On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 23:18:11 -0700, gtr > wrote:

> On 2013-03-25 01:09:37 +0000, sf said:
>
> > On Sun, 24 Mar 2013 15:56:30 -0700, gtr > wrote:
> >
> >> On 2013-03-22 15:14:55 +0000, sf said:
> >>
> >>> On Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:44:55 -0700, gtr > wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Moqueca de*peixe, mmm. That sounds like it's about right with my
> >>>> (limited) skill set, and the wife would love it. I may give it a shot.
> >>>
> >>> Let me know what you think if you decide to take the plunge.
> >>
> >> We just picked up some beautiful Pacific Rockfish,
> >
> > Rockfish is perfect!
>
> I was looking for snapper, and that's what they call rockfish a lot these days.

Yes, it seems to be the common alternate name for rockfish here on the
West coast. I've also used cod and it was fine too.
>
> >> then I checked the recipe and noted that one of the recipes mentions
> >> dende oil which we're out of. Probably just as well; my digestive tract
> >> quibbles with dende oil about half the time.
> >>
> >> I'm reminded of one reason why I love moqueca de peixe so much: The
> >> wife use to make it a number of years back. Oh well, it will be a fun
> >> group project.
> >
> > I didn't bother with the dende oil, gtr, and it was very tasty anyway
> > AFAIWC. If it adds something extra special, I didn't know what I was
> > missing because I'd never eaten the dish before. In this case,
> > ignorance was bliss!
>
> All in all, things worked out pretty well. I remembered there's a
> little pan-American market two blocks from here that had dende oil,
> some manioc flour and some malagueta peppers too. So we had the dish
> with some farofa.
>
> I consulted two or three other recipes but made the one by Blazes that
> you relayed. It's kind of odd, frankly. I wondered if all those
> peppers and the onions would be well enough cooked when the fish was.
> The onions weren't. It still tasted great, and Nancy made some
> Brazilian garlicky rice, a side of carrots and fennel and a little
> tomato/cucumber salad. The farofa was fun and reminds me how grreat
> that stuff can be.

That's why I don't usually follow any recipe exactly as written and
consult many, as you said you did. When they vary, you know it's
written to personal taste and mine is as good as theirs.
>
> Most of the recipes have you sauteing the onions and veggies before
> throwing the fish in, I think that's a better approach, so I'll temper
> that on the next pass. We're plotting more moqueca dishes, it works
> well with shrimp as well as a sturdy white fish. We've got the dende,
> so we might as well. For chile powder we used Japanese shichimi and it
> was great. The whole thing was pretty glorious.
>
The recipes that don't have you precook the vegetables tell you to
cook the stew a long time. Come to think of it, I used the last of my
bag of Trader Joe's frozen multi colored peppers, so they were soft to
begin with. What I did was cook the stew the 30-40 minutes called
for, but didn't add the fish until the end. I added it in big chunks
(of less than 2 inches) and didn't let it go any more than 5-10
minutes, serving when it was just cooked through.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.