The Lovely Bones:
Focaccia Bread, Fish Stew,
And Celery Salad

Focaccia Bread
(The Tucci Cookbook, page 87)

Fish Stock
(The Tucci Table, page 210)

 Fish Stew
(The Tucci Table, page  92)

 Celery Salad
(The Tucci Table, page 14)
Fish bones?  Where does a normal person get two pounds of fish bones ... with heads? Until now, I've usually avoided fish bones, although I think I vaguely remember running into one in a Filet-O-Fish Sandwich once.  

 Tam (Michelle's fantastic mom and Tom's fabulous wife) did some research and came up with a potential solution ... Little's Fish Market.

 Road Trip!!

Little's Fish Market is a small, white-painted cinder block building, located in Nashville's Germantown neighborhood. Inside is a bare room, with thirty linear feet of refrigerator cases, filled with ice and fresh fish. We handed Phil, the man at the service counter, our extensive list. He asked us several questions, "What size clams, what size shrimp ... are you okay with a pound and half of red snapper end trimmings?" 
 He could tell by the blank stares on our faces that he needed to clarify. 

With a smile and half-wink Phil said, "these will be great for fish stew". 



Perfect!!

 He also mentioned that he poked a few air holes in the clam bag, so that they would not suffocate. When we got home and opened everything up, it smelled so good and looked so fresh that we decided to begin making our stew immediately.

 But first, we started our focaccia bread. With our KitchenAid mixer, the process of making bread dough was similar to one we made for the Timpano, although we used two types of flour and yeast. We set the dough-ball in a covered ceramic dish near the fireplace to let it rise for two hours.

 Meanwhile, Michelle assembled two fish-heads and other ancillary entrails into a large pot, along with chopped onions, carrots, leeks, celery, parsley, bay leaf, and pepper corns. These were covered with water and brought to a boil.



 

 As the fish stock percolated, it filled the kitchen with a magnificent scent, a scent that would probably not leave our kitchen for weeks. We reduced heat and began the skimming process. This was not easy as fish scum tended to attach itself to the leeks and parsley. It became an extended surgical procedure of sorts, until Michelle's exasperation reached its threshold and she sternly instructed her dad to "put the spoon down". 

 Unable to obtain dried pepperocini, we substituted by using some out of a jar. We dabbed it as dry as we could. The dry white wine used in the recipe was Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, 2015. We are starting to like this idea using only half a cup per recipe ... 



The stock was ready, and we strained it into a large ceramic dish. In a separate large Dutch oven, we sweated the chopped onions and saffron and added the wine. Here, we relied upon WWSTD ... when does one know when the the alcohol has 'cooked off'? We made our best guess, added tomato and fish stock, and brought it to a low simmer. 
 

The lovely bones ... 



Michelle beautifully filleted the fresh grouper and cut the cod into chunks. Then we added fresh scallops, clams, and mussels ... saving the large shrimp (after peeling them for efficacy) for last.

Meanwhile, the dough was rising beside the fireplace; in fact it had doubled in size, just as the recipe anticipated. 
 As the stew simmered and the focaccia baked in the oven, we chopped celery and whisked three balsamic vinegars together into Tucci's celery salad, as a palate-clearing final dish. 
 


Paired with a Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc, 2011, the entire meal was out of this world!! The stew, in particular, was rich and dense with flavor. Was it the freshness of the fish or the saffron ... or the chefs? 

 We'll never know for sure.

 

Lessons learned? We located a great fish market. We discovered 'end trimmings'. We learned how to make fish stock. And we made a mental note; when making focaccia, flatten it out (more like a pizza crust) and bake it on a sheet, rather than in a pan.

Another delicious learning experience and another step in our culinary journey.