fishermans stew

fishlessman

<p />picked up a cataplana on ebay at a good price, works nice in the egg. leave the cover off to get the good flavor for the begining of the cook and then put it back on to finish it up. no stirring needed with these, just put the cover on, shake it, flip it, remove the cover and continue cooking. its a two sided pot, copper with a tin lining.

coated the pan with bacon grease, top and bottom, and fried up some chourico pieces in the egg. removed them and added onions peppers, diced plum tomatoes and roasted them for a while. then added some white wine, nutmeg, allspice, red peper, and some granulated garlic and cooked it down. put the fish and chourico in the other half, poured the sauce over the top and locked the lid. last few minutes added shrimp and then a little later some mussels. fish chunks were haddock, halibut, and flounder

served over crusty french bread. this is a portuguese dish called Caldeirada

WooDoggies

Wow, looks awesome!

egret

fishlessman,
Man O Man, that looks sensational!!

Nature Boy

fishlessman,
dang.
Chris

Eggecutioner

fishlessman,[p]That doesn't look like the stuff we used to make. Just better, so much better.[p]Nice.[p]E

Unknown

fishlessman,
WoW! that is cool. i've never heard of a pot like that. how old is that thing?[p]incredible stew... talk about a seafood bonanza[p]great stuff

Angie2B

fishlessman,
Can I come over for dinner? Did it taste as good as it looked?

Celtic Wolf

fishlessman,[p] Bet you thought I was gonna say grip.. Ohh I just did.. [p] looks good recipe please

Unknown

fishlessman,
This looks fantastic! Thanks for the post and also for the great gift idea! I searched ebay, and no cataplana's turned up in the search. Best price I found was on Overstock.com: 59.99 for the 11.5 inch and 69.99 for the 13 inch. Is there another resource cheaper? Is there a benefit of one size or the other in a large egg?[p]Thanks!
MaryA

fishlessman

MaryA,
ive been looking for a couple of years for one priced right. the price you found is cheaper than what ive seen. they come up on ebay, but it takes time to find one priced right. i think people were buying them for decorations for the kitchen more than for actually cooking with them. they are realy made for outside cooking as they drip a little when flipping. i payed about 20 dollars for this one and probably bid on atleast 6 before i got one over the last 2 years. the 13 inch one is the one you want, any smaller and it would only serve one. i dont understand why there arent more on ebay, they are an old style portuguese pan. used it 3 times so far, steamers, stew, and potatoes and onions with garlic and wine. works fine in the egg, dont know how long the shine will last though

Unknown

fishlessman,
Thanks! I'm ordering the 13 inch from Overstock
MaryA

fishlessman

Celtic Wolf,
cut up chourico into bite sized pieces and fry, remove and add later with the fish. if you cant find fresh chourico, then go with something like andoulle. simmer down some onion, green pepper and plum tomatoes. i added some stewed tomatoes later as i didnt have enough plum tomatoes and did this with the pot open. added 1 cup white wine, 1/2 teaspoon allspice and some nutmeg and a tsp of red chili flakes and simmered it down some more til it looked like a sauce. tasted it and it was bitter so added some sugar to taste. while it was simmering i cut up some fillets to bite sized pieces and salted them down. when the sauce looked right i poured it over the fish that was layered, covered and baked for about 25 minutes. added the shrimp, and then added the mussels a few minutes later and cooked til they opened. serve on bread or toast, something thats crusty. you want as many kinds of seafood as you can find, atleast 3 kinds of fish for the different textures. its flavor is strong with the spice, but mellows with the bread so get good bread

fishlessman

MaryA,
when new they come with lacquer on them, to remove it, boil it in a large pot with 1 tablespoon of baking soda with every quart of water, it will peel off and the pot will never be as shiney again.

Unknown

MaryA,[p]Spanish Table also has hte hand hammered ones.[p]http://www.spanishtable.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TST&Product_Code=3130-30546

DryFly

Did you have to season the pan in any way or do any other prep work? I bought a large one in Portugal about 8 years ago and never used it. The handle does not clamp over the other half and make a tight seal, and not having any idea as to what the hell I was doing found that experimenting with it daunting. Why would you have to flip it? Mine is a hammered brass one. Really interested in what you have to say. Thanks.

fishlessman

its made to flip for cooking on an open fire to avouid burning. i mostly use it as a steamer or braiser for things i dont want smoke in and for things that might normally be foiled like foiled potatoes and onions etc. mussels in a garlic wine tomato sauce etc. i get alot more use out of my big copper tin lined pot than i do out of the cataplana as its smaller and really only makes a couple of servings at best. i wipe with oil and start cooking, dont use a scrunge pad on it as it will remove the tin quickly over time

DryFly

Did you have to season the pan in any way or do any other prep work? I bought a large one in Portugal about 8 years ago and never used it. The handle does not clamp over the other half and make a tight seal, and not having any idea as to what the hell I was doing found that experimenting with it daunting. Why would you have to flip it? Mine is a hammered brass one. Really interested in what you have to say. Thanks.