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America's Test Kitchen - Season 26 Episode 15 - Catalan Supper
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00:00To be continued...
00:30Today on America's Test Kitchen, Aaron makes Bridget Spanish seafood stew.
00:43Hannah and Lisa talk about the best disposable and reusable plastic bags.
00:48And Bridget makes Julia red pepper cocos.
00:52It's all coming up right here on America's Test Kitchen.
01:00Czarzuela is a hearty Catalan stew that's absolutely brimming with seafood.
01:09Now, it depends on the market that day.
01:11You might have monkfish, clams, squid, cod even, shrimp, of course.
01:17But it's usually made to celebrate.
01:20And when I think of celebrations, I think of party.
01:22And when I think of party, I think of Aaron.
01:25Of course.
01:25She's here, and she's going to show us how to make a beautiful Catalan-style zarzuela a home.
01:31I certainly am, Bridget.
01:32It is a wonderful dish.
01:34It's just brimming with seafood, fresh seafood, whatever you can buy at the market.
01:37And that looks the best.
01:38And what we want to do is make sure that that seafood shines.
01:42So we are going to start with cod.
01:44I have one pound of fresh cod, which is about one to one and a half inches thick.
01:48And I'm going to cut this into three-quarter to one-inch chunks.
01:53I have eight ounces of calamari.
01:55I'm just going to cut the bodies into half-inch thick rings.
01:59And we have the tentacles, which we are going to leave whole.
02:01So we have eight ounces of squid.
02:04And we're using 12 ounces of 21-25 shrimp.
02:07And I'm just going to put them in the bowl with the seafood.
02:10Okay.
02:10Now I'm going to add three-quarters of a teaspoon of table salt.
02:14What this is going to do is this is going to season the fish,
02:17but it's also going to help it to maintain its moisture
02:20as it's going to sit for about 15, 30 minutes until we actually cook it.
02:25So I'm just going to stir this up so it's evenly combined.
02:28Okay.
02:28So now this is just going to go into the fridge until we're ready to use it.
02:31But first I'm going to go and prep my tomato.
02:33Okay.
02:34I have two whole tomatoes here.
02:36One I've already grated into a pulp.
02:39And the other one, I'm going to show you how to grate it.
02:42So I cut it in half across the equator.
02:45And using a box grater, press the cut side against the large holes.
02:50And you just grate it.
02:52The skin just doesn't want to go through the holes.
02:54So we have about one and a half cups.
02:55And now we're ready to move on to our next step.
02:58Okay, great.
03:00Cattle and cooks often will use a piccata.
03:02A piccata is basically ground nuts, ground oil fried bread,
03:07and also garlic and herbs and spices.
03:10We really want to keep this simple.
03:11So we're just going to use almonds and parsley.
03:14Okay.
03:14Straight up.
03:15So we're using a third of a cup of slivered almonds.
03:18And just going to process this until it's finely ground,
03:21which is going to be about 20 pulses.
03:23Okay, so that has been about 20 pulses.
03:29And what we're looking for is for it to have a nice, fine consistency.
03:33To this, I'm going to add a third of a cup of parsley.
03:35So it's basically one-to-one.
03:37And we're going to pulse this about 10 times.
03:45This is the right consistency.
03:46It's nice and finely ground.
03:48And it's going to help to thicken up our stew nicely.
03:50Great.
03:50Okay, I'm just going to leave that there.
03:52So now we're moving on to our liquid ingredients.
03:54I have one cup of dry white wine.
03:57And to this, I'm going to add two tablespoons of brandy.
04:00So I'm going to add a tablespoon of lemon juice for nice, fresh acidity.
04:05And now we are going to add a quarter teaspoon of saffron threads.
04:10I'm going to crumble them a little bit as I put it into the mixture.
04:15So now we're just going to let this bloom.
04:17Sounds good.
04:17Now, usually we bloom spices in oil, but with saffron, we can bloom it in water.
04:23And to understand this, we need to take a look at other orange and yellow pigmented spices.
04:29Turmeric contains the pigment curcumin.
04:31And annatto has a pigment called bixen.
04:34The pigment's molecules are soluble and fat, meaning they need oil to help them disperse throughout a dish.
