2000s Recipes + Menus

Catalan Seafood Stew

Serves6 to 8 (Main Course)
  • Active time:2 hr
  • Start to finish:2 hr
ADAPTED FROM ALICIA JUANPERE, CATACURIAN COOKING SCHOOL, EL MASROIG, SPAIN
May 2008
The stew should be juicy (“suquet,” in Catalan)—not too soupy, not too thick—cooked with just enough liquid to cover the ingredients.

For picada

  • 2 dried ñora peppers, wiped clean
  • 2 tablespoons hazelnuts, toasted and most of skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel while warm
  • 2 tablespoons blanched almonds, toasted
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crumbled

For stew

  • 2 lb medium tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
  • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups fish stock
  • 2 teaspoons paprika (not hot; preferably Spanish)
  • 12 small hard-shelled clams (about 2 inches across), scrubbed
  • 1 lb cultivated mussels
  • 3/4 lb hake or Pacific cod fillet with skin, cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 3/4 lb large shrimp, peeled

  • Equipment:

    a mortar and pestle

Make picada:

  • Soak peppers in boiling-hot water (weight with a plate if they float) until softened, about 45 minutes. Discard stems and tear open peppers, then dip in soaking water to remove seeds. Scrape flesh from skin with a small sharp knife (discard skin).
  • Pound nuts with garlic to a smooth paste using mortar and pestle. Add saffron, then add peppers and grind to a paste.

Make stew:

  • Cut an X in bottom of each tomato and blanch in a large pot of boiling water 30 seconds, then peel, seed, and chop.
  • Peel potatoes and cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Break slices into 1-inch pieces.
  • Heat 1/2 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot, then cook potatoes, stirring occasionally, until pale golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
  • Cook garlic with parsley in remaining 1/4 cup oil in a wide 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over medium heat, stirring, until fragrant.
  • Stir in tomatoes and wine and briskly simmer 1 minute. Add potatoes with a slotted spoon, then add stock and simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Increase heat to high.
  • Thin picada with some liquid from pot, then add to pot with paprika and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until broth is slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add clams and cook, covered, until they start to open, 3 to 7 minutes.
  • Add mussels. Toss hake and shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt and add to stew. Cook, covered, until shells open wide and hake and shrimp are cooked, 4 to 8 minutes; discard unopened shellfish.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Keywords
seafood,
alicia juanpere,
spanish,
soup,
web-exclusive recipes

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