Not sure how I wound up on Anthony Bourdain’s site called www.ExplorePartsUnknown.com but I noticed a few recipes there that sounded interesting. One of the recipes there was something called Chraime by Shay Levi. On the Explore Parts Unknown site this recipe was described as a traditional North African Recipe. I looked Chraime up on other sites and it was also described as Moroccan and also Libyan and I also found it as a Sephardic Jewish Recipe……Anyways…..The recipe is very simple and sort of taste close to harrisa-like in taste. So if you are a fan of the taste of Harissa then you should enjoy this recipe. I made only slight changes due to what I had to use up at home. I also held back on adding roasted red bell peppers that would have added a nice taste. From what I read Chraime should be more of a fish stew but for me this worked out to be fish in a very tasty sauce tonight. The next night I did use more of the sauce and it was more stew like. It is recommended to cook a mild white fish in the sauce in a pan………I cooked mine in the oven because I didn’t want to break up my from frozen fish but you can cook the fish anyway that you like. If you live near a store that sells fresh fish you might want to cook the fish in the pan with the sauce. If you don’t have fresh fish and have to use frozen fish like me this might work out better with your thawed fish done in the oven and just add the sauce……. This recipe makes around 4 servings. You might get more or less depending on how you use the sauce….and also how thin you make the sauce……I got 4 servings and I also used some of the sauce on plain spaghetti squash that was topped with Greek Feta cheese and it was delicious with the fish.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 mild white fish filets (something like cod would work well)

1 onion – diced

2 cups crushed tomatoes

1 cup water (maybe more depending on how thin you want)

8 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons hot paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil +plus more oil to roast fish (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

1/4 cup cilantro – chopped

Directions

If you are using frozen fish set your oven to 350 degrees F and oil a baking sheet with olive oil. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and LIGHTLY season the fish with salt and pepper. The nice thing about thawed from frozen mild white fish is that they come out usually perfect in 15 minutes when you place them on a middle rack.

The sauce cooks up real fast.

Add olive oil to a sauce pot on medium high heat. Add the onions when the sauce is hot and cook till the onions are translucent. Then add the crushed tomatoes, water, garlic, hot paprika, salt, cumin, and caraway, Simmer for around 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice. Decide if you want to thin down more with more water.

Serve on your fish.

Garnish with some scallions and cilantro if you have any.

ENJOY!!!!

A Special THANKS!!!!! To www.ExploreParksUnknown.com and Shay Levi for their really delicious recipe so I could make what I got here.