This is the way I do it at the peak of the summer, when tomatoes are ripe and full of flavour. If that's not the case, good quality tinned tomatoes are a much better solution than bland and tasteless supermarket "tomatoes". I choose not to put bell pepper in my caldeirada. This will be considered an heresy by most. I find that the bell pepper overpowers everything else, and surely masks the flavour of the most important ingredient, the fish, which should - and is - the centre of this masterpiece. The recipe is very simple, it's basically a set of guidelines. The freshest and highest quality ingredients and patience are key to achieving the best results. And then, no matter what, the result is always very satisfying.
For 4 people:
- 1 kg of caldeirada mix. This will vary with the season, daily and depending where you are in Portugal. It will often consist of monkfish, skate, pata roxa (a variety of shark - no kidding), moray, conger, sometimes tuna - which I find not to be appropriate -, and whatever is plentiful on that day.
- 1.5 kg of potatoes, peeled and sliced 1 cm thick
- 1 kg of tomatoes, preferably peeled, or a 400g tin of good quality tomatoes, sliced
- 4 or 5 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 onions, cut in half and then thinly sliced
- parsley, a bunch
- olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper
- a glass of white wine, beer or even water.
Find a pot which will fit all the ingredients tightly, almost to the top. If you have the time, sprinkle the fish with coarse salt and let it stand for half an hour or so. Then, start layering the ingredients, starting with onion, potatoes and tomatoes, and season each layer with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add also parsley and the slices of garlic. Then the fish. The last layer should be of tomatoes, potatoes and onion. A glass of whatever liquid goes in. Put the pot on the stove, medium-low heat. Put the lid on and let it very slowly cook. Quite a bit of liquid will form. Open the lid as few times as humanely possible and under no circumstance should you try to stir the pot with a spoon. The most you can do is gently shake the pot. Once the potatoes are done, i.e., once you can pierce them with the tip of a knife, turn off the heat. Wait for 10 minutes and dig in. You will need an off-dry white wine, good quality bread and a simple salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber (if in season).
