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Euskadi y el Norte

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Marmitako de bonito

Descubre

Northern Spain’s marmitako brings bonito and potatoes together in a pepper-colored broth. Associated with Basque fishing traditions, it offers a practical lesson in cooking a hearty stew without overcooking the fish.

La Gente

Break the potato pieces as directed to help release starch into the broth. Add the fish at the end and monitor its doneness carefully. The potatoes supply body; the fish should remain tender and distinct.

Sabor

The north cooks with olive oil, garlic, and the sea, with pimentón and the choricero pepper for warmth and color, parsley for the green, and a dried guindilla for the small heat in the pil-pil. Nothing is spiced heavily. The Basques believe the fish should taste of the fish, and the potatoes of the potatoes, and they have several centuries of evidence.

Spice DNA · Smoke low · Herb medium · Sweet low · Heat low · Acid low

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the marmitako and, above all, in the pil-pil. Adds a savory garlic base.
Paprika. Pimentón dulce. The closest jar to the choricero's pulp, and a pantry adaptation with a different flavor.
Smoked Paprika. For the families who like the smoked pimentón in it, which is more Asturian than Basque.
Parsley flakes. For the top when the fresh is gone.
Bay leaves, whole. One in the pot.
Black Pepper, ground. A little.
Crushed Red Pepper. For the guindilla in the pil-pil, if you go on to make it.

From your market: fresh albacore or yellowfin tuna in a thick piece, waxy potatoes, onions, a green pepper and a red one, ripe tomatoes, dry white wine, and fish stock. Pimiento choricero if a Spanish market is near you, and it is worth the trip. Badia does not sell the choricero. The page says so, and gives the paprika as the honest stand-in.

Cocina

Marmitako de bonito

The fishermen's tuna and potato stew of the Cantabrian coast. Break the potatoes. Fish in last, off the heat.

Serves 6

¼ cup olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 green pepper and 1 red pepper, chopped
2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, or 4 garlic cloves minced
2 ripe tomatoes, grated
2 tbsp choricero pepper pulp, or 1½ tsp Badia Paprika plus ¼ tsp Badia Smoked Paprika
1 Badia Bay Leaf, whole
½ cup dry white wine
2½ lb waxy potatoes, peeled
4 cups fish stock, hot
Salt and Badia Black Pepper
1½ lb fresh albacore or tuna, cut in 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp parsley, chopped, or 1 tbsp Badia Parsley flakes

The sofrito. Warm the oil in a deep pot over medium-low. Cook the onions and peppers slowly, 15 minutes, until soft and sweet. Add the garlic, 2 minutes. Add the tomato and cook until it darkens. Add the choricero or the paprikas and the bay leaf and stir 30 seconds.
Wine. Add the wine and let it bubble down by half.
Break the potatoes. Push the knife an inch into a potato and twist, so the piece snaps off rough instead of cut clean. Do this for all of them. The rough edges release the starch.
Stew. Add the potatoes to the pot and turn them in the sofrito. Add hot stock to cover. Salt lightly. Simmer, uncovered, 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the broth has thickened and turned orange-red. Shake the pot now and then instead of stirring so the potatoes stay whole.
The fish, off the heat. Salt the tuna. Turn off the heat. Add the tuna to the pot, put the lid on, and leave it 5 minutes. The residual heat cooks it and no more. It should be just opaque and still moist.
Parsley over the top. Bread beside it, and a cold txakoli poured from a height if you have one. Then the argument about the tomato.

Pueblos del Norte

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