Sancocho Canario - a traditional fish dish

Sancocho Canario is a Canary Islands version of a dish found in various South American countries.

These other Latin American dishes are usually stews or thick soups, but the one found in the Canary Islands is not.

Photo: Canario1

Its main ingredient is salty fish, such as sea bass.

It seems to be tradition to cook this dish during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday.

As with so many Canarian dishes, actual recipes can vary somewhat from region to region. I'll give you one example.

Ingredients

• 1kg of salted fish, such as sea bass or halibut
• 1kg potatoes
• 1kg sweet potatoes
• Gofio
• Olive oil
• Sugar
• Mojo sauce

Method

The fish, initially, has to be desalted. This is done over the course of some 24 hours. It must be soaked in water, which must be changed every few hours or so. The last lot of water must be retained.

Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into large chunks, then cook in this remaining water.

Eventually, cut the fish into large pieces and add to the water, cooking for about ten minutes.

Once everything is sufficiently cooked, use this water one more time to make a gofio dough. Knead it with this water, plus some olive oil and sugar until nice and thick. Form into a cylinder and cut into slices.

Meanwhile, the other potatoes have to have been converted into papas arrugadas. The method for this can be found here.

Serve with mojo sauce. In the picture above, both red and green mojo are featured.

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