Caldeirada estilo Nazaré

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Stirring in the parsley

Tomatoes and peppers

Diced onions and garlic

This is a fish stew from Nazaré, a coastal town in the Leiria district of central Portugal.

Ingredients

• 2 onions, peeled and diced
• 1 bulb garlic, peeled and diced
• 1 red pepper, sliced or you can use an equivalent mixture of colours
• Olive oil
• 900 ml fish stock
• 4 firm white fish fillets
• 175 ml dry white wine
• 400 g tin tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper
• A few saffron stems, ground
• Parsley, chopped
• 170 g prawns

Mise en place

• Pre-heat oven to 180° C (350° F - gas 4)

Method

1. Heat some olive oil and sauté the onions, garlic and peppers until they are soft.
2. In the meantime, poach the fish in the stock for about 20 minutes.
3. Add the wine to the onion mixture.
4. When the wine has reduced by half, add the tomatoes, bay leaves, seasoning and saffron and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, adding the parsley for the last minute.
5. Discarding the bay leaves, spread the tomato and onion mixture over the bottom of an oven-proof dish.
6. Remove the fish, cut into large pieces and place in the dish on top of the tomato mixture and pour most of the fish stock over the whole thing.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes.
8. Five minutes before you are ready to serve, cook the prawns in the remaining fish stock.

Serving suggestions

Serve with boiled potatoes and garnish with the prawns.

Variations

Any firm white fish can be used. Traditionally it would be a mixture of eel, skate, gurnet, cuttlefish and squid. However, you could also use halibut, hake, bream and mullet.

Chef's notes

This can also be cooked in a fish kettle on the stove, instead of being baked in the oven. In this case, cook for about 15 minutes over a low heat.

This recipe has also been used to create a very garlicky Captain's pie.