You do not stir this stew. Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and several fish — the cheap and the noble together — layered in a pot so they cook in their own liquor. The mix is the point. A single fish is a different dish. Bread for what remains is not optional.
Caldeirada belongs to the fishing towns from the Minho to the Algarve: the catch of the day, simmered on the beach or in the kitchen. Conger, monkfish, bream. Season as you layer.
Cover, simmer, shake the pot once or twice. A wooden spoon would wreck the fish. Cilantro at the end. Serve from the pot, going down through the layers, and a coastal white if you can find one.
Method
- 01
In a wide, heavy pot, make a layer of onion, then potato, then pepper, then tomato, then fish, seasoning each layer with salt as you go. Repeat until everything is in. The cheap fish and the noble cook together; that is the point of a caldeirada. Don't stir, and don't fuss the layers into a jumble — they are the method.
- 02
Tuck the garlic and the bay leaf down into the layers. Pour over the white wine, the olive oil, and a splash of water — just enough to create steam, not a swimming pool. The tomatoes and the fish will give their own liquor as they cook. Put the lid on; you have assembled, and now you must leave it alone.
- 03
Cover and simmer gently for 30 to 35 minutes without stirring. Once or twice, take the pot by both handles and shake it, so the layers settle and nothing catches — a wooden spoon would wreck the fish. You will know it is done when the potatoes yield and the fish flakes if you nudge it. The kitchen should smell of the boats.
- 04
Scatter the cilantro over the stew and bring the pot to the table. Serve from it, going down through the layers so each plate gets potato, pepper, tomato, and fish. Bread for the liquor is not optional. A coastal white if you have one — but the stew will forgive a simpler glass.
