Suquet – A fish dish from Catalonia

En estos días de frío y nevadas intensas por todo el país, desde Home English te proponemos una suculenta receta para entrar en calor, que esta vez, viene de Cataluña, y se llama Suquet... mmmm, se os va a hacer la boca agua!

This wonderful dish is a sort (tipo) of fish and potato soup. It originated as a quick and simple meal made by local fishermen on their boats. As they came back home from their fishing trips, they would make this very special stew (guiso) using the fish that had been damaged (estropeado) by hooks (anzuelos) and nets,(redes) and the vegetables they had brought from their gardens at home.

The name Suquet comes from the Catalan word suc, which means “sauce”(salsa). The sauce of this dish is very simple, just made with tomatoes, onion and garlic,(ajo) but the fish stock (caldo de pescado) is the essential ingredient that gives all the Mediterranean flavour  to the dish. If you want to reinforce this flavour, you can also add other seafood (marisco) like prawns,(gambas) clams (almejas) or mussels.(mejillones)

      

 INGREDIENTS (for 6 people)

Flour

Salt & pepper

1 kilo very fresh fish (monkfish (rape) and / or sea bass (lubina) cut into pieces)

Olive oil

Parsley (perejil)

4 cloves garlic chopped (dientes de ajo cortados a daditos)

1 onion (chopped)

2 tomatoes (peeled and chopped)

750g potatoes (peeled and sliced)

Fish stock

1 slice bread (fried)

12 almonds (fried)

METHOD

Mix some flour with salt and pepper. Cover the fish in the flour on both sides and fry it in a little oil until golden brown. Sprinkle (espolvorea) the parsley and half the garlic over the fish. Leave the mixture to simmer on a very low heat (cocinar a fuego lento) In a separate pan, fry the onion until golden. Add the tomato and fry it with the onion. Add the potatoes and enough fish stock (caldo de pescado) to cover the mixture. Add the potato mixture to the fish, cover the pan and cook until the potatoes are soft. In another pan, mix the remaining garlic, the fried bread and the almonds with a little oil. Now, crush (tritura) these ingredients in a mortar (mortero), add them to the fish mixture and cook for a few more minutes.