Stewed Smoked, Sun-dried Fish is a traditional Montenegrin recipe for a classic dish of sun-dried and smoked fish cooked with onions, celery and garlic in a sauce of fish stock, white wine and olive oil. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Montenegrin version of: Stewed Smoked, Sun-dried Fish.
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The tradition of sun-drying and smoking fish to preserve them is one that is found world-wide and such fish are very common in Asian and African cookery today (smoked sun-dried fish can easily be found in both Asian and African stores). This practice used to be much more common in the Mediterranean than it is today, but the process lives on in Montenegro.
The fish are cleaned and opened out flat before being pinned to wooden splints and staked or hung out in the sun. Every morning the fish are soaked in brine (sea water) and then are hung out to sun dry. Once the drying process is complete, smoked over a fireplace and stored in plastic bags. The fish will then keep to be consumed during the winter months.
Ingredients:
2 onions, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
500ml fish stock
300ml white wine
3 dried and smoked fish
100ml olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a pan and use to fry the onions for 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and garlic and fry for 2 minutes more before adding the parsley and oregano.
Thoroughly wash and drain the dried fish then lay on top of the onion mixture. Season with salt and black pepper then pour the fish stock and white wine along with the remaining olive oil over the top. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook over low heat for at least 2 1/2 hours (top-up the liquid as necessary). At the end of this time remove the fish from the stock. Flake the flesh from the fish bones and return to the pot. Return to simmer and serve hot.
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