Recipe for Lent Stew

Recipe for Lent Stew

To survive confinement, Chef Sergio Salvador suggests an ideal recipe for this time of year. The ingredients have been calculated for two people.

We hope you like it:

• 300 g. desalted codfish (two 150 g. pieces)
• 300 g. small tinned chickpeas (200 g. for the puree and 100 g. for the crunchy chickpeas)
• 2 free-range eggs
• 350 g. fresh spinach (300 g. for the broth and 50 g. for the stew cream)
• 2 onions (1 for the stew cream and 1 for the broth)
• 1/4 green pepper
• 1 leek (the white part for the stew cream and the green part for the broth)
• 2 tomatoes (1 for the stew cream and 1 for the broth)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon of spicy paprika
• A pinch of cumin
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 kale leaves
• 1 kg of white fish bones
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 small piece of fennel
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Step 1, Begin by roasting the fish bones in a baking dish with one onion, the green part of the leek and a tomato in the oven at 180º. At the same, roast a clove of garlic wrapped in aluminium foil which will be used for the stew cream.Step 2, While roasting the ingredients for the broth, finely dice 1 onion, the white part of the leek and the green pepper. Fry in plenty of oil on medium to low heat and let it slowly cook. Once the vegetables are soft, add the cumin and paprika so they cook just a bit and then add 1 pre-pureed tomato immediately so the spices don’t burn. Fry for another 20 minutes on very low heat and set aside once done.Step 3, Once the ingredients for the broth are roasted, place them in a pot along with the celery stalk, fennel, 300 g. of fresh spinach and 4 bay leaves, covering with mineral water and a bit of salt. Cook for 30 minutes on a low boil and remove any impurities that form at the top like foam. After the 30 minutes, strain well and set aside the broth.Step 4, Lower the oven temperature to 120º. Remove the main rib from the kale leaves, leaving only the fine part of the leaf. Cut into pieces approximately 2 x 2 centimetres. Smear them in a fine layer of olive oil and dehydrate in the oven for about 15 minutes.Step 5, While waiting, dry 100 g. of chickpeas well and fry in plenty of oil until golden and crunchy. Save this oil off the heat to cook the codfish later.Step 6, Heat the remaining 200 g. of chickpeas in the tinning water and set aside.Step 7, At this point, the fried onion, garlic and tomato base should be done, the broth finished and strained, the clove of garlic roasted, the kale dehydrated, the crunchy chickpeas hot with the others and the oil where the chickpeas were cooked cooled.Step 8, It’s time to finish the stew cream. Blend the fried onion, garlic and tomato base with the roasted clove of garlic. Add fish broth until the texture is silky and can be eaten with a spoon. Cook 50 g. of julienne spinach leaves very briefly in a frying pan with a bit of oil and then add it to the cream. Salt to taste and the cream is ready to be added later to the rest.Step 9, Once the oil is warm, submerge the codfish and cook on low so that it gradually becomes confit.Step 10, Prepare a pot of water to scald the eggs. Use a cup to place the egg without the shell in some plastic wrap covered in oil with a bit of salt as if in a bag, which will be used to scald it.Step 11, Get ready for plating! The chickpeas must be “al dente” in the cooking water, the codfish confit, the stew cream hot and the pot of water boiling to scald the eggs. On the other hand, you will need a plate of kale with the crunchy chickpeas.Step 12, These are the steps: Drain the chickpeas and mash them in a bowl with plenty of the oil from the codfish, adding the juice from the bottom so the pureed chickpeas will be creamy. Submerge the little bags with the eggs in the boiling water and cook for approximately 2 minutes. Start plating!Step 13, Place a nice quantity of pureed chickpeas at the bottom of a soup plate. Then, place the codfish confit over it leaving some room on the side for the poached egg which should already be properly cooked. Add the kale and crunchy chickpeas for decoration and then serve the stew cream at the table with a pitcher just as if at your favourite restaurant.EXTRA TIPS– You can thicken the stew cream by blending in a few chickpeas with the fried onion, garlic and tomato base.– If you blend the spinach in with the cream, it would become a green colour that has nothing to do with the original colour of the dish and make it less attractive. If you want to give it that green touch, scald the spinach for 5 seconds and cool in water with ice to seal the green colour before blending with the rest.– You could dehydrate the spinach just like the kale, but we personally like the texture of the kale in this dish more.

A recipe from Chef Sergio Salvador