I went on holiday to Portugal with my friends, last year. We spent most of our time in the capital Lisbon, or Lisboa as the locals call it. I tried a lot of the food, as you can imagine I do, every time I go  on holiday to a new country I want to try as much of the food as possible, since I am  a foodoholic!!

If I had to choose my three most  favourite Portuguese food items, it would be the custard tarts, chicken patties and the Salt Cod Stew. I had picked up a few recipes, and the salt cod stew is something I make quite often. The above photo came from the restaurant I tried the food at, it was just so much more nicer than my own pictures so I had to add it.The original recipe does not add the chili flakes & yellow pepper to this dish, but since I like spicy food I added it. Plus some people like to season with some more salt, but I thought it already had enough salt, so I don’t add any more, but you can add more if you want. It’s a nice filling soup and the recipe below makes enough for the next 3 days!!

Salt cod is available at most Canadian supermarkets, so you should not have trouble finding it. The most important thing to remember when cooking salt cod, is to soak it in water before cooking it. The salted fish needs to be put in water for 24 hours before cooking with a few water changes. I changed the water 3 times. So if you plan to make this soup, you will need to plan ahead! The soup is relevantly easy to make, its just the preparation that takes time, but I hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients

400 g Salt Cod (soaked in water 24 hours prior to cooking)

300 g uncooked peeled prawns

1 kg potatoes

3 tomatoes

5 cloves garlic

100 ml Olive Oil

1 Yellow Pepper (optional)

1 Tbsp Pepper paste

1 Tsp Sweet pepper powder

1 bunch of Parsley / 2 Tbsp Dried Parsley

½ Tsp Red Chilli flakes (optional)

½ Tsp Black Pepper

Method

Prepare the onions, garlic and potatoes by peeling them. Crush the garlic.

Chop the onions & yellow pepper into thin slices.

Slice the potatoes and the tomatoes into cylindrical disks.

Cut the cod into cubes.

In a Dutch oven start placing in the layers, starting with the 1/3 of onions, garlic, pepper, potatoes and tomatoes. Top that layer with the cod cubes and prawns and then continue layering with the rest.

Add red pepper puree, sweet pepper powder, chili flakes, black pepper and parsley. Pour in olive oil and 250 ml of water. Cover and cook on medium heat for 40 minutes.  Give the pot a good shake, time to time.

Turn the heat off and ladle the soup in bowls. Serve immediately.

Related articles

• How to Make Easy, Low-Calorie Tomato Soup (news.health.com)
• Cajun Fish Stew and You Have To See This Puffer Fish! (lilsuburbanhomestead.wordpress.com)
• Roasted Red Pepper, Mushroom, Goat Cheese and Chicken Pasta (tamaraleighauthor.wordpress.com)
• Beef Stew (needlesspounds.com)
• Chunky Roasted Tomato Red Bell Pepper Soup (sharonkoski.com)