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    Cataplana with pork and clams (cataplana à algarvia)

    cataplana à algarvia

    Cubes of pork marinated in white wine and red-pepper paste, layered with clams, prawns, onion and pepper in a closed, clam-shaped copper pan and steamed in their own juices. The Algarve version of a Portuguese surf-and-turf, from the cookery magazine TeleCulinária.

    Algarve pork and clam cataplana with cooked prawns,onion and peppers in a white serving bowl.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    6
    Preparation
    15 min
    Cooking
    35 min
    Resting
    20 min
    Total
    1 h 10
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Cataplana (hinged copper pan) or a heavy casserole with a tight lid
    • Frying pan or saucepan for browning the pork
    Servings6

    Ingredients

    • The pork

    • The cataplana

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Season the pork with the pepper paste, white wine, garlic, salt and pepper, mix well and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.

      Timer · 20 min20:00

    2. Heat half the oil in a pan, add the drained pork and brown it on all sides. Pour in the marinade, let it reduce a little, then take off the heat.

      Why Browning gives flavour that steaming alone cannot; the reduced marinade becomes the sauce.

    3. In the cataplana, lay half the onion and the pepper strips, then the pork, the clams, the prawns and the rest of the onion.

    4. Pour over the pork juices and the remaining oil. Close the cataplana and cook for 25 minutes, turning it over halfway and shaking it now and then.

      Why The closed pan steams everything in the juices; turning it over moves the liquid from one shell to the other.

      Timer · 25 min25:00

    5. Open at the table, check the seasoning, and discard any clams that have not opened.

    To drink & serve with

    • Vinho Verde

      Editorial suggestion: a crisp Portuguese white such as Vinho Verde.

    Substitutions

    • Massa de pimentão → Mild paprika mixed to a paste with a little salt and olive oil (editorial suggestion).
    • Cataplana → A heavy casserole with a tight lid; shake it instead of turning it over.

    Common mistakes

    • Not purging the clams: sand ends up in the sauce.
    • Opening the pan during cooking: the steam escapes.

    Storage & reheating

    Best eaten at once. Remove the clams from their shells before refrigerating leftovers (within 2 hours); eat within a day, reheated until steaming hot.

    Safety

    Contains molluscs, crustaceans and sulphites (wine). Use only live clams (closed, or closing when tapped) and discard any that stay shut after cooking (US FDA). Pork must be cooked through, with no pink meat (UK FSA).

    Allergens

    Molluscs · Crustaceans · Sulphites

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    Dietary

    gluten-free · dairy-free

    A pan named after a shell

    The cataplana is both the dish and the pan: two hinged copper hemispheres that close like a clam and turn the contents into a sealed steam chamber. TeleCulinária's cataplana à algarvia is the Algarve's combination of pork and clams: the pork marinated with white wine, garlic and massa de pimentão, browned, then layered with clams, prawns, onion and pepper and steamed for 25 minutes, the pan turned over halfway.

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