ThE UnfaithfuL CooK: “Sarsuela” in Manhattan

When I took my first cooking course in Spain on Catalan Cuisine, my teacher, Jordi Pinyol, an excellent cook and delightful teacher, told me the difference between a “Suquet” and a “Sarsuela”(in Catalan). What I called “Suquet”, it was actually a “Sarsuela”. (The Spanish word for the dish is “Zarzuela”)

A “Suquet” is a poorer dish fishermen used to prepare on the boat with a catch of the day, onions, one tomato, garlic and potatoes or whatever they had on board.

The “Sarsuela” has no potatoes and there is usually a grater variety of seafood. It is, as my teacher called it, the “Luxury Suquet”.

It is true that being in Manhattan, you can find almost everything but not all the fish you can find in the Mediterranean. If you want fresh fish just be ready for whatever you can find but you must have a sense of balance. What do I mean by “balance”? It means that both sea fish and shellfish will compose the dish. That’s what I think and did: A nice and tasty white or “blue” fish. There should be shellfish (mussels, and/or clams, shrimp…) you can add calamari if they are fresh and the meat is firm, and being in the US I’d add scallops, something I can never use in Spain.

I went to Chinatown again and bought a white fish. I think it was the family of the sea catfish. The woman in the shop said it was a yellowfin, but not a yellowfin tuna, I gathered! I’ve looked on the Internet and could not find the exact image. I found a similar fish in the mullets family. My intuition told me that it was going to be a good fish for the dish. I saw red snappers which usually contribute with a nice flavour and firm flesh but their eyes looked doubtful and did not dare buy them.
So, I bought a whole fish and forgot to take a picture before I made six pieces of it.

If you pay attention to the cut/piece of the tail, you will notice tiny yellow spots. If you know the name, I’d be glad to know!!

I bought a bag of mussels, scallops and the shrimp with their heads, of course!!!

How did I proceed?

1.Put olive oil on a pan. When it is hot, slightly fry the shrimp with their heads, if you want a really flavoury taste, or else if you find them nasty, you can clean them as I did with the “fideua” and make, together with the head of the fish, a broth that you may use together with dry white wine, later on. Put the shrimp aside.
2.Fry the fish with the same olive oil in a low heat. Turn it around gently on all sides. When it’s almost cooked, remove it from the pan and put it aside.
3.Fry the scallops and remove the water they release and add it to the broth or stock. Brown them a bit on each side and put them aside with the shrimp and the fish.

4.In a mortar make a “picada”. That consists of toasted almonds, 3 garlic cloves and a pinch of salt. Smash it until it becomes almost a paste.

5.Now, according to my teacher, Jordi Pinyol, comes the most important part of the dish; the “sofregit”: First I sliced and chopped a medium size onion and put it in the pan with the olive oil I have used, to fry the fish. You have to be very patient and have no rush at all. Let the onion brown and almost caramelize and then add one small fresh tomato crunched/minced. Be patient again and keep moving and mixing with a wooden spoon until it becomes a paste. Add a little bit of sugar and a fish bouillon. You can use a pinch of salt if you do not have the bouillon. Add dry white wine (you can use cooking wine).

6.Keep moving and mixing with the spoon and let the alcohol evaporate. Taste it! A passionate cook should smell and taste the food along the process! When it feels/tastes good add the fish, the shrimp and the scallops. Then add the “picada” and minced parsley and mix and move gently so the fish does not break. Add the mussels at the end and when they open, the “Sarsuela” is ready!

We had this wonderful dish at the hospitable Meme Rubio and Lou Marini’s house. All the guests, Javier Zanón Ana Peseda, Jesús Álvarez and me, enjoyed the dish and decided to appoint the “unfaithful cook” a real chef!

I could not have done this without the valuable and patient help of my wonderful friend Meme, who was an excellent “pinche”!!!

A very important fact was taking place along the process. Javier Zanon prepared the delicious “Negroni” cocktail! He really does a good job! We were all inspired drinking the delicious nectar! But the “unfaithful cook” was in the kitchen and even though she enjoyed the drink, she did not take any pictures of that other process taking place in the dining room! Here’s the expert!

When desert came, I had to pass on my chef hat to Lou Marini who prepared an exquisite desert! Not difficult to prepare, I must say, but a great deal of aesthetic insight was needed and he certainly has it!! Have a look!

If you prepare the “Sarsuela” for an American group who may not dare see or eat the shrimp heads, you may remove them together with the skin of the shrimp and make a little stock to add to the dish together with the wine. Here you can see one I made for my friends in Springfield, Virginia; Melvy, Liliana, their daughter, Dani and our friend, Marty Abbot. The fish I used was rockfish. Delicious!!! The group were daring enough. I used the fish with the bones!!!