Lemonade from lemons, Bouillabaisse from the open freezer door?

I admit it… I once again left the upright freezer door open. I know, I need to slow down and make sure I shut it without anything hanging off the door to prevent its sealing… I have done it before…and not just once before…  For me this is like blasphemy. Losing food because of bad actions.  One year I had freezer issues 3 times.  First our little 20 year old 2 cubic chest freezer threw in the towel… actually she threw in the motor… and I didn’t open the freezer for probably a week.  By then, I had wine.  I used that particular freezer for fruit and veg. Don’s dad found me crying in the freezer room because we had spent so much time freezer everything and now it was all gone!  I replaced the little one with an upright that has an alarm on it… but that only works if you actually hear the alarm.  At least the next time, I didn’t lose the whole freezer.  Then I left the meat freezer open. It doesn’t have an alarm.  I lost about 1/3 of the meat that time.   Now I don’t cry… I usually just swear and get really mad and stomp around. And vow to not be so careless.

Fast forward to yesterday and the meat freezer had been open overnight.  I have gotten a little smarter, I put things that aren’t as affected by warmth in the areas of the freezer that lose coldness first when the door gets left opened.  Might as well play to my weakness.  Tonite’s dinner was determined then.  My parents are coming over for an Easter meal so now we are having pork blade… it was one of the items that thawed. Actually half of it did.

We were going out last night to friends place for dinner so instead of making this last night, I made the best of the lemons I got handed and today’s lemonade was Bouillabaisse with scallops and shrimps.

Awhile back at the hairdressers I read a magazine that had what sounded like a fabulous recipe for the seafood soup.  I googled it when I got home, made some adjustments and now have a fantastic recipe for Bouillabaisse.  Here is the recipe from the magazine:

• 2 cups dry white wine
• 900 ml container of chicken broth
• 236-mL bottle clam juice
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 1 Spanish or red onion
• 3 jalapeno peppers
• 1 small orange grated rind.
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp each dried thyme leaves and salt
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads,
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 lb mussels
• 1 lb sea or bay scallops
• 1 lb fresh or frozen large uncooked tiger shrimp
• 1 cooked lobster

The adjustments that I made are:  I used crab stock because I had some frozen.  I replaced the clam juice and chicken broth with the crab stock.  I used 4 frozen whole tomatoes from last summer’s garden.  I just removed their skins and cut them up a bit. I didn’t have jalapenos, so I used dried chilis.  I had cilantro and forgot to put it in.  I used some shallot and red onion.  I used lots of thyme and twice as much orange rind.  I also only used shrimp and scallops.

Chop the onions and saute in butter.  Meanwhile heat the stock etc, when simmering, add the softened onions and butter. Add everything but the seafood.  Bring to a good simmer and cook for 5 -10 minutes for flavours to blend.  Turn down heat and add seafood.  If using mussels, start by only adding them and cooking until they open.  Then add the rest of the seafood and only cook until opaque.

This will keep in the fridge for 2 days.  It is actually a better dish the next day.