She’s back! My sister Nadalyn is sharing another one of her mouth-watering recipes with us today – a Fish and Clam Bisque with Fenugreek. To see all of Nadalyn’s recipes here in MJ’s Kitchen, check out the links at the end of this post.
Nadalyn
A spice that has recently intrigued me is fenugreek. Not only had I never used it, but until a few weeks ago I had never heard of it. It seems that fenugreek, besides in cooking, is used in folk medicine for a little bit of everything, including but not limited to stomach and digestive ailments both constipation and IBS, cardiac conditions of all kinds, lowering cholesterol, increasing the production of milk during breast-feeding and even ED. If you don’t know what ED is then you don’t watch TV ads. 🙂
MJ told me that she had dared to experiment with fenugreek, in cooking of course, so I decided to give it a go as well. This Indian inspired dish is a result of that daring do. If you like curry dishes, this should appeal to you.
Oh, and you may want to grab a loaf of French bread to sop up the yummy broth.
Fenugreek Fish and Clam Bisque
A seafood bisque uniquely flavored with fenugreek.
“*” See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients
- 2 lbs fresh clams
- 1 lb fish*, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 bunch of scallions, chopped white and green parts
- 3 large cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
- 8-10 crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 6-8 small red potatoes, sliced in 1/8 inch thick slices
- Spinach – about 2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup half and half*
- 1 ½ tbsps. fenugreek powder
- 1 tbsp. garam masala
- ½ tbsp. cumin powder
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 4 tbsp. butter, divided in half
- Salt and pepper
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven heat the olive oil and half the butter on medium heat.
- Add the scallions, garlic, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with about ½ tsp of salt.
- When the mushrooms start to turn color and emit their liquid add the chicken broth, the potatoes, fenugreek, garam masala, cumin, and salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add the half and half and remainder of the butter.
- Adjust salt to taste. A little extra doesn’t hurt because the fish will absorb it.
- When the liquid returns to a simmer add the fish and clams. Cook until the clams open and the fish turns opaque.
- Reduce the heat and add the spinach. Stir gently just until the spinach wilts.
Remove from heat to avoid over cooking. Serve into bowls.
Fish: A thick meaty fish like catfish, mahi mahi, cod, or halibut is best for this bisque. A thin delicate fish like tilapia or swai falls apart. I
Mushrooms: You can use almost any kind of mushroom. I prefer the crimini, but white button mushroom or shiitake would work fine. Even if you wanted to get fancy and use two or three different kinds like adding oyster mushrooms or similar would be great.
Potatoes: Red potatoes are best, but any kind would work. The thing is to cut them into bite size pieces that are small enough to cook thoroughly in this short amount of time.
Cream: This recipe uses half and half, heavy cream also works yielding a rich, creamy consistency. A lactose free dairy product works fine.
Seasonings: The fenugreek smells like a mild curry mixed with some other herb. In use, it can have a very bitter after taste if used alone. The garam masala and cumin alleviate this aftertaste and add richness to the dish. Regarding the salt and pepper, taste throughout the cooking and adjust the salt as needed. The black pepper you only need to add once.
Thank you Nadalyn for sensing that I was having a very busy April and sending me this deliciously beautiful Fish and Clam Bisque to share with my readers!
More recipes by Nadalyn:
Love the delicious Indian Spices in this beautiful Bisque. Would certainly hit the spot on these cold days. Stay well and take care
Delicious, Fenugreek really healthy spice we use in our curries. very nice post.
This looks lovely – I don’t think I ever had fenugreek before… is that the stuff that smells really bad when it’s cooking but tastes really good, or am I thinking of something else?
Thanks Charles! I not sure about the smell while it’s cooking. I don’t remember it smelling bad the one time I used it, so I would say you are using something else.
I can dive into, swim through that flavor-bursting, good-lookin’ bowl of soup all day long! Interesting to see the use of garam masala here.
Inviting recipe with warm images. Loved it!
