Saturday Dinner

A typical holiday dish in Mexico is "bacalao a la viscaína" (Basque-style salt cod).  Alejandro's mother had a recipe that was easier and more economical using canned tuna instead of cod.  (You may remember that last year Alejandro gave me the recipe, and I made it for myself for Christmas.) 

Even though it is not Christmas, on Saturday Alejandro asked me if I would like to help him make his mother's version of "bacalao" for dinner.  After going to the supermarket, we got started chopping the ingredients for the dish.  In addition to tuna, the recipe calls for chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, parsley, green olives, capers, almonds and various spices.  One ingredient which Alejandro usually does not include is baby potatoes.  This time, however, we got some little potatoes at the supermarket.  The recipe said to add them to the kettle at the end, but I told Alejandro that I didn't think the potatoes would get cooked.  So we put them in about midway.  We took turns stirring the concoction in the cauldron forever, but the potatoes were still half raw.  Finally, we fished out the potatoes, put them in the microwave, and returned them to the stew after they were cooked.

Did I say that this was an easier version of the dish?  It took us all afternoon, but if we had used salt cod, we would have had to soak the cod in water for several days, and then go through the laborious process of removing the fish from the bone.

Fortunately, after hours of chopping and stirring, the finished product was delicious.

Here the tuna stew is garnished with a "chile guero" (although the dish itself is not "picante" at all).  We served a macaroni salad on the side.

It's a good thing that we liked the dish because we had plenty for the next couple days, even for breakfast.  (Yes, for breakfast!  I don't know if it is common practice in most Mexican households, but Alejandro's family often has leftovers for breakfast.)  This is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day.  It is really good as a filling for "tortas", the Mexican sandwiches on crusty rolls.  Yesterday, we finally finished the last of it.