04:39If we add turmeric and annatto straight to water, the pigments won't dissolve, leaving the water colorless.
04:46However, saffron threads contain the pigment molecule known as crocin.
04:51What makes it unique is that it has sugar molecules at each end.
04:55Because sugar is soluble in water, it makes crocin soluble in water, too.
04:59That's why we can treat the saffron differently than our other spices.
05:03In fact, just one part per million of saffron to water is enough to color the liquid, making it a very special addition to many dishes.
05:11All right, Bridget, ready to cook?
05:12Definitely.
05:13All right.
05:14So I have a third of a cup of extra virgin olive oil heating over medium-high heat.
05:17Okay.
05:18And it's just starting to shimmer, so I know that we are ready.
05:22So I'm going to add one large onion, which is finely chopped.
05:25And I have one red bell pepper.
05:29And to this, I'm just going to add a quarter teaspoon of salt, and that is going to help the vegetables soften a little bit more quickly.
05:34It's going to dry out their moisture.
05:35Right.
05:36And now we're just going to cook this for about seven to eight minutes.
05:40We want the vegetables to soften.
05:41I'm going to make sure that I keep stirring it frequently just to make sure that they're softening and not browning.
05:46Okay.
05:47So as you can see, our onions and our peppers are both now softened.
05:50So I'm going to add two garlic cloves that I've minced, and we're going to add some spices.
05:55And again, we're keeping this very simple.
05:57Okay.
05:57So we're adding a half a teaspoon of paprika, which is going to give us kind of musky, sweet flavor.
06:02Definitely think of that in this dish.
06:04And then smoked paprika.
06:06And then I have a quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
06:09That's just going to give us a little bit of heat.
06:11So now we're going to just cook this for about one minute.
06:14Now we're going to add our bloomed saffron.
06:16Oh, wow.
06:18Oh, yeah.
06:20Now we're going to let this reduce for about four to six minutes until the alcohol is cooked off and the flavors concentrate.
06:26Okay.
06:26So our liquid has almost evaporated and the flavors are concentrated.
06:30So now we're going to add a few more ingredients.
06:32We're going to add two eight-ounce jars of clam juice.
06:36Now I'm going to add a half a cup of chopped manzanilla olives.
06:40So now we're going to add our piccata.
06:44Lovely.
06:44The ground almonds and the parsley.
06:47And our tomato pulp.
06:48About one and a half cups of tomato pulp.
06:50Right.
06:51Okay.
06:51So now we're going to bring this up to a simmer, a vigorous simmer.
06:54And we're going to reduce it for about six to eight minutes until it thickens.
06:58Okay.
06:58So it's been about seven minutes or so and our mixture is thickened.
07:03Now we're going to add one pound of mussels.
07:05Because mussels take a little bit longer to cook, we're going to give them a head start.
07:08Okay.
07:08These are washed and bearded and I'm just going to sprinkle them around the perimeter of the pot.
07:16These are also going to give off a little bit of juice.
07:18So having the piccata there is really going to help to kind of keep our texture of our stew in check.
07:23So now we're going to cover the mussels and let them simmer for about four minutes.
07:27Okay.
07:28Okay.
07:28So it's been about four minutes and our mussels have had a head start.
07:32I'm going to add the seafood to the center of the pot.
07:35So this is actually a really interesting method.
07:37The mussels around the perimeter.
07:39Right.
07:39And seafood's in the center.
07:40And we are going to cook this in a little different method than the mussels.
07:45So first I am putting the seafood so that it's submerged, just submerged.
07:50Okay.
07:51Now we're going to put a lid on it.
07:52I'm going to take it off the heat.
07:55And we're going to let it sit for about 15 minutes.
07:57What we're going to do is gently cook the seafood.
07:59So we gave the mussels a kickstart with like a nice simmer.
08:02And now we're just going to let them poach off heat for about 15 minutes.
08:06And the heat of the liquid and the temperature of the seafood after 15 minutes is going to equalize.
08:11Okay.
08:11And everything's going to be cooked perfectly.
08:13I am going to get in there one time and stir it halfway through very gently.
