How to make fish panadera with leek

PalmaThe 'panadera' is one of the most representative stews of the traditional Menorcan recipe book. The DCVB defines it as a "potato stew with a previously made sauté of garlic, onion, tomato, and parsley". It must be said that the potato, so present now, was not part of the dish in its origins, as is demonstrated in theArt of cooking, the cookbook that Friar Roger wrote in the 18th century. In this cookbook we find up to twelve preparations that receive this name. Friar Roger's "panaderes" are made of fish, lobster, shrimp, oysters, freshwater crayfish, and even kid goat feet. There are also some made of carrots, spinach, and artichokes.

The diversity clearly shows that the 'panadera' was not a dish defined by a specific ingredient, but rather a way of cooking. In many of these recipes, the same structure is repeated. Leeks or onions, garlic, parsley, and raisins form the base of the sauté, to which saffron, cloves, pepper, and other spices are added. On top of this base, the main product is cooked, and finally, the stew is arranged over thin slices of toasted bread. The bread was, therefore, not a simple accompaniment. It was part of the 'panadera' and, probably, one of the reasons for its name.

A bittersweet and spiced preparation

Some recipes from the manuscript take us very far from the current idea of the Menorcan stew. One of the fish panaderas, made with sea bream, combines tomato, plums, raisins, sugar, and candied fruit. The result must have been a sweet and spicy preparation, heir to medieval cuisine, where sweet and savory flavors coexisted in the same pot. In another, the conger eel is coated in breadcrumbs and parsley before cooking, so that the bread itself helps to thicken the sauce. The lobster panadera is particularly suggestive. Brother Roger prepares it with onions, broad beans, green beans, and artichokes, a combination that suggests a possible antecedent to the lobster caldera. It is important to point out that some of these recipes are cooked by incorporating tomato into the sofrito for the first time, in addition to paprika as a spice. Also in the Receptari Caules, contemporary to the other, these ingredients are used in the red mullet with good panadera, the only example of this type of stew in this collection.

Over time, however, the panadera changed. The potato, having arrived from America and progressively incorporated into European cuisine, would end up taking the place that the bread had held. The broth, the sofrito, and the main product would remain, but the slices of bread would disappear from the bottom of the dish and it would be the potatoes that would absorb the juice and give it body. When Pere Ballester published De re cibaria, in 1923, this transformation had already been consolidated. His fish panadera is a potato stew with onion, garlic, tomato, and parsley, to which the fish is added afterwards.

This evolution explains why the 'panadera' (baker-style dish) is difficult to fit into a single recipe. More than a closed formula, it is a way of cooking that has been adapting to the products available and the tastes of each era. What remains is the idea of a stew made over low heat, with a 'sofrito' that forms its base and a main ingredient that ends up impregnated with a tasty and spiced juice. Just as the old 'panaderas' could be made of fish, meat, or vegetables, current ones continue to offer this capacity for adaptation, even though the potato has become its most characteristic element.

For today's recipe, we will start with Fra Roger's fish 'panadera' with leeks, a quick and very tasty recipe that you can make with preferably larger fish. In my case, I have cooked a scorpion fish, a fish for which I have a special predilection.