Playing with the heat in dishes is one of my favorite ways to take an old recipe and create something new. This Chipotle Pike Stew recipe was the perfect specimen to see what a little spice could do to a basic fish soup recipe. I think the results were delicious.
Pike is one of my absolute favorite eating fish. It can be a turn off to many people because the outside of the fish is very slimy. I hate to even bring that up when talking about a recipe using pike, but I think it’s important to put it out there and say: “Hey, pike is gross to handle but it’s what’s on the inside that counts!” I really enjoy the texture of the meat for pike. It is very robust and holds up well in sauces or when grilled. The flavor is also amazing. It reminds me a bit more of chicken than fish, but it really has a unique flavor that is hard to pinpoint without just giving it a try.
Handling is also very important to ensure your pike I always tasty. Pike are a cold-water fish and bacteria will quickly go to work if your fish get warmed up. So, in the summer, do what we do and take a cooler full of ice and throw your pike on ice right after they are caught. To deal with the ick factor of doing this, we keep a cooler marked “fish only”.
Back to the food. Changing the heat in a dish can be accomplished a number of ways, such as through adding red pepper flakes, hot peppers such as jalapenos or habaneros, cracked black pepper, hot sauce such a Tapatio or Cholula, or with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Which route you decide to go depends entirely on the other ingredients in the dish. For this chipotle pike stew, I thought I would use chipotles in adobo because the peppers not only add heat to the dish but also mingle really well with the tomatoes.
Start the Chipotle Pike Stew Base
To a heavy bottomed pot, add a couple swirls of olive oil. Heat over medium and drop in four diced stalks of celery, one medium diced onion, and three cloves of minced garlic. Let the mixture sweat for about ten minutes, or until the onions are translucent and soft. Take care to keep the heat at an appropriate level where the garlic will not start to brown. Browned garlic adds a very bitter taste to dishes and it happens very quickly.
While the onions and garlic are cooking, add three to four chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and a whole jar of oyster sauce to a blender. Blend well. If you are a super spicy person, you can add more peppers. I found three to be quite hot in this dish. If you aren’t such a big fan of spicy, you might consider only adding one or two peppers.
Meanwhile, returning to the onions and garlic, deglaze the pot with ½ cup white wine. Stir everything so you break up all the good flavor pieces that have developed but might be sticking to the bottom of your pan. Let the wine cook for a few minutes and then add a 28oz can of roasted stewed tomatoes. I used stewed tomatoes because I wanted to have the chunks in my soup, but you could also use diced or crushed to create a different texture.
Heat the soup for five minutes and then add in the oyster sauce pepper mixture, two teaspoons dried oregano, and one teaspoon of dried thyme. Stir and let the chipotle soup base simmer for five more minutes.
Cut the pike filets into bite sized pieces, and take this opportunity to make sure everything is bone free. Add the pike to the chipotle soup base, cover with a lid, and simmer for five minutes. The pike should be flaky and white when it is ready.
You need to remove the “Y” bones from the pike before dicing into bite size pieces.
Ladle up some nice big servings into bowls, serve with a slice of fresh lime to squeeze over the soup, and a piece of crusty bread to sop up the bottom of your bowl!
I am a huge fan of tomato based soups, especially with seafood, and so the idea of using pike in a tomato based broth with the heat of chipotles makes my mouth water just talking about it. This soup is very rich in sweet flavors that the pike really soaks up. I hope you enjoy this meal of chipotle pike stew as much as I do! If you are looking for other pike recipes, consider this one from my website for Pike Skewers.
