Day 50: Palm Sunday, Kakavia, Fisherman's Stew

Palm Sunday is the second time during Great Lent that we are allowed to eat fish.  The first day is the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (see March 25), and today is the second.  We talked about if we were going to have bakalao (salt cod) or if we were going to bake tsipourra (seasoned baked porgy fish), but we decided since it was a bit cold and dreary this afternoon, that a nice stew was in order.  


Kakavia is a very popular fisherman's stew.  It is called fisherman's stew because you can put in whatever seafood or fish that you want.  You don't even have to include fish or seafood, just one or the other.  Some people, particularly Greeks, will claim that kakavia was the predecessor to bouillabaisse.  Perhaps because fishing and Greeks have been around longer than bouillabaisse!  It is true that for a fish soup, many Greeks will talk about psarrosoupa -- which translates directly to fish soup.  That is a simple fish broth with a few vegetables and fish pieces.  It's lovely flavour and light and refreshing.  But, kakavia is different -- it's rich, it's "meaty" and has a variety of flavour and texture levels.  In fact, depending on what the catch of the day was, it could change the entire flavour of the stew each and every day.  Also, there are a million and three (or more) variations to making the broth -- some add tomato product, some add just lemon, some make an onion broth, some make a fish broth, some will even include an avgolemono style soup.  We cannot choose the avgolemono just yet!  (That will be next week after Pascha!)  We can, however, choose a recipe that is easily duplicated, adapted, and edible for you.  Although, we like to think it is more than just edible -- in the past, it has been "pentanostimo!"  Today, we are hoping for super-yummy!


So, we aren't fishermen, but we have access to so many fish mongers and varieties that sometimes it is hard to choose.  When this is the case, we often refer back to a staple food in our house, which is the previously frozen seafood mix.  This mix contains mussels, clams, shrimp, and squid pieces, and can be used for so many dishes.  It's a good thing to have on hand to make a quick soup out of something that could take all day to boil the fish bones.  The other thing we keep on hand is fish fillets and loins.  We have the varieties of fish loins that we like, and today, trying to keep this simple and reproducible, we have chosen haddock loins.  These can be found anywhere these days.  Frozen fish is readily available at most grocery stores, and usually, it is priced reasonably.  


The type (what kind) of fish you use is much less important than the quality of fish you use.  What do we mean?  Well, in one cookbook, we are told to use mullet or monk fish since both are oily and have sturdy, strong meat that will hold shape while cooking.  Another cookbook tells us that we have a variety of choices including snapper, bream, or scorpion.  Some of these, we were not familiar, nor could we purchase locally.  Lastly, we read that we could use bream, snapper, or rock fish, trout, haddock, halibut, or cod.  What's left to choose?  From so many choices, which ones do we choose?  Really, we believe that this can be made with whatever fish you can get, and whatever quantity of fish you have (we do, however, make every effort to buy only fish which come from sustainable stocks and which are relatively safe and healthy.)  As mentioned, add some seafood bits and pieces to fill in any "lacking" parts.  Even the seafood is negotiable!  So, let's look at the soup.


Making kakavia is not as hard as it looks.  There are quite a few ingredients, though, and most of them are optional.  The quantities can vary depending on how many people you want to serve, and what ingredients you have.  As you are reading this, please know that the amounts given are to our best guess -- they are approximations.  Remember, this is a soup that is very forgiving and VERY flexible.  In order for us to come up with amounts, we looked at five different cookbooks with similar recipes.  Each one also had similar amounts.  We figured out how much of what we used, and compared it to the average of our five cookbook recipes to learn that the amounts we used were similar to the cookbooks' amounts for most ingredients.  For example, we usually add a lot more parsley, but the 2-3 Tablespoon measurement is the average amount in the books, and we went with the average.

Left to Right: Back, haddock loins, seafood mix, potatoes; Centre, parsley, carrots, garlic, leek celery, lemons, tomato paste; Front: salt, onions, pepper.

Let's take a look at what you need to make soup to feed six as an entree.  (When served with crusty bread or rolls, and a nice glass of wine, this is really a complete meal!)
You will need the following:


1 1/2 to 2 pounds fish (see above)
1- 1 1/2 pounds seafood mixed (see above)
3-4 onions, diced
4 ribs celery, cleaned and sliced (use the leaves if you have them)
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped 
2-3 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
lemon juice from one lemon
2 TBSP tomato paste -- estimated amount, we used a heaping soup spoon full.
water -- enough to fill the pot you are using
olive oil for cooking
salt and pepper to taste