08:16Got it.
08:17Are you ready?
08:18I am so ready.
08:19Oh my goodness.
08:21Look at that.
08:23So what does all seafood need?
08:25A little bit of lemon juice.
08:26Hey, A plus.
08:27Okay.
08:28Yep.
08:28I'm going to add one tablespoon of lemon juice.
08:30Now I'm going to add three tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley.
08:34Shall we?
08:35Yes.
08:35Okay.
08:39If you have any mussels that don't open, you can just discard them.
08:43Okay.
08:44I'm a lemon fanatic, so we are going to have lemon wedges.
08:47Would you like one?
08:48I would love one.
08:49All right.
08:50I'm going to go in for the shrimp because I feel like if anything's going to be overcooked,
08:55that's where it's going to show up.
08:57And I'm going to go in for the cod.
09:01Oh, Erin, those flavors.
09:04Warm.
09:05Just so warm.
09:06The saffron, the smoked paprika.
09:08Yep.
09:09Oh, and the shrimp, by the way, is incredibly tender.
09:12I'm going to try soaking up this lovely broth.
09:15I'm going to do the same.
09:16It's not too heavy?
09:17Mm.
09:18All right.
09:19I'm going to get a mussel.
09:20Mm.
09:23Those mussels, even though you started them, what,
09:24four minutes earlier than everything else,
09:26cooked at a little bit of a simmer,
09:28perfectly done.
09:29Gorgeous.
09:30The calamari is nice and tender.
09:32It has chew to it.
09:33It's like a game changer.
09:35Erin, this was absolutely spectacular,
09:38worthy of any celebration, but it's always a party with you.
09:40Thank you for joining me.
09:41If you'd like to make this great dish at home,
09:43it starts by tossing cod, shrimp, and squid with salt to season and help retain moisture.
09:48Use spices like saffron and paprika sparingly so as not to overwhelm the seafood flavor.
09:54And after simmering the mussels, add in the salted seafood and let it poach off heat until gently cooked through.
10:01So from America's Test Kitchen, a stunning seafood stew from Catalan.
10:05It's zarzuela.
10:07We use food storage bags a lot, and traditionally they've been disposable single-use plastic bags.
10:21Brands like Glad, Hefty, and Ziploc.
10:24More recently, reusable storage bags seem to be everywhere.
10:28They promise to reduce the impact on the environment and maybe even your wallet.
10:32But which should you buy?
10:34We found key traits that we like about both styles.
10:37We like flat bags rather than these three-dimensional ones that kind of look like purses.
10:42And that's because after a month in the freezer, if you didn't press the air out around the food,
10:47which you cannot do in these bigger bags,
10:49you get ice crystals forming around these where these were perfectly good at the end of a month.
10:55We preferred bags with wider openings.
10:57Ten inches across was ideal.
10:59It was just easier to load them up and fill them with food.
11:02We also liked a secure seal.
11:05Our favorites of both styles clicked right into place with a satisfying snap.
11:10I heard that.
11:10That was very satisfying.
11:11We wanted tough, leak-proof construction, too.
11:14We actually filled the bags with all different liquids and shook them upside down.
11:21Pretty good.
11:22We shook them really hard ten times.
11:24We're just going to show you once.
11:26I'm going easy, yeah, I'm going easy, what she's saying right now.
11:29But trust us, this was not always so pretty.
11:32We also filled them up with tomato sauce and pushed them off a countertop.
11:36Now, the disposable bags, a couple of them made it.
11:41None of the reusables did.
11:43Our favorites from LK and Ziploc, they actually aced every test.
11:48The reusables, we still think they have a place in the home kitchen,
11:51but they're not good if you're going to drop something off a counter.
11:53The seals are just not as strong.
11:56Our reusable winners worked just like the disposable ones.
11:59Rezip and LO right here.
12:01They were sturdy, flexible, and easy to seal.
12:04They're also easy to clean and didn't hold on to odors.
12:07The Rezip is even dishwasher safe, and that's a real plus.
12:10So, the disposable ones are very convenient and less expensive.
12:14The reusable ones cost more money up front,
12:17but you might get years out of them if you treat them right.
