This dish has a Venetian origin (brodetto). The Italians usually prepare it with tomato, meanwhile the Corfiots prefer paprika!
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 5 € pp)
- Salt
- 1 kg stingray, cut in large pieces
- 800 g potatoes, cut in medium pieces
- 1 liter stock, made by small fish
- 1 small garlic peeled, cloves cut in slices
- De la Vera paprika
- Ground chili pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 150 ml EV olive oil
Bourdeto is one of the four Corfiot main dishes, along with pastitsado, soffritto and bianco. It is, usually, prepared with scorpionfish, which gives the dish an extraordinary taste, but it also makes it, because of the abundant fishbones, difficult to eat.
That is why many cooks prefer other kinds of fish, such as cod. I often choose stingray, which gives me plenty of flesh and has no annoying bones at all, just visible and easily removable cartilage.
But, what about the taste? Stingray has not a great taste. No problem. We buy a kilo of cheap fishes for soup and we prepare a fantastic stock!!!
99% of the cooks use onions, as aromatics. I find no reason. I have made bourdeto hundreds of times in my life and I am absolutely sure that onions offer nothing to the whole preparation. On the contrary, if using onions the dish will need more time to get ready and its sauce won’t be silky, as it has to be.
Let’s start.
We first boil the garlic slices twice in plenty of water, 10 min each time. After this elaboration the garlic will be much lighter and sweeter, non caustic and easily digestible.
Then, in a Dutch Oven (or a common casserole) we add the oil, the fish stock, the potatoes, the garlic, the bay leaf, the paprika, the chili pepper, the salt and some water (if needed, to cover the ingredients) and we start simmering the potatoes till very tender. The temperature must not be high, as we want the potatoes to be perfectly shaped.
When the potatoes are ready, we remove them from the DO and we add the fish. Normally 15-20 mins will be enough for the fish to be cooked.
We also take the fish out of the casserole and we start thickening the sauce by reduction. Bourdeto has not a typical density, some cooks make it more soupy, some others less, I prefer it more dry and eatable with a fork.
When the sauce comes to the desired point, we turn off the fire, we add the fish and the potatoes and we let them for 15 mins inside the hot sauce.
We serve, adding more paprika or chili peppers, if we like.
Some cooks also add parsley. WHAT? PARSLEY? Get lost.
