Chef Bruno Augusto’s Seafood Cataplana Recipe: Gastronomy in the Algarve, Portugal

At Portugal’s Tivoli Carvoeiro Algarve Resort, a five-star retreat tucked into the Vale Covo cliffside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, chef Bruno Augusto leads a few of the guests in a cooking class to make traditional seafood dishes, with a cataplana as the main affair. Typical of Portugal’s southern region, cataplana is a fish-and-seafood-forward stew, the name of the dish derived from the pan in which it is cooked. Introduced by the Moors for cooking on ships during strenuous fishing trips, a cataplana is a typical frying pan from the Algarve: two concave copper/brass pieces held together by hinges in a clam-like shape.

The culinary experience starts with a trip to the local market in Portimão where, straw baskets in hand, we pick up fresh ingredients for the class—including monkfish, clams, mussels, and shrimp—amongst the Portuguese locals shopping and examining the day’s catches. The fish are more than an arm’s length long with mouths wide open, and the option of purchasing only a large head. Chef Augusto looks for the key ingredients for the cataplana, chatting with local vendors and noting what was caught only hours before, holding a fish up by its tail to show that its lack of floppiness means it is fresh.

After the market, in a private area of the resort, guests and chefs prepare the ingredients: chopping the onions and peppers, deveining shrimp, and descaling and removing entrails from the fish. The sound of bones cracking as the chefs prepare the seabass is not for the faint of heart. Along with a couple of nervous participants, two chefs chop the fish meat and prepare the other seafood, while another chef sautés the prosciutto and vegetables with herbs and spices in the cataplana. Augusto and his team finish cooking the stew, in an efficient yet unhurried manner, while the guests enjoy the resort’s impressive views over a local aperitivo as savoury aromas fill the kitchen.

After the fish is added to the stew and cooked in the cataplana, the dish is ready to serve, paired with white wines from the region, selected for the cataplana, followed by Algarvian sweets—a gastronomic experience we will attempt many times to recreate at home.

Here, chef Bruno Augusto has provided the recipe for the traditional dish from the Algarve. Note: If a cataplana is not available, a wide pot or pan will suffice.

Chef Bruno Augusto’s Fish and Seafood Cataplana

Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 onions
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon olive oil
100 grams diced prosciutto
Fresh chili to taste, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 glasses of dry white wine
2 ripe tomatoes
Coriander, chopped
300 grams common seabream, chopped
300 grams seabass, chopped
300 grams monkfish, chopped
100 grams mussels, scrubbed or shelled
150 grams clams, scrubbed or shelled
150 grams prawns, deveined
Sea salt
Black pepper
10 small potatoes, boiled

Method

Cut the onions and bell peppers in julienne and the garlic in thin slices.

Bring the cataplana to medium heat, add the olive oil, and sauté the prosciutto, onions, bell peppers, and the chili along with the bay leaf.

Add the white wine and leave to boil.

Add the tomatoes and half of the chopped coriander.

Place the seabream, seabass, and monkfish on top of the stew, and add salt and pepper to taste. Close the lid and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.

Open the lid and add the mussels, clams, and shrimp, the previously boiled potatoes, and the rest of the chopped coriander.

Close the lid and cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed before serving.

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