Recipe: Portuguese fish stew

Ingredients

5 Anaheim chillies or Italian frying peppers
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
200g linguiça sausage, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise about ½ cm thick
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup dry white wine
3 cups clam broth or fish stock
680g unpeeled new potatoes, halved
4 medium tomatoes – halved, seeded and chopped
450g clams, scrubbed
900g skinless cod fillets, cut into 1 cm pieces
450g mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Finely chopped cilantro and parsley, for garnish
Crusty bread, for serving

Method

1. Roast the chillies directly over a gas flame or under a preheated broiler, turning, until charred all over.

2. Let cool. Peel, seed and stem the chillies, then coarsely chop them.

3. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Add the sausage and cook over moderate heat, stirring, just until the fat starts to render, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the chopped roasted chillies, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.

5. Stir in the wine and simmer over moderately low heat until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Stir in the clam broth, potatoes and tomatoes.

6. Cover the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are just tender, about 25 minutes.

7. Add the clams to the saucepan, cover and cook over moderately low heat for 3 minutes.

8. Gently stir in the cod and mussels, cover and cook until the clams and mussels have opened and the cod is just white throughout, about 10 minutes; discard any shellfish that haven’t opened. Season with salt and pepper.

9. Ladle the fish stew into shallow bowls and garnish with cilantro and parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Recipe supplied by chef Michael Cimarusti

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.