The method for this is simple, even for someone who has never made this soup before.  The first time we made it was for a Christmas Eve dinner years back.  It was our turn to host in the family rotation, and we thought we would go to something along the lines of a traditional Italian menu of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, just for fun and for something different in our family and our group of friends.  (Please note that the Feast of the Seven Fishes is not an Orthodox Christian tradition; we simply wanted to have a nice end to our fast and Holy Communion following the Christmas Eve Greek Orthodox Vespers and Divine Liturgy that year.) Anyway, that night, we had some smoked salmon (1), taramasalata (2), individual baked tsipourra (3), marinated shrimp (4), and kakavia (5, 6, and 7, even 8, 9, 10!).  It was a good way to fill our table with a bounty to celebrate Christmas (the entrance of Jesus into the world), and now, here we are having the soup again, celebrating Palm Sunday (the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem).  Interesting connection.  But, that does not help us to make the soup!  Here are the real directions for our version of kakavia:

Start by cooking the onions in some olive oil.

First, heat the oil in a large enamelled cast iron soup pot (you may notice how often ours has been used by the discolouration of the enamel at the bottom!)  


Start by cooking the onions.  

Add the carrots to the onions.

Add in the celery to the carrots and onions.

Add the carrots and the celery, too, so they all cook together.  Season a little with salt and pepper.  

Season the vegetables with a little salt, 

...and some pepper.

Put a lid on the pot and allow these vegetables to "sweat" for five or six minutes.  


*Sweating vegetables means that they are on a medium high heat, cooking with a lid on the pan or pot so that all of the steam released by the vegetables is now used to aid in cooking.

After sweating the vegetables, add the leeks to the pot.

And, add the potatoes and allow to cook.

Next, add the leeks and potatoes.  Mix these all together so they are all coated with the oil salt and pepper.  Allow this to cook for five minutes.

Mixt he vegetables well.

Add the tomato paste to the vegetables and potatoes.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, and the parsley.  

Now, add the seasonings of garlic, and

parsley.

Combine everything in the pot so it is evenly coated with the tomato paste.  You should be able to see the flecks of parsley throughout the vegetables. 

Add enough water to the pot to cover the vegetables.

You should see the top of the pile of vegetables over the water -- just like this.

Add water.  Add enough water to just cover the height of the vegetables.  You should be able to see the tips of the veggies poking through the top height of the water, so they are just covered.

Cover the pot and allow the mixture to boil.

Cover your soup pot and allow this mixture to come to a boil. 

When the soup boils, add the seafood.

Add the seafood mix.

Then add the chunks of fish.  Mix it all together so the seafood is evenly distributed in the pot.  

Adjust the amount of water to fill the pot.

Adjust the amount of water in the pot.  The water should now fully cover the vegetables and seafood without overflowing from the pot.  Cover the pot and allow the mixture to come up to a boil one more time.

Put a lid on the soup and allow it to simmer for a bit until everything is cooked.

Squeeze some lemon juice to the soup.

Put the squeezed lemon in the soup for enhanced flavours.

Once the mixture is boiling, season this with salt and pepper and squeeze the lemon juice into the soup.  You can use a squeeze or a juicer or a fork -- but watch for seeds!  One recipe that we read had directions to squeeze the lemon into the soup, and then add the squeezed lemon into the pot.  There are a lot of oils and flavours in the rind, but we worried about the pith (the white part that is bitter), and if that would affect the overall flavour of the soup.  It did not do anything except enhance the lemon flavour slightly -- so if you want, add the lemon after squeezing the juice out of it.  


Now, cover the pot again,and allow the soup to simmer for about fifteen minutes to allow all of the flavours to cook together.  And, when you are ready, you scoop out some of the vegetables and fish and then, top with a bit of broth.  Serve with a wedge of lemon for personal flavour adjustments and enjoy (a personal note: husband and father-in-law prefer this soup more lemony, so they use quite a bit of lemon and a bit more salt; the resulting flavour is more intense)  Perhaps while you are eating this delightful, filling soup, you will picture yourselves on an island in Greece, with the fishermen around enjoying kakavia soup.  We certainly did!

Serve the hot soup with some lemon, crusty bread (this bread was actually shared by four people at today's dinner), and a glass of wine (wine is permitted on Sundays during Great Lent).

Today is Palm Sunday. Please enjoy a wonderful rendition of "Idou, O Nymfios Erhetai" (Here, the Bridegroom Arrives." There are many beautiful and moving versions of this hymn; this one features the Greek singer Glykeria, the internationally recognized native of Serres, Makedonia, Greece.)

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6S8AK_biVw&feature=related)

Links to remember:
WWF's Sustainable seafood: Consumer guides. and
Food and Water Watch's Smart Seafood Guide 2011