Palos Verdes Stew

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(A quick note:  please forgive the lighting in the completed dish pictures, and in the video.  I did this too late last night and a storm was coming through and the light was just horrible.)  

Good morning!  I hope everyone had an amazing week, and I hope we are all looking forward to an amazing weekend.  This dish, Palos Verdes Stew, is a quick stew made from the GHCookbook of 1963, from their Weight-Watching chapter.  The base of this stew is really tasty, yet the tuna fish is questionable.

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(recipe and instructions are written as found in cookbook)

(210 calories per serving)

1 tablesp. butter or margarine
1 medium onion, minced
1 cup chopped celery
3 cups quartered, then thinly sliced, pared white potatoes
1 cup water
1 1/2 teasp. whole oregano
1 1/2 teasp. salt
1 1-pt. - 3-oz. can tomato juice
1 6 1/2 or 7-oz. can water or broth packed tuna, flaked
Dry packaged instant mashed potatoes (optional)

In butter or margarine, in large skillet with tight cover, saute onion and celery until onion is light brown; add potatoes, water, oregano, and salt; cover tightly, then simmer 10 min., or until potatoes are almost tender.  Add tomato juice and tuna; simmer 10 min.; then stir in 1 to 3 tablesp. dry instant mashed potatoes for a bit of thickening, if desired.  Serve in soup bowls.  Makes 4 servings.

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Notes:

• I really think this stew would be quite good with a different, milder type of fish.  The tuna fish taste is really strong at first, and then you no longer taste it as the bite goes on since the tuna fish breaks up so much and just falls apart into the stew.  If you had big chunks of a nice, mild fish this dish would be quite good.  Saying that, though, this could possibly work with tuna steaks if you prefer.
• The seasonings are good.  After I added the oregano and it cooked with the potatoes the oregano just smelled so strong and harsh.  After I added the tomato juice the smell mellowed, and when it was all done it tasted good - not strong at all.
• The amount of tomato juice needed for this is a little over 2 cups.
• I used two cans of drained tuna fish.
• The potatoes were really nice - slightly firm and not mushy.  The onion and celery faded into the background, taste wise.
• Still, though, the tuna really is too strong for my tastes.  And even though it is strong, you really don't taste it because it breaks up so much - so this tastes like a vegetable stew that is flavored with tuna, which is odd to me.
• That said, this was super easy to make, and easily made under 30 minutes.
• This would feed 2-3 hungry people.