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Follow-up note: I left 6 cloves of garlic off the ingredient list for this stew. But the instructions do reflect what you should do with the garlic.

I know that my colleague, Outdoors writer Mark Taylor, would never toot his own horn. So I'm here to toot it for him.

For the second year in a row, The Roanoke Times newsroom turned its holiday potluck into a "Top Chef" competition of sorts. After packing in unwise amounts of food, we all vote for our top two favorite dishes. Last year, Taylor took top prize with his venison ragout over garlic mashed potatoes. And this year, he didn't disappoint us. He took top prize again with an Alaskan fish camp stew recipe he got from his brother, who used to work at a commercial fishing camp in Alaska. The flavors of curry, salmon and coconut milk surely warmed many a belly up in those frozen parts.

I can't complain too much, because my kind colleagues voted me in for the number two spot. I made what I'm starting to call The World's Best White Chicken Chili from a recipe I've shared here before. But I'll bet you'd much rather see Mark's recipe, so in the hopes that he doesn't mind, here goes:

Spicy Alaskan Fish Camp Stew
Courtesy of Mark Taylor

1 lb. fish of choice, cut in 1-inch cubes (wild Alaskan sockeye salmon is my favorite, but farm-raised Atlantic salmon will do and I’ve also used everything from catfish to striped bass)

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 cup chopped carrots

2 cups chicken stock

Half head purple cabbage, chopped

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 tsp. sesame oil

1 Tbsp. crushed red pepper

4 Tbsp. fresh basil

2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

1 (28 oz.) can of peeled, crushed tomatoes

1 can coconut milk (lite is fine)

1 small can crab meat

1 Tbsp. red curry paste

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

In a heavy stockpot over medium-high heat, sauté red pepper flakes and basil. Add garlic and sauté for just a minute or so, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the chicken stock (can sub two cups water and two boullion cubes here) and ginger and bring to a vigorous simmer (but try not to boil). Add carrots and cabbage (and maybe a cup of water, if you want) cover and simmer over medium low heat for about 20 minutes. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, red curry paste, brown sugar and crab meat and continue to simmer. When carrots and cabbage are tender, add shrimp. (You can use canned shrimp here. In that case you can add it during the previous step.) On the red curry, 1 Tbsp. is pretty mild. (It’s the level I used in the pot brought to the Christmas party.) If you like it hotter you can use more red curry (but be careful because it tends to intensify the longer it cooks) or you can just fire up your bowl of stew to taste with a shot of Vietnamese chili garlic sauce.

When shrimp are pink, add fish. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes or so to cook the fish.
In addition to adding some aforementioned chili garlic sauce, I like to sprinkle a little more brown sugar over the stew when I serve it. I guess you could throw a parsley sprig or two on there just for kicks. Enjoy!