Honestly this is my kind of dish, those clams make me drool, the soup must be so tasty!
It does sound right up your alley Raymund! 🙂
I only have dried fenugreek but I’m very intrigued by the recipe and the combination of ingredients. The combination of flavours sounds delicious. I have some home made seafood stock in my freezer and a large package of frozen seafood which would be a good start to making this, I think.
Thanks so much for dropping by! Seafood stock as the base sounds perfect for this bisque!
This is a very inviting and filling seafood soup! Although I am not a big fan of seafood soups, I would love to try this one.
Hi MJ and Nadalyn!
I love fenugreek for cooking and as folk medicine. Your bisque looks to die for! Every single ingredient is making my mouth water. I can’t wait to give this a try.
Being an Indian, I often use fenugreek seeds in cooking but fenugreek powder in soup/ bisque is something I never thought of! Sounds very interesting and I can’t wait to try this recipe. I will have to leave out the clams though coz I doubt the freshness and quality of those available here.
Interesting that you have used seeds but not the powder. I would have thought the norm for Indian cooking was powder. Oh, how wrong was I. Thanks for your comments as always!
Really wonderful recipe. I adore all fish stews/bisques, etc. This looks like a winner and glad to see fenugreek. I bought some once and never used it again since I did not know what to do with it.
Thanks Evelyn! You sound like me and fenugreek – I used it once and never used it again. Now we both have reason to pull it out from the back of the spice cabinet. 🙂
I love seafood in all its forms and this bisque looks like a real treat! I’ve only used fenugreek in one other dish and look forward to using it again. Great tip, too, about using garam masala and cumin. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thanks John! Like you, Nadalyn has access to some great seafood and like you – she knows how to make it shine in a great tasting dish!
I remember drinking tea made of fenugreek while breastfeeding (recommended by the doctor) and the first time I learned that we can use it for cooking was when my Indian friends use fenugreek in cooking. This bisque looks so good, and I love clams. It’s easy to cook (quick to cook) and so flavorful! I’d love to try this soup!
Heeheeh, I actually had to think about ED for a while… I clearly don’t watch enough live TV!! 🙂 I do love Indian spices including the curries so I am quite intrigued by fenugreek as well (as it relates to cooking of course 😉 ) I do eat a lot of Indian in restaurants so it’s possible that I’ve tasted it before but I’ve never purchased it for home cooking — sounds like one we should all get to know. Thank you for the introduction. Beautiful bisque Nadalyn — I always enjoy your guest posts (and your sense of humour!!).
That’s funny Kelly because I had a momentary pause at ED as well. 🙂 I must add that Nadalyn and I have been keeping each other laughing all of our lives. 🙂 Thanks for your comments as always!
What a gorgeous bisque! I’ve never tasted fenugreek, but this looks like a terrific way to sample it! Another great sister post 🙂
Thanks so much Liz! I just love when my sister presents her wonderful dishes! She’s so clever in the kitchen!
Hi,
This looks like such a comforting soup! Yum!!
Thanks Asmita!
This is the first time I heard of fenugreek, I’m very intrigued by it. The dish is lovely. A big bowl of this would be very comforting I bet.
Thanks Nippon! I’ve only used fenugreek once and it was a long time ago, so I’m looking forward to finding some clams and giving this soup a try. Thanks Nadalyn!
This comforting meal looks so good! Am wondering how that fenugreek wlll enhance the taste…
I’m wondering the same thing. Definitely need to make it and find out. 🙂
Simple yet amazingly delicious recipes like this are the best!!!
Thanks Cquek! I totally agree!
I am not familiar with fenugreek spice either. I am going to google it and see what I
find out about it. I live in the Pacific NW on the water. So halibut and Alaskan cod would be perfect. Needless to say we have clams clams clams. Most of the time those clams are in chowder. What a wonderful change of pace this recipe is.
Carol, I envy you for all the great seafood you have in your area! We have a lot of good stuff from the Gulf of Mexico here but not some of the wonderful things you have. The great thing about seafood is the infinite possibilities for wonderful dishes that it provides. Cheers!
