A Stew of Coley, Roasted Peppers and Small Mullets

Chunks of coley, potato and sweet roasted peppers make a very rich and satisfying stew. The use of red mullet here really adds an extra depth of flavour.  This amazing little fish is probably the most tasty in the sea and certainly the most beautiful. The coley is salted overnight to alter the texture and add that real Mediterranean flavour of saltfish to the stew.

You will need – serves 2

2 x 200g /8 oz coley fillets skinned

200 g /8 oz rock salt

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

Olive Oil

2 onions, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp tomato puree

Glass dry white wine

Pinch saffron

2 medium potatoes peeled an cut into 25 mm / 1 “ cubes

Sprig Thyme

2 Bay Leaves

2 small red mullet, filleted and pinboned

1 x 450 g tin good quality Italian plum tomatoes

6 or 7 black olives, pitted

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped 

To Make

The day before you eat the stew cover the coley in salt and leave in the refrigerator overnight, wash the salt off then soak for half an hour in a bowl of cold water. 

Pre heat the oven to 200C and then roast the peppers for 10 – 15 minutes until blackened then remove and place in a bag, tie up the top and leave for a few hours for the peppers to cool, then peel them, remove the seeds and roughly chop. 

Put the olive oil into the pan then gently fry the onions and garlic for 10 minutes, add a little water just to soften them. Add the tomato puree and cook for a further minute then add the wine and boil off the alcohol, add the saffron, peppers, potatoes, thyme, bay leaf and mullet fillets then the tin of tomatoes and stir together, it doesn’t matter if the mullet fillets break up, this is what you want to happen. 

Add the coley and cover with just enough water, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft, taste, season, then stir in the parsley and olives. 

Remove the bay leaf and thyme and serve with crusty bread. A dried chilli crumbled in during cooking is a wonderful addition for chilli lovers.