12:19For full testing results and more information, head to our website.
12:23Coquase, our Catalan flatbread, often served at tapas bars.
12:33Now, sometimes they're sweet and topped with nuts and dried fruit,
12:37but sometimes they're savory and topped with those bold Spanish-style flavors,
12:41and that's the kind that Bridget's going to show us how to make today.
12:44I sure am.
12:45It's going to be gorgeous.
12:46A little bit of peppers, red peppers and onions.
12:48I know you love that, but these are lovely little flatbreads.
12:52They're similar to a flatbread pizza, although I love the fact that they're super crisp on the bottom.
12:58They're a little bit chewy and moist in the center.
13:00But we're starting off with something that's similar to a pizza dough.
13:03So let me tell you where we are here.
13:05I've got three cups of bread flour here.
13:07That's 16 and a half ounces.
13:09Always a good idea to weigh out the dry ingredients, especially when you're doing any kind of bread.
13:14In addition to flour, I've got a little bit of sugar here.
13:16This is two teaspoons.
13:17It's not a sweet dough.
13:19We're not making a sweet coca.
13:20Coca is the singular of cocas.
13:22Oh, okay.
13:23But it's just enough that it's going to give the yeast plenty of fuel to feed on, lots of great flavor.
13:29A little bit of instant yeast.
13:30This is a half a teaspoon.
13:33And I'm going to this together here in the food processor.
13:36Just blitz it about five times just to bring everything together.
13:43All right, so that looks good.
13:45You can see it's all mixed together.
13:46Put the lid back on here.
13:48Because for this next step, I'm going to keep the machine running.
13:51We're going to add some ice water.
13:53This is essential that we keep this dough nice and cold.
13:56The longer the dough ferments up to a certain point, the better flavor you're going to have.
14:00And the more workable the dough is going to be.
14:01All right, so this is one and a third cups of ice cold water.
14:05The machine goes on.
14:07Pour it right through here.
14:09Like magic.
14:11Just like magic.
14:12All right, so it should just come together.
14:14It takes about 10 seconds.
14:16And now we're going to leave it alone.
14:17Let this sit here.
14:18This is Audele's.
14:19So we don't have any salt in here yet.
14:22And that's on purpose.
14:23That's so that the water can be absorbed by the flour and start to form that gluten structure.
14:27All right, quick 10 minutes.
14:29Dough's rested for just a moment.
14:31I mentioned salt earlier.
14:32So this is one and a half teaspoons of regular salt.
14:36And also three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
14:40And this really is different from what we do with a lot of pizza doughs where there's very little olive oil in there.
14:45There's three tablespoons in there.
14:46So that's going to help to promote that brown crisp crust on the bottom and also give some moisture inside the dough itself.
14:52So you get a little bit more chew.
14:55So I'm just going to process this for about 30 seconds, maybe up to a minute.
14:59Looking for it to be completely worked into the dough itself, the olive oil and the salt.
15:03But also it should come away from the sides of the work bowl.
15:09All right.
15:11So I'm just going to dust my counter here.
15:14Just lightly dust it at this point.
15:16Pull this out carefully.
15:18A little bit more flour on top.
15:19And I just want to pull this together.
15:22Ooh.
15:23See, it's really sticky.
15:23It's really sticky.
15:25This allows us to also add a little bit of flour and we don't have to worry about it too much as we're working it.
15:30Just going to pull this into a tight little ball here.
15:33And if you wouldn't mind, I've got a lightly greased bowl there.
15:36Mm-hmm.
15:37All right.
15:37I'm going to put the seam side down right in the bowl.
15:39And if you wouldn't mind, I've got a little doughy hands here.
15:42Yep.
15:43Just put a piece of plastic wrap on it, tightly covered.
15:46We really want to trap this in there because it's going to go into the fridge for a while.
15:51Minimum of 24 hours.
15:53It can go up to three days.
15:54I find that the sweet spot is two days.
15:57Interesting.
15:57Three days, I forget it's in there.
15:59But a full 48 hours allows the yeast to really feed on the sugars and also it's going to be a lot easier to work with.
16:07So I'm going to go put this in the fridge.
16:09Okay.
