Borrida de Rajada Mallorquina

Borrida de rajada is Mallorcan, a quiet fish stew of skate wing, potatoes, onion, tomato, and a picada, the pounded thickener that makes it itself. This is island cocina de cuchara, spoon food, but lighter than a bean pot: a broth you can eat with bread, a fish that gives itself up in soft flakes, and potatoes that carry the sea without pretending to be more than potatoes.

The method that decides it is the picada. Fry the almonds and bread properly, pound them with garlic, parsley, saffron, and hard-boiled egg yolk, then loosen that paste with broth before it goes into the pot. If you throw the almonds in whole or boil the skate hard, you get thin broth and tired fish. Pound it, lower the heat, and the stew turns gently creamy without cream. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

If skate is hard to find where you are, use monkfish cheeks or thick pieces of hake. Monkfish gives firmness, hake gives sweetness, and neither has the cartilaginous bones that make ray so good to eat with your fingers. No hace falta haber pisado España. You do need fresh fish, a good fish stock, and the patience not to bully it.

My Margin for this one says the same thing twice: add the picada near the end and shake the cazuela, don't stir it like a laundry pot. The fish is delicate. Treat it that way and it comes to the table tal como se hace allí.