Veggie Stew

We have some old friends staying with us - that I had never met! These are friends of My Beloved's from his Air Force days, back when Vietnam was the conflict we Americans were botching rather than the current one in Iraq. Annette and Dave are in town for the wedding of their daughter so I got to meet them at last and after just a few days I already count them among my good friends.

This is what I made to share with them from the perfect pepper and a bunch of other fresh veggies like pattypan squash thinly sliced, zucchini chunked, a big onion cut in spears, minced garlic, some white wine, tomato paste, Italian-type herbs and olive oil. All I did was soften the onions and garlic in the olive oil, add the rest and simmer for about half an hour or so.

It made the base on which we laid some fresh halibut fillets to steam with the lid on, skin side up so we could easily peel off the skin once it loosened, then flipped the fillets over in the sauce to coat them and served them simply resting on a bed of the soft, sweet veggies.

The oohs and aaahs from our Florida friends rewarded the not-very-hard work and the Ferrari-Carano 2005 Mill Station chardonnay gave up its oaky essence to enhance the fish and the friendship.