It looks like my kind of soup, although I’m not really familiar with fenugreek. I hope I can find Fenugreek at the supermarket. I’m adding it in my list of spices to try. Thanks for sharing!
If you can’t find fenugreek in your market you might try that Season With Spice website. Their prices are very reasonable and you don’t have to buy huge quantities to try something new. I hope you get to try the soup; and like it too.
What a lovely looking soup, Nadalyn! I have always liked fenugreek but only used it in Indian cuisine. This sounds like a great fusion dish. I haven’t had catfish for ages… I have never even seen it sold here, but I did have it as a child (freshly caught…). Your soup brought back childhood memories.
Catfish are part of our best childhood memories too, Sissi. Goin fishin’ was a big part of our lives back then. Now that my husband and I have moved back to Texas we have the opportunity to fish again, and catfish are plentiful in our local water. Thank you for your comment.
That is a very clever dish and a very clever use of fenugreek. But I see that you used almost one tbsp and a half of the powder – how was the bitterness quotient? Normally fenugreek goes very well with meat dishes (fenugreek is also often one of the ingredients of the bottled curry powder) and other added spices, but the quantity used is very little – half a tsp at the most even in the richest of gravies. This does look amazing, and I would like to give it a try for sure.
Hi Minnie! I started out with a tsp. and had to keep adding to get the flavor quotient I wanted, but in turn, the more of the stand alone spice I use the more potent the bitterness to the point that it was very unpleasant. That’s why I had to up the quantity of the other spices as well. I have often found that there can be a lot of variables in the same spice depending on origin or processing. Your particular powder may have a different property than the one I used so you may not get the same result. Start out with a small quantity and adjust to your spice and taste. Thank you for the great question.
Nads and MJ — this looks so delicious and warming! Thanks for bringing this odd little spice to light.
Thank you Viviane. It’s always fun and challenging to experiment with new ingredients, especially when the experiment turns out well. 🙂
I bought a bag of fenugreek seeds last year and used most of them to grow some greens for the salads. The combo of fish and fenugreek is new to me. Would really love to taste the soup as it looks very delicious to me. Thanks for sharing, Nads, MJ.
Fenugreek Greens!! Now that’s something I would like to try if I had a garden. Thank you Angie.
The french bread is ready and waiting for this bisque! It is just perfect for those cooler evenings and looks so good! Have a great week!
Thanks J+C! Ya’ll have a great week too.
Mouthwatering is a perfect description… My mouth is watering. I have allergies or a spring cold so this bisque would hit the spot. 🙂
It’s a bad allergy time where I am too. I wish I could get a bowl to you. Hope you are feeling better Ramona.
What a delicious recipe, it is full of seafood, spice and flavour! And looks classy too 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks so much for the great comment!
I don’t use fenugreek all that often either. It looks like this dish would be wonderful with fenugreek. That’s a beautiful looking bisque xx
Thank you! We really enjoy it.
I wish I had this spice shop near. I venture to a Mideastern market when I need fenugreek but that is fun in itself. I usually end up with a basket full of all sorts of interesting ingredients.
I don’t have a spice shop near me either, Debra, so the Season With Spice website was a great find. I know what you mean. Any time I go into a gourmet shop of any kind I’m like a kid in a candy store.
What a clever cooking duo you two are. The flavor combination of the fish and fenugreek is really interesting. We’re all going through our spices to see if we have any fenugreek we bought but never opened. 🙂
Yes Maureen, MJ and I are a pretty good duo in more ways than one. We’ve always been close and supportive of each other. Thank you and so many others for all the support you continue to show her.
What a nice dish! I love a good seafood bisque, and this one has such interesting flavors. I do have some fenugreek in my spice cabinet, but I so rarely use it. Great reminder of how good it is. Really like this recipe — thanks.
Thank you John! Since Fenugreek is new to me, I’d love to hear some of your uses for it too.