Wednesday, 7 November 2018

Pepper fish á la Portuguese

Very simple, nice and colorful fish will leave an amazing smell over the kitchen. It is very simple and fast to prepare but takes long on the oven.

Ingredients:
  • 2 Sea bream like fish with only the guts removed (skin and bone left untouched)
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 large onion
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 4 carrots
  • 8 small or 4 large potatoes
  • 1/2 cup of red wine
  • olive oil
  • 2 laurel leaves 
  • 4 slices of chouriço
  • paprika
  • salt
Heat up the oven to 180C.
Start by getting a large oven tray, large enough to contain all the ingredients.
Boil water in a pan with some salt.
Wash the potatoes skin if you enjoy it or peel them if you don't.
Cut the potatoes in small thumb sized pieces.
Get the potatoes to soften in the boiling water for about 2 min if they are peeled and 4 min otherwise.
Let the potatoes dry and cool while you prepare the rest.
Peel the  carrots and cut them in quarters along their length.
Cut the peppers and onion in stripes of less than a finger thickness.
Pile the vegetables (including potatoes and cloves of garlic) on the tray.
Add the chouriço and three soup spoons of olive oil and mix it all with your hands and spread them on the tray.
Place the fish carefully - to avoid it crumbling- side by side on top of the veggies and sprinkle it with olive oil, salt and paprika.
15 min later...
When the skin of the fish starts looking crunchy take the tray out.
Use a large spatula to remove the fish to a dishes.
Add half a cup of wine to the veggies and mix them before laying the fish again side by side on top with the most cooked side down and put the tray back in the oven.
15 min later...
Remove again the tray from the oven and the fish from the tray.
This time generously add olive oil to the veggies and mix them.
Lay the fish again on top of the veggies with their most cooked side down.
15 min later..
Should be done!
This means the skin of the fish should be crispy, easy to remove and that the meat of the fish should slide right off the bone with minimum effort. The potatoes should be well cooked with a roasted skin and the peppers should be almost melting. There should also still be olive oil based sauce covering the base of the veggies.

Enjoy. 😉