Marmitako
A dish of Basque fishermen, traditionally cooked on board during the summer tuna season. The name is derived from the marmita, the pot it is cooked in. It is potatoes broken rather than cut, stewed with onion, peppers and tomato in olive oil, with cubes of fresh tuna added at the end to cook in the pot's heat. Breaking the potatoes has a purpose: their ragged edges release starch that thickens the sauce. The key is not to boil the tuna — a few minutes in the hot stew keeps it juicy.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Preparation 20 min
- Sofrito 15 min
- Cooking the potatoes 25 min
- Tuna in the pot's heat 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 donePrepare vegetables and fish
Chop the onion, peppers and garlic. Grate the tomato and discard the skin. Cut the tuna into 2.5 cm cubes, salt it and keep it in the fridge. Take it out about 15 minutes before it goes into the stew, so it is not ice-cold.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Make the sofrito
Heat the olive oil in a wide pan and cook the onion, peppers and garlic gently 12–15 minutes, until very soft. Add the tomato, tomato paste and paprika and fry 2 minutes.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Slowly, until the peppers are soft as butter.Break the potatoes
Peel the potatoes. Push a knife into each and twist, breaking off pieces of about 3 cm — do not cut them neatly. The ragged edges release starch.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Broken, not cut — the starch thickens the sauce.Cook the potatoes
Add the potatoes to the sofrito, stir, pour in the stock and salt. Simmer 20–25 minutes, until tender and the sauce has thickened. Shake the pan rather than stirring, so the potatoes do not break up.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Season
Taste the sauce and adjust the salt. If it is too thin, crush a few pieces of potato against the side of the pan.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Add the tuna off the heat
Bring the stew to the boil, take the pan off the heat, add the tuna cubes, fold in gently so they are all covered by the sauce, and cover. Leave 5 minutes — the fish cooks in the pot's heat and stays juicy. Cut one cube open: it should be opaque, at most slightly pink at the very centre. If it is still raw, warm the stew over low heat for another 1–2 minutes without letting it boil. Boiled tuna turns as dry as canned.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Off the heat — the tuna stays juicy.Scatter with parsley
Scatter with chopped parsley.
Ingredients: 600 g fresh tuna, skinned and boned · 800 g potatoes · 1 pcs onion · 2 pcs green and red pepper · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp sweet paprika · 1 tbsp tomato paste · 4 tbsp olive oil · 1000 ml fish stock or water · 1½ tsp salt · ¼ bunch parsley
Serve
Serve at once, in deep bowls, with bread to mop up the sauce.
Ingredients: 4 pcs bread (optional)
Before you start
Which tuna
In the Basque Country bonito del norte, albacore caught in summer, is used. Any fresh, firm tuna works; thaw frozen tuna slowly in the fridge.
Choricero pepper paste
Traditionally the sofrito is seasoned with paste of dried choricero peppers (found mainly in Spanish delis). In this recipe sweet paprika with tomato paste stands in for it — the flavour is good, if less deep. If you have the paste, add 1–2 tablespoons instead of the tomato paste.
Storage
Marmitako is best eaten at once. Reheated tuna dries out — if you plan leftovers, set aside some stew before the fish goes in, keep the raw tuna separately in the fridge (until the next day) and add it once the stew is reheated.