16:09Now we're making coquets de recapte.
16:12And that basically means provisions or ingredients that you would have on hand.
16:15Oh, I like that.
16:16We're doing a really simple but gorgeous one here that features roasted red peppers and onions.
16:21So I've got three tablespoons more of olive oil.
16:24I've been heating this over medium heat just until it's shimmering.
16:27I'm going to add in two onions.
16:29Along with the onions, we're going to use two cups of roasted red peppers, jarred roasted red peppers.
16:35Goes in.
16:37Mmm.
16:37There we go.
16:38A little garlic never hurt anyone.
16:40So three cloves of garlic that we've minced.
16:43And a little bit of sugar here.
16:44This is three tablespoons of granulated sugar.
16:47You're going to get the savory but a little bit of sweet.
16:49This is one and a half teaspoons of salt.
16:53Quarter teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
16:56And this is two bay leaves.
16:58I'm just going to stir this together.
17:01I just want to give it a quick toss and put a lid on it.
17:05We're going to let this go for about 10 minutes.
17:07I'm going to stir it a few times.
17:09But we're going to let it cook until the onions are softened and they've given off their juices.
17:13Okay.
17:14All right.
17:15Let's check and see what's going on under the hood.
17:17Gorgeous aromas coming out of there.
17:19But a lot of moisture in the pan here.
17:21That was just 10 minutes.
17:23So now we're going to let that moisture evaporate.
17:27Going to concentrate flavors.
17:29And what we're looking for are the onions to really start to take on a deep, dark color.
17:33Nice.
17:34That's going to take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes and I'll stir it pretty often.
17:38Now, how's that look?
17:39Looks delicious.
17:40Just want to get rid of the bay leaves here.
17:43Kill the heat underneath.
17:45I want to get this out of the skillet and into a bowl.
17:49Oh, it smells so good.
17:52And then to finish this, a little bit of sherry vinegar, three tablespoons.
17:55So this has to cool completely.
17:58So the pepper is going to soak up a little bit of that sherry vinegar as well.
18:01So if you wouldn't mind just setting that aside.
18:03Sure thing.
18:04Let's work on the dough.
18:06Oh, it's pretty.
18:07Isn't it lovely?
18:08Mm-hmm.
18:08It's very cold, so it's going to be easy to work with.
18:11I do want to get this out of the bowl here.
18:14So now I want to divide this into four equal pieces.
18:18Now, if you wouldn't mind, if I had a little piece of plastic wrap there.
18:21Oh, it's greased.
18:22It's greased.
18:23Just want to keep these from drying out.
18:25Okay.
18:26Would you also like to do this with me?
18:28You read my mind.
18:29Yeah, I need some help.
18:31So we're just taking these quarters, and we want to form them into a pretty taut ball.
18:35This sets that structure on the outside of the dough.
18:38It's going to help us later on when we go to roll this into an oval and kind of keep it from getting misshapen.
18:43So you see any big bubbles in there?
18:45You definitely want to get rid of those.
18:46Okay.
18:47All right.
18:47We don't want giant bubbles in our dough.
18:50And I'm just taking my thumb right in the center and kind of wrapping the dough around it.
18:58Oh, I see.
19:00And then once you get to this nice little taut ball, you just use the surface tension of the ungreased counter to really form it.
19:08Get that skin of this dough ball nice and tight.
19:12And we're going to put it back under that greased plastic and let them sit, rest for about an hour before we roll them out.
19:17All right.
19:18Fun time.
19:19Rolling with Julia.
19:21Rolling, rolling, rolling.
19:22So these dough balls have rested for about an hour.
19:26You can see they've got a little bit of puff to them.
19:29Now we do want to add quite a bit of flour here because we're going to work with them.
19:34So flour your surface.
19:35So we are going to start to pat these out into nice ovals.
19:39So about 5 by 14.
19:41And depending on the dough, super relaxed.
19:44You might be able to get all the way with padding.
19:47But if not, I've got a rolling pin there for you.
19:50I'm using a little bit of a stretching technique too.
19:52So pulling on it.
19:54Yeah.
19:54And if it snaps back on you, you can just cover it and let it sit for about 5 minutes and get back to it.
