Event: The Cataplana Experience 2009
Posted: 15 September '09 by Kelly
The Cataplana Experience event
During our holiday in Portugal (it seems like a distant memory already!) we were lucky enough to stumble upon the Cataplana Experience, part of the Algarve Gourmet 2009 event.
A Cataplana is a hinged, metal pot which is used on a stove. The whole basis for Cataplana cooking seems to revolve around the “single pot” idea – a particularly healthy and flavour-infusing way of cooking. Although the term “cataplana” refers to the cooking utensil, it has become closely associated with the bouillabaise-type, stock-based stews that it commonly is used for.
The festival, which ran for a week, had several events including the display of prototype catapalanas, wine-tastings, cookery schools, and a cooking programmes broadcasting live from the Cataplana Experience event – all of which was free to attend and participate in!
On the night that we attended we were lucky enough to get a great position at the front of Chef Nuno Diniz’s cookery school, and to get a brief chat with him after the class. Having been tantalised and teased with the sight of the meaty lobsters and the fantastic aromas from the cookery school for over an hour, we rushed through the crowds to one of the participating restaurants along the Vilamoura marina for our own fish-filled cataplana – and certainly weren’t disappointed. It’s quite a spectacle when the pot is brought down to your table and the top removed to reveal the mounds of fish and shellfish as the steam billows out.
Here’s the recipe from his demonstration: lobster in it’s nage with spinach and vitelote brick. You can view the slideshow hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5
Thanks again to Chef Diniz for the demonstration and the recipe!
Ingredients
For the brik:
- 300g of vitelotte potatoes
- Salt and bayleaf
- Olive Oil
- Chives
- 4 brik sheets
- Summer truffle
For the lobster in nage:
- 2 lobsters
- A bowl of iced water
- Olive oil
- butter
- 6 shallots
- Half bulb of fennel
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 3 tomatoes without skin and seeds
- 40g of tomato puree
- 2 bunches of tarragon
- 5 cloves of garlic
- A good glug of vermouth
- 2dl dry white wine
- 0,5l water
- 5 grains of dry fennel
- 20 grains black pepper
For the Spinach:
- 300g spinach leaves
- Butter
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Fine salt
Method for the brick:
- Cook vitelote in water with salt, garlic and bay leaf
- Peel and to jam coarsely with a fork
- Mix oil and cebolinho
- Extend a sheet of brik and to brush with clarified butter
- Place in the way a little it purée of vitelotte and a slice of truffle
- Make a bundle with brik and to cook in the oven 195º for 3 minutes
Method for the lobster:
- If you have bought a live lobster, you should kill it just before cooking it. The most humane way to do this is to put it in the freezer for two hours, or put in a container and cover it with crushed ice for the same amount of time – this will render it unconscious
- Put the chilled lobster in a large pan of cold, salted water and slowly bring it to the boil. It will die before the water boils
- When the water has reached boiling point, lower the heat and simmer the lobster for around 10 minutes for the first 450g. Simmer for a further 3 minutes for each extra 450g (so a 1kilogram lobster should cook for between 10 and 13 minutes). When the lobster is cooked, its shell will turn a deep brick red
- Remove the lobster from the water, and plunge them into iced water to arrest the cooking
- Twist off the claws, then break into sections, crack the claw shell with a hammer or a pair of lobster crackers, then remove the flesh
- Twist off the legs from the body, flatten with the back of a knife and then use a pick or a teaspoon handle to remove the flesh
- Next, split the lobster in half along its length by inserting a large, sharp knife at right angles to the edge of the head and press down firmly. The body and tail should split lengthways
- Then cut through the head in the same way. You should now be able to separate the two halves. Remove and throw away the pale stomach sac, the gills and the dark intestinal thread that runs the length of the tail. The green liver (known as tomalley) is considered a delicacy
- Remove the meat from the tail, and scrape out the soft flesh from the shell
- Put all of the meat in one bowl, and all of the larger pieces of shell in another
Method for the broth:
- Place the cataplana over a low heat
- Put the olive oil into the cataplana, and add the lobster shell
- Add the butter
- Add the shallots, garlic and fennel and sweat them until the ingredients become translucent
- Cut the tomatoes into rough chunks and add to the cataplana
- When the tomatoes have started to break down, add the vermouth and flame it to burn the raw edge of the alcohol off
- Add the tarragon, the wine, the dried fennel and the pepper
- Add the water and close the cataplana, cooking for 35 minutes
- Remove the cataplana from the heat and pass the contents through a sieve, pressing firmly to extract all of the liquid
- Return the liquid to the cataplana, and return to the heat to reduce slightly
Method for the Spinach:
- Place the butter into the frying pan, and place the frying pan over a low heat
- When the butter has melted, push a fork into a garlic clove and rub it across the surface of the frying pan
- When the butter starts to make foam, add the spinach leaves
- When the spinach has wilted, sprinkle the salt over the leaves and remove from the heat immediately
To assemble the dish
- In the bottom of your dish, add a bed of spinach
- With a ladel, add some of the stock over the spinach
- Place some of the lobster meat on top of the spinach
- Slice the brik diagonally, and place each half on the plate
Other Information
Chef Nuno Diniz is the Executive Chef at the York House hotel, Lisbon
- Langoustine could be used instead of lobster
- “Nage” is the aromatic broth in which crustaceans are cooked. The shellfish is then served with this broth.
- Vitelotte is potato with blue-violet flesh.
- Black olives could be used instead of truffle
Tags: event, portugal, Recipes
Categories: Things to do
Hi,
Just a quick note:
I cook the lobster in boiling salted water for 3 minutes (the body) and the claws for another 2 minutes.
This is for a 700g lobster, 5 to 7 minutes is enough!
Happy cooking,
Nuno Diniz