Sudado de Pescado

Morena Cuadra’s sudado de pescado is a tomato-based variation of a dish she associates with Peru’s north coast. Her version steams sea-bass fillets in a sauce with fish stock, white wine and cilantro, then serves them with olluco pearls and crisp vegetable peels.

Thinly sliced red onion and mashed garlic cook in vegetable oil. Optional ají amarillo paste, peeled, seeded and grated tomatoes, and tomato paste join them. Fish stock, white wine and cilantro sprigs are added, and the covered pan cooks over lower heat before the sauce is seasoned with salt and pepper.

A melon baller makes small pearls from the already-boiled ollucos. The sea-bass fillets are seasoned and placed in the saucepan to steam in the same sauce until just barely opaque.

Finely shredded eggplant peel and the selected yellow-pepper peel are combined with flour, strained and fried in a separate portion of hot vegetable oil. The crisp peels drain on paper towels while the fish finishes.

Each plate receives a fish fillet surrounded by its sauce and olluco pearls, with the crisp peels on top. Cuadra’s written variation uses a thicker, more tomato-based sauce than the sudado she describes as typical in Peru.