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prawns and simmer for another five minutes; then add the mussels or clams,
cover and cook for a further five minutes or so, until the fish is ready and the
mussels or clams have opened.Take care not to break up the fish by stirring
too often. Add salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with fresh parsley and
lemon wedges before serving.
Grilled fish with romesco sauce
There are many different varieties of
romesco
sauce, which originates from
the Tarragona province, and you can experiment with the quantities of the
ingredients below until you find the taste that suits you. Made with small
chilli peppers, fresh or dried, it can be a very hot sauce, though you can
substitute cayenne pepper or even paprika for these, if you want to control
the heat.
Ingredients
4 fish steaks, marinaded in olive oil, chopped garlic and lemon juice
2 lemons, quartered
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
10–15 almonds (toasted under the grill)
2 tbsp dry white wine
Chilli peppers/cayenne pepper/ paprika to taste
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt
Method
Fry the onion and the garlic in the olive oil until soft.Add the tomatoes, white
wine and chilli peppers, and cook over a low heat for twenty minutes. Crush
or grind the almonds and add to the mixture, adding enough extra olive oil
to achieve the consistency of a purée. Add the vinegar and a pinch of salt.
Either put the whole lot through a blender or food processor, or pass through
a sieve – you’re aiming for a smooth, rather thick sauce. Leave to cool at room
temperature. Take the fish out of the marinade, grill, and serve with lemon
wedges. Serve the sauce separately, to be dipped in or spooned over.
Know your sauce
The sauce is the source of good food, as a Catalan might say. Everything starts with
a
sofregit
, basically sliced onion, chopped tomato and garlic that has been sautéed
down to a soft, almost jam-like consistency. This underpins the construction of
countless classic Catalan dishes, which might then be thickened before serving with
the addition of a
picada
– a smooth paste (made in a mortar and pestle) of garlic,
almonds, hazelnuts, fried bread, saffron, olive oil and parsley. The southern Catalan
romesco
sauce, made with chilli peppers, is a spicier version of
picada
, used as a
dip (for grilled spring onions or fish) rather than as an ingredient.
All i oli
(garlic and
oil) is a fiery Catalan mayonnaise, made without eggs, served with grilled meat (tradi-
tionally rabbit), fish and shellfish or stirred into
fideuà
. And there’s also
samfaina
, a
ratatouille-like stew of garlic, onion, tomato, aubergine and pepper. Again, this can
be served as an accompaniment (perhaps for roast chicken or salt cod), but it’s also
made into a sauce by cooking a lot longer until sticky and then puréeing.
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Catalan cookery