20:00Right.
20:01Let that gluten muscle relax.
20:02So I am going to put mine pretty close to the long edge here.
20:08Okay.
20:09And if it starts to snap back, again, we're going to cover this, let it sit for a few minutes, and then we can pull it again, kind of reshape it.
20:18Okay.
20:18And you just want to keep about a half inch space between the two of these.
20:22Okay.
20:22That looks pretty good.
20:23So we just need to take these remaining two dough balls and roll them out to about 5 by 14.
20:29We're going to place them on the other greased baking sheet before we move on.
20:33All right.
20:34Working on a little snap back here.
20:35But we got them all on our greased sheet pans.
20:38And now we're going to dock these.
20:41All right.
20:42Each one about 15 docks.
20:44And that's just to keep them from puffing up too much.
20:46So this is another tablespoon of olive oil, extra virgin olive oil.
20:51So we're going to pre-bake these or par-bake them at 500 degrees, both of them in the same oven, upper middle rack and then lower middle rack.
20:58And we're going to keep them in there for about six to eight minutes until they're just lightly puffed.
21:03I'll go in and switch the pan positions halfway through.
21:06I can smell them.
21:08Oh, fresh baked bread, right?
21:11All right.
21:12So obviously they're not too colorful here.
21:14But again, we're just par-baking them.
21:18Oh, but you can see they got a little bit puffed.
21:20And the top had a chance to really set up a little bit before we added our topping.
21:28So I just want to take our mixture here and I'll spread it.
21:32One last item that's totally optional, but these are pine nuts.
21:35They're untoasted because we're going to toast them in the oven.
21:38This is a quarter cup.
21:40So this just goes right over the top.
21:42So it's going to give some really interesting crunch.
21:44All right.
21:45So these are going to go back into that 500-degree oven, this time for 15 minutes.
21:49We really want to get it nice and crisp on the bottom.
21:53And again, I'm going to switch the positions of the two trays halfway through baking.
21:57Okay.
21:59You mind getting the door for me?
22:01Mm-hmm.
22:02Yum.
22:04Ugh.
22:05Gorgeously brown.
22:07Mm-hmm.
22:09Sizzling hot.
22:11There we go.
22:12Just put them on our cooling racks here.
22:14They're beautiful.
22:15Aren't they loved it?
22:16We did good.
22:17You did great.
22:19All right.
22:19Obviously super hot.
22:21We're going to let these cool down for about 10 minutes before we eat them.
22:24All right.
22:25It's time to eat.
22:26You worked for this.
22:27I did.
22:28So we've got one here.
22:30I'm just going to cut it in half, make it a little easier to handle.
22:32Just going to cut these into triangles.
22:34You can use a pizza cutter for this or a regular knife.
22:41Man, that looks good.
22:42All right.
22:42Let's bring it on up.
22:44Okay.
22:45Got a little bit of zhuzhing to do here.
22:49This is a tablespoon of minced parsley.
22:52I just want to sprinkle some over this one.
22:56This is enough for all four.
22:58Mm.
22:58I can't wait to try this.
23:01Mm.
23:02Mm.
23:02The onions.
23:05They have this complex sweetness because it's the onions and the sherry vinegar.
23:09And then you have the fruitiness of the roasted red peppers.
23:12But it's the dough.
23:13Mm-hmm.
23:13There's so much flavor.
23:15A lot of chew, too.
23:16Mm-hmm.
23:16You get that really crisp bottom.
23:17Bridget, this is delicious, and it was fun to make.
23:20It was.
23:21You bet.
23:22If you want to make this traditional Catalan flatbread, make a yeast dough in the food processor
23:28using ice-cold water, shape the dough into ovals and par-bake for just a few minutes, then
23:34top with roasted red peppers and caramelized onions and bake to a deep golden brown.
23:38From America's Test Kitchen, a delicious recipe for red pepper croquettes.
23:43You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews
23:47and select episodes at our website, americastaskitchen.com slash TV.
23:53I'm going for the end piece.
23:54Oh, yeah.
23:54Me, too.
23:55Oh, yeah.
23:56Is that crust?
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