Chef Isabel
All Cremat de Vilanova
All Cremat de Vilanova is Catalan boat cooking: garlic taken dark in olive oil, then tomato, fish stock, and firm fish, no potato, just a broth with nerve.
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Caldillo de Pintarroja Malagueño
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Caldillo de Pintarroja is Málaga's sailor soup: small dogfish, potato, tomato, and a fried bread and almond majao that turns a modest broth into proper cocina de cuchara.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Weeknight
25 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
Caldillo de Pintarroja is Malagueño, a fish soup from Málaga's coast built from the small dogfish called pintarroja, potato, tomato, fried bread, almonds, and pimentón. It isn't a grand seafood stew. It's the other face of the freiduría, the fried-fish shop: cheap fish made into a bowl with body, brightness, and enough depth to eat with a spoon.
The method that decides it is the majao, the pounded paste of fried bread, almonds, and garlic. Fry those three until golden, pound them smooth, then let the paste dissolve into the sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, and the broth. That is what thickens the soup and gives it its toasted flavor. Flour would make it dull, and raw garlic would shout over the fish.
Far from Málaga, ask for pintarroja, small dogfish, catshark, or cazón. Smoothhound works too. If the counter only has monkfish or firm hake, use it, but make the soup with fish stock instead of water and cook the fish a minute or two less because it won't give the same gelatin. No hace falta haber pisado España. You need clean-smelling fish and a proper majao.
My Margin for this one has two words: smell first. Pintarroja that smells sharp or ammoniac has been waiting too long; leave it and cook another fish. With clean fish, a slow sofrito, and the bread and almonds weighed, siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Caldillo de pintarroja belongs to Málaga and the Andalusian coast, where pintarroja, a small catshark usually sold skinned, was a modest catch from the same larder that feeds the freidurías. The soup sits between the fishermen's pot and the bar counter: broth strengthened with fried bread, almonds, garlic, saffron, and pimentón, often finished with lemon as a restorative bowl after long nights and early markets. In Malagueño cooking it belongs to the family of majaos, where stale bread and nuts turn water, oil, and a humble fish into comida de cuchara, spoon food.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
skinned pintarroja (small dogfish), or cazón, smoothhound, monkfish, or firm hake
Quantity
600g
cut into 4cm pieces
light fish stock or water
Quantity
1.2 litres
hot
waxy potatoes
Quantity
400g
peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
ripe tomato or canned crushed tomato
Quantity
150g
grated if fresh
onion
Quantity
100g
finely chopped
green pepper
Quantity
80g
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
3 cloves
peeled
day-old rustic bread
Quantity
40g
cut into 2 thick slices
blanched almonds
Quantity
25g
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
sweet pimentón
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads
Quantity
1 pinch, about 0.1g
ground cumin
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
bay leaf
Quantity
1
dried guindilla or hot pimentón (optional)
Quantity
1 small guindilla or 1 pinch
small clams (optional)
Quantity
200g
scrubbed and purged
fine sea salt
Quantity
6g, plus more to taste
lemon
Quantity
1
cut into wedges
hierbabuena (fresh mint) (optional)
Quantity
2 sprigs
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| skinned pintarroja (small dogfish), or cazón, smoothhound, monkfish, or firm hakecut into 4cm pieces | 600g |
| light fish stock or waterhot | 1.2 litres |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into 2cm chunks | 400g |
| ripe tomato or canned crushed tomatograted if fresh | 150g |
| onionfinely chopped | 100g |
| green pepperfinely chopped | 80g |
| garlicpeeled | 3 cloves |
| day-old rustic breadcut into 2 thick slices | 40g |
| blanched almonds | 25g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| sweet pimentón | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads | 1 pinch, about 0.1g |
| ground cumin | 1/4 teaspoon |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| dried guindilla or hot pimentón (optional) | 1 small guindilla or 1 pinch |
| small clams (optional)scrubbed and purged | 200g |
| fine sea salt | 6g, plus more to taste |
| lemoncut into wedges | 1 |
| hierbabuena (fresh mint) (optional) | 2 sprigs |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 3 litre cazuela or heavy pot
- •Mortar and pestle or small blender
- •Box grater
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Check the fish
Pat the pintarroja dry, salt it with about 2g of the salt, and keep it cold while you build the soup. It should be skinned already; the skin is rough and best left to the fishmonger. If it smells sharp or of ammonia, don't try to save it with lemon. Buy another fish.
