Caldo de peixe

the Cape Verdean fish broth, sweet potato and cassava simmered soft in a clear tomato stock with whatever the boats brought in

Origin: Praia, Santiago & Cape Verde

From the journey of Sweet Potato.

Cape Verde is ten islands of volcanic rock in the Atlantic with almost no fresh water and a long history of drought. The cooking that developed there is built on two things: the sea, which is reliable, and root crops, which will grow on very little. Caldo de peixe puts both in one pot. It is a clear broth rather than a thickened stew, and the roots are cooked in it until they begin to break at the edges and lend the liquid body without turning it to soup. The sweet potato carries it. Cape Verde was the Portuguese staging post on the Atlantic route, the place where American crops were landed and acclimatised before going on to the African mainland, and the sweet potato took to the islands' thin volcanic soil better than almost anything else. It tolerates drought, crops fast, and stores, which on an archipelago that has known real famine is not a small set of virtues. The fish is not specified because it was never specified. Grouper, tuna, wahoo, moray: the broth is built around whatever came in, and the recipe survives by being indifferent to the answer. What does not vary is the finish, a spoonful of the island chilli sauce stirred in at the table rather than cooked into the pot.

Ingredients

  • 800 g firm white fish steaks on the bone, such as grouper, tuna, or hake
  • 500 g sweet potato, in thick rounds
  • 300 g cassava, peeled and in thick chunks
  • 2 green plantains or 2 potatoes, in thick slices
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 4 tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1.5 litres water
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 1 small bunch coriander, chopped
  • 2 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

  1. Season the fish with salt and half the lime juice and leave it while you start the broth.
  2. Warm the olive oil in a wide pot and soften the onion and garlic without colouring, about six minutes.
  3. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves and cook for eight minutes, until the tomatoes have slumped.
  4. Pour in the water, season with the salt, and bring to a simmer.
  5. Add the cassava first and cook for ten minutes, as it is the slowest. Then add the sweet potato and plantain and cook for a further twelve to fifteen minutes, until everything is tender and the edges are just beginning to fray into the broth.
  6. Lower the fish into the broth in a single layer. Simmer very gently for eight to ten minutes, until it flakes at the bone. Do not stir once the fish is in; move the pot rather than the spoon.
  7. Take off the heat, add the remaining lime juice and the coriander, and let it settle for five minutes before serving. Offer chilli sauce at the table.

Notes

Cassava must be peeled thoroughly, including the fibrous layer under the skin, and the hard central cord in older roots pulled out. Add the roots in order of hardness rather than all at once, or the sweet potato will disintegrate before the cassava is done. The broth should stay clear, so keep it at a bare simmer throughout; a rolling boil will cloud it and break the fish.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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