Seafood is a very important part of the Portuguese diet and is a regular treat for many Portuguese families. You can try many different cataplans dishes in different restaurants but none are as good as the ones you make at home.
For a traditional cataplana you need to buy a copper closed lid pot to cook the meal in – if you do not have one then you can get the same results by using a large pan with a tight lid.
This is a classic recipe from the Algarve but you can modify it to fit your own personal tastes and include many other different types of shell fish or even add a little piri-piri to the dish for some heat!
Ingredients
1.5kg of fresh clams in the shells
5cl of oil
300g of fresh tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
100g of chouriço sausage
150g of chopped onion
50g of presunto
1dl of dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1 bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Wash the clams well in cold water and keep the clams fresh by submerging them in salty water until they are needed for cooking.
- Chop the onions into large chunks and slice the garlic cloves thinly.
- Put your cataplana or cooking pot onto the stove and add oil, the onion, bay leaf and parsley.
- Poour in the white wine and allow to reduce.
- Now cut the presunto ham and the chouriço sausage
- Remove the skins from the fresh tomatoes then cut into cubes and mix in with the presunto and chouriço and add all to the pan.
- Remove the bay leaf and the parsley from the mixture and drain the clams.
- Put the clams into the cataplana and cook on a high heat for about 10- 12 minutes or until the shells of the clams open.
- Serve the meal in the cataplana on the table with fresh crusty bread and white wine
- Enjoy!