I love cold weather. When I first started looking at colleges, I refused to look at any that weren’t in the Northeast, for fear of missing out at the chance of having four seasons, particularly fall and winter. My logic is this: when it’s cold outside, you can just wear loads of clothes to feel less cold. But when it’s warm outside, no matter how little clothing you have on, you’ll still be hot. But anyways, I’m getting distracted. The point is, I love cold weather. And there’s nothing when it’s cold outside then a filling, hearty stew.

Despite it being late April, we’ve been having a lot of chilly weather lately. I’m not really sure why, but all I know is that means lots of walking around the house, draped in a blanket, eating warm, comfy things that feel like the food-version of a blanket. This means eating lots of roasted vegetables, which is now the only way I will eat certain veggies. Namely eggplant and brussels sprouts. I love the way roasted eggplant gets all crispy on the outside, but also gets all jammy on the inside, in a way that is much to time-consuming to achieve on the stovetop. And I cannot state enough how much I love roasted brussels sprouts. In fact, you can read all about it in my crispy brussels sprouts recipe.

From there, I just added a bunch of random ingredients I had around: cauliflower rice, caramelized onions, and crushed tomatoes. And to top, some halibut that I had on hand. But really, I think any mild white-fleshed fish would go well with it, as it contrasts with the thick, heavy stew.

seared halibut with roasted vegetable stew

serves: 3

cooking time: 45 minutes

ingredients

1 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes
3 halibut, or other mild, white-fleshed fish fillets
1 12 oz bag cauliflower rice
1 eggplant, diced
1 lb. brussels sprouts, halved
1 onion, sliced
garlic salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
oil
chicken broth

steps

Preheat oven to 430º.
Grease pan, and toss brussels sprouts and eggplant in oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast sprouts and eggplant in oven, 15-20 minutes, until eggplant is soft and tender on the inside and the sprouts are crispy and browned on the cut side.
Meanwhile, add one tablespoon of oil into a saucepan, and add onions into pan. Cook onions until brown and caramelized, adding broth if necessary.
In separate frying pan, season fish fillets, and add one tablespoon of oil to the pan. Place fish skin side down in pan, and cook for 3-4 minutes per side.
Add can of tomatoes, and cauliflower rice into pan until cauliflower rice is fully cooked, then add in roasted vegetables.
Divide up stew into bowls and top with fish fillets.