The 'Matador's Cape': a venture into the Catalan Kitchen

Fresh back from my Pyrenean trip I am keen to try cooking some Catalan dishes in my kitchen. I found (and slightly adapted) this recipe for ‘Toreador’s Cape’ in Colman Andrew’s book ‘Catalan Cuisine’ (Collier, NY). It’s like a simple -  and very cheap - version of paella (I think the ingredients costs less than 7 Euro) and delicious to boot.

Ingredients (to serve 3-4).

125 g rice

Half a jar / large tin of chick peas

125 g dried salted fish (I had to cycle to an African shop to find this)

2-3 tomatoes

2-3 heads of garlic

I thread of saffron (you can improvise with turmeric if the cost feels prohibitive). 

Method

Bake the peppers (quartered) and when done remove the skins. Bring the fish to the boil, simmer for 8-10 minutes, let cool and crumble into small pieces, taking out any bones.   Cook the tomatoes and garlic and saffron (tumeric) in oil until the tomatoes are reduced.  Add the rice and fish and stir so the rice gets coated with the tomato juices. Add 3 cups of water and the chickpeas and simmer until done.   Stir as needed. Top with the quartered red peppers (the ‘Toreador’s cape’) and let cool.  

Sadly I only thought to take the photo after taking my first serving. I mixed red and yellow peppers in my version (as I never live life by the book!)