A Recipe from Rebeccca: Fish, Spinach, Garlic | Canalside Community Food

This light, spring-some stew is green from the peas and spinach, and full of subtle fennel flavour. A punchy garlic mayonnaise adds richness and complexity. It’s really good with sourdough bread.
When we served this a week ago the guests were very surprised to learn the recipe comes from Sainsburys Magazine.

Simple Fish Stew with Aioli
Serves 4

Ingredients
For the Aioli
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg yolk
1½ teaspoons lemon juice (or more to taste)
150ml olive oil

For the Fish Stew
2 tablespoons olive oil
400g celery stalks, finely chopped
400g fennel bulb, finely chopped
300g onions, finely chopped
3 springs dried or fresh thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seed
3 whole cloves
4 strips pared lemon zest
600-800ml water or fish/vegetable/chicken stock
800g skinless haddock or pollock fillets, cut into 4cm-wide chunks
3 tablespoons Pernod or other anise-flavoured liqueur
200g frozen peas
200g fresh spinach

To Serve
The aioli
Lemon wedges
Pepper flakes, if desired

Method
For the Aioli
Crush the salt and garlic in a mortar and pestle and place in the mini-bowl of a food processor, or the mixing container of your hand-blender. Add the egg yolk and lemon juice. Wizz up. With the motor running, very slowly drizzle in the olive oil, drop by drop. Continue adding the oil very slowly until the mixture begins to thicken, at which point you can increase your rate of drizzling in the oil to a thin stream. The mixture should thicken up nicely to form a thick mayonnaise. Set aside to let the flavours mellow.

For the Fish Stew
Heat a large pan with a lid over medium heat and add the oil. Once it is warm add the celery, fennel and onion, along with a pinch of salt and a grind of black pepper. Stir, reduce the heat to low, add the lid, and cook very gently for 5-15 minutes, until the vegetables are soft but not coloured. Add the herbs and spices, and strips of lemon, and stir for a few more minutes. Add 600ml of liquid and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes (maybe 10 if you’re using water), to let the flavours meld. Now take a look: if there is not enough liquid to your taste, add the remaining water or stock and bring to a simmer.

Add the chunks of fish, cover again, and cook over low heat for about 3 minutes, or until the fish is beginning to look opaque on the top. Add the Pernod, peas and spinach and replace the lid. Turn the heat to medium and continue to cook for 2-3 more minutes, or until the spinach has wilted. The fish should be opaque on the top. Stir gently to blend everything together.

To Serve
Taste the aioli. Add more lemon juice, salt or pepper if you think the flavour needs boosting. Fish the bay leaves, cloves and thyme stems out of the stew if you wish (and can find them.)

Serve the stew, and let each person add a dollop of aioli to their bowl. Provide some lemon wedges and perhaps some red pepper flakes so people can personalise their bowl to taste. This is very nice served with good bread, and perhaps an additional drizzle of olive oil on both stew and bread.

Recipe adapted from Sainsburys Magazine, Feb. 2023