Moqueca Baiana

Moqueca Baiana

We've been plagued with cancellations at the restaurant and last night was no exception. Moreover, it was St. Patrick's Day, a historically robust night for bars and an extremely slow one for restaurants, I decided to take the night off. Ann wanted something nice for dinner last night and I struggled with that. I hadn't planned to make dinner and retty much everything we have on the menu, I don't want to eat because I've seen too much of it. Moreover, I was really tired and didn't want to put a lot of effort into dinner. Finally, it dawned on me that I could put together a shellfish moqueca in no time at all.

At work, I diced some red, yellow, and orange peppers along with a bit of onion, sliced some green onions and fresh tomatoes, minced a bit of garlic, and chopped a bit of cilantro, about three cups in total for three portions.

This dish couldn't be any simpler to make. I heated a soup pan on high flame and sautéed the vegetable sofrito in palm oil, then added a can of coconut milk, juice of a key lime, and a bit of water. Next, in went the clams, followed a minute later by the mussels, and then all at once the scallops, shrimp, and cubes of rockfish. I stirred this and let everything cook another two minutes, then turned it off for two minutes for everything to carry over to doneness. And done.