Recipe: Seafood Cataplana
The seafood cataplana is a traditional Portuguese dish which is served on Madeira. The dish is made in a cataplana, which is a common cooking utensil in Portugal. If you do not have a cataplana, use a pan and saucepan lid instead.
Seafood Cataplana Ingredients (4 servings):
- 8 prawns (or 4 langoustines)
- 4 slices of Atlantic wreckfish (or red porgy)
- 4 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)
- 2 onions (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 2 large tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
- 1 spring coriander
- ½ red pepper (seeded and cut into strips)
- ½ yellow pepper (seeded and cut into strips)
- The juice from one lemon
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 1 bay leaf
- Ground black pepper
- Salt
To start, brush the fish in the salt, the lemon and the pepper. Leave to stand for approximately 5 minutes.
Then, lightly fry the onion, garlic and bay leaf in the cataplana and add the tomato and peppers. Once these ingredients are combined, cook for a few minutes until you obtain a sofrito base sauce.
Put by half the base sauce and arrange the fish over the rest. Then peel the prawns or langoustines. Arrange them over the fish. You can cover your dish with the sofrito you put by beforehand. Sprinkle with coriander and wine.
Finally, close the cataplana and cook the dish for approximately 20 minutes.
Serve with garnish, such as rice or baked potatoes.
For dessert, we suggest the refreshing Pitanga Mousse or Pudim de Maracuja.
If you are on the island, do not hesitate to check out the Centro do Ouro – A Cataplana restaurant for delicious seafood cataplana.
Enjoy!
