This week's French Garden recipe

People who know me would tell you that it's hard to tell which I like more: gardening or cooking. I'd say it depends on which I'm doing at the moment. Anyway, French cooking and French gardening go hand in hand. For me, cooking is an on-going adventure. Join me here on my culinary explorations, where I share with you both my old favorites as well as new inspirations. It's my fondest wish that these recipes serve as a springboard for your own new creations.

02/23/2002
Cataplana

Ingredients:

For 6 servings:

2 lbs. assorted fish filets, preferably firm-fleshed, such as rockfish, haddock, monkfish, etc. Use what is freshest, but avoid oily or red-fleshed fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel
12 small clams
6 medium shrimp
2 onions, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
2 peppers, one red, one orange, seeded and sliced 2" x 1/2"
3 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 small bunch coriander (cilantro)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Red pepper flakes or pili-pili hot sauce

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, add the onions and saute until softened. Add the peppers and cook another 5 minutes. Toss in the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. At this point, if not serving the cataplana with pili-pili sauce at the table, you can add red pepper to taste.

In a heavy enameled cast iron casserole, place a ladleful of vegetable mixture. Over it, place a layer fish, starting with the firmest fish you have. Top with several sprigs of coriander, a layer of vegetables, fish, and so on. Place the most delicate fish uppermost, and end with the shellfish and shrimp.

Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the clams on top are just opened. Serve in shallow bowls, dividing the different fishes, clams, and shrimp among the servings. Accompany with plenty of crusty bread.

Note: The cataplana is a fish stew from southern Portugal which is usually cooked in a copper vessel of the same name which is shaped like a giant clamshell. The cataplana has clamps at the sides to hold it shut during cooking. But cooking this light stew in a traditional casserole yields delicious results.

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Try some of our past French garden recipes:

Appetizers and small dishes

Basics

Beef, pork, lamb, and veal