Turkish Köfte in Tomato Sauce + Portuguese Caldeirada de Marisco

🍳 Today’s culinary picks:

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🥩 Turkish Köfte in Tomato Sauce

Juicy, fragrant meatballs from the Middle East—spiced, tender inside, with a slight crunch on the outside. Braised in a thick tomato sauce with garlic and sweet bell pepper.

Ingredients:
👉 Köfte: 500g ground beef, 1 onion (grated), 2 garlic cloves, 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, 1 egg, bunch of parsley, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, salt/pepper
👉 Sauce: 400g canned tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp oregano

Instructions:

Mix ground beef, onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Knead until smooth.
Shape into elongated meatballs the size of a walnut.
Fry köfte in olive oil until golden—4-5 minutes. Set aside.
In the same pan, sauté onion (3 min), add bell pepper and garlic (2 min).
Add tomato paste, heat for 1 min. Add tomatoes, sugar, oregano, salt, and pepper.
Return köfte to the sauce, cover, and simmer for 25-30 minutes on low heat.
Serve with rice or lavash, sprinkled with parsley.

💡 The word köfte comes from the Persian kufta—“beaten.” One of the oldest dishes: meatballs in sauce appear in Mesopotamian tablets from the 14th century BCE. Turkey has over 290 regional köfte recipes!

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🐟 Portuguese Caldeirada de Marisco

A classic fisherman’s stew from the Alentejo coast—fragrant, hearty, bursting with sea flavors. A tomato broth with potatoes and peppers, simmering with white fish and shrimp.

Ingredients:
600g white fish (hake/cod/sea bass), 300g peeled shrimp, 4 potatoes (cubed), 2 onions (sliced), 2 bell peppers (strips), 400g canned tomatoes, 4 garlic cloves, 150ml white wine, 4 tbsp olive oil, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp paprika, bunch of cilantro/parsley, 200ml water

Instructions:

Dice potatoes, slice onions, cut peppers into strips, slice garlic.
Sauté onion in olive oil until translucent (4-5 min), add bell pepper and garlic (3 min).
Pour in wine, reduce for 2 min. Add tomatoes, water, bay leaves, paprika, salt, and pepper.
Add potatoes, cover, and simmer for 15 min until half-cooked.
Place fish pieces on top of potatoes, baste with sauce. Simmer covered for 10 min.
Add shrimp on top, simmer for another 5-7 min.
Remove from heat, sprinkle with cilantro, let sit for 5 min. Serve with baguette.

💡 Caldeirada is a dish of Portuguese fishermen, who cooked it in a cauldron (caldeira) using small or damaged fish unfit for sale. That’s why the classic version mixes several types of fish and seafood. Every fishing town still insists its recipe is the only true one!