that combination. This looks amazing and delicious!
Harry Nielson tried to tell us years ago! He just forgot the cilantro part. Must not have fit well into the song.
Oooh, I’m bookmarking this because it looks amazing!
It’s really good, and so easy. As always, thanks for stopping by
Looks delish! Deb is awesome, and so are her Souper Sundays posts. Great entry for it!
You had me at coconut milk, cilantro, and lime…..
LOL I can go with that! Great comment