Eel, potatoes and paprika stew | All i pebre
I first tried this dish in a restaurant years ago and fall in love with it. It is not a dish that Spaniards come by often as it is a very regional dish from Valencia, the type that didn’t travel, it stayed in the region. The reason is because eels are not so easy to find given that they need to be alive when you buy them as they deteriorate very quickly. It is interesting that over there when the fishmonger prepare the eels for you they cut them with a bit of skin left that holds the pieces together. When you cook it you will know when its just ready, as the skin will break apart, how clever is that. The good thing is that eel can be substituted by any other white flesh fish such as monkfish, hake or conger eel.
INGREDIENTS
1kg eel, cut into 7cm pieces
1kg potatoes
50ml extra virgin olive oil
50g peeled almonds
1 cayenne chili
5 garlic cloves
1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
2 sprigs of flat-leave parsley
1 slice of bread
200ml fish stock
200ml water
Salt and pepper
Preparation
Place a wide frying pan or large clay pot over medium heat, pour the olive oil and fry the slice of bread and the almonds for 2 minutes or until golden. Bring them out into a mortar together with the parsley and pound with the help of a pestle until a coarse paste is formed.
In the same olive oil fry the sliced garlic and cayenne chili for another couple of minutes or until golden. Add the paprika and fry it while stirring for 15 seconds before adding the potatoes cut into 3 cm chunks. Give it a good stir again, pour the fish stock and the water and bring it to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the potatoes are nearly cooked.
Add the paste into the pan followed by the large eel pieces, season with salt and pepper and let it simmer for about 10 minutes or until the eel is cooked.