If using monkfish or hake instead of pintarroja or cazón, use fish stock rather than water. Those fish are good, but they give less gelatin to the broth. - 2
Fry the majao
Warm 45ml of the olive oil in a wide pot over medium-low heat. Fry the bread and almonds until the bread is golden on both sides and the almonds smell toasted, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the whole garlic cloves for the last minute, just until they color. Lift the bread, almonds, and garlic into a mortar or small blender with the saffron, cumin, and guindilla if using. Add 100ml of the hot stock and pound or blend to a smooth paste.
The mortar is traditional, but a blender works. What matters is frying first and making the paste smooth enough to melt into the broth. - 3
Cook the sofrito
In the same pot, add the remaining 15ml oil if the pot looks dry. Add the onion, green pepper, and a pinch of salt and cook gently for about 8 minutes, until soft but not browned. Stir in the grated tomato and cook 10 to 12 minutes more, until the tomato has darkened, thickened, and the oil begins to show at the edges. Pull the pot off the heat, stir in the sweet pimentón for 10 seconds, then put it back on the heat.
- 4
Simmer the potatoes
Add the bay leaf, the hot stock or water, and the potatoes. Scrape the bottom of the pot so the sofrito goes into the broth. Bring to a steady simmer, not a hard boil, and cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender when pierced.
- 5
Thicken the broth
Stir in the majao, rinsing the mortar or blender with a ladle of broth so none is wasted. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the soup changes from thin and clear to golden-red and lightly velvety. Taste for salt. Pésalo, no lo adivines: too much bread makes paste, too little leaves you with fish water.
- 6
Add fish gently
If using clams, add them now, cover the pot, and cook 2 to 3 minutes until they open; discard any that stay closed. Lower the heat and slide in the pintarroja. Simmer gently for 4 to 6 minutes, just until the fish is opaque and cooked through. Do not boil it hard. Dogfish tightens, and hake falls apart, and neither is the soup's fault.
- 7
Rest and serve
Turn off the heat, add the hierbabuena for 1 minute if using, then remove it if you want only its scent. Let the caldillo rest 5 minutes so the bread and almond body settles into the broth. Serve in deep bowls with potato, fish, and plenty of broth, and squeeze lemon over each bowl at the table.
Chef Tips
- •Pintarroja is often sold skinned in pale pieces because its hide is rough. If your fishmonger cannot get it, ask for cazón or smoothhound first. Monkfish or firm hake works, but the soup will be cleaner and less gelatinous, so use fish stock.
- •For a cooked sofrito, good canned crushed tomato beats a pale out-of-season tomato. This isn't gazpacho; the tomato cooks down into the base, so choose the one with flavor.
- •The majao is the body of the soup. Keep it to 40g bread and 25g almonds for four people. More is not generosity, it's glue.
- •A handful of almejas, small clams, appears in some Málaga pots. Use them only if they're fresh and well purged; a bad clam spoils the whole broth faster than any mistake with pimentón.
- •Eat it the day it's made if you can. The broth can wait, but the fish tightens when reheated. If you have leftovers, warm them gently and never let the pot boil.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the fried bread, almond, and garlic majao up to one day ahead; keep it covered in the refrigerator and loosen it with a little hot broth before adding it to the pot.
- •The soup base can be cooked through the potato step up to 24 hours ahead. Reheat gently, add the majao, then cook the fish only when you're ready to serve.
- •Thaw frozen dogfish overnight in the refrigerator and pat it dry before cooking. Don't leave it sitting at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 475g)
Calories
405 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
27 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
39 g
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