Cooking Marmitako (Basque tuna stew)

Marmitako is a Basque tuna stew.  As one of my (many) Spanish cookbooks says that there are as many recipes for marmitako as there are Basque cooks.  The version I made tonight is adapted by Joyce Goldstein and is in Williams-Sonoma Savoring Spain and Portugal.

Quality tuna is a must.  This is sashimi-grade tuna from the local grocery store.  It has to be fresh to get the sashimi grade.

Like a lot of Spanish cooking, this is a simple dish that relies for its flavor on flavorful ingredients that compliment one another in the finished dish.

This dish starts with onions, garlic and green bell pepper sauteed in good olive oil.

After the onion, garlic and peppers are softened in the olive oil, you then add potato chunks and water so that the potatoes can simmer until they are soft.

Here I am weighing out 2 lbs of potatoes, that I will then scrub, peel and cut up into 2 in cubes before adding them to the pot.  (That is one of my yixing tea pots in the background.  Typically, I will drink tea while I cook.  Today it was something the tea merchant called "Award-winning flowery oolong".  Besides being a Chinese oolong, I couldn't tell you where it is from or what it is called in Chinese.) 

Now the potatoes have been added to the pan, everything is covered with water so that the potatoes can cook for 20 min, or so.

While I'm cooking dinner, I'm also seasoning another one of my yixing teapots in a large stock pot with tea.  The people who sold me the other yixing teapot sent directions for seasoning this type of teapot.  First you submerse it in cold water and add loose tea to the pot.  You bring that to a slow boil and let it boil for 15 min.  Then you cool the teapot in the bath for 2 hours before you rinse it off and make a full pot of tea, that you let sit for 24 hrs.  After that, once you have rinsed out the teapot and let it air dry, you have a seasoned yixing teapot.

Once the tuna has been added to the stew, along with some tomato paste and spicy Spanish paprika, you are almost done.  Ten more minutes to finish cooking the tuna chunks and you are ready to serve.

I made a simple green salad tossed with ranch dressing, toasted some artisanal bread, brewed some pu-erh tea and set the table.

I believe in setting the table with candles, matching placemats and napkins and a decorative table runner.  Dinner is a sacrosanct tradition at my house; my husband and I eat dinner together every night (except on those very rare occasions then one or the other of us has a meeting that involves dinner, as well).  If I put so much effort into the food, I figure the presentation should match.

Here are the matching plates and bowls I served the meal on tonight.  The tea pot and mug in the back are for the pu-erh tea.

The marmitako just before I carried it to the table.

For a quick dinner (around an hour prep time), it was pretty good.  It will taste even better for lunch tomorrow, stews always do.