For the latest in our series of recipes for Catalan dishes, our chef, Oscar Manresa, of Barcelona's famous Casa Leopoldo, brings us the coca de recapte. Coca is the name in Catalan for a wide range of pastries. It apparently comes from the same Dutch root as the English word "cake", and indeed some coques are sweet, but not normally the coca de recapte. Instead, this recipe is more like pizza's Catalan cousin (or maybe I should say pizza is coca's Italian cousin...).
We've topped our coca with a traditional escalivada, a mix of roasted Mediterranean veg (specifically pepper, aubergine and onion), although you could substitute almost any roast vegetable, it should all work fine. We've added smoked sardine, but Oscar similarly recommends any other smoked fish, or some tuna or salmon.
Ingredients for coca de recapte:
- plain flour - 500g / 17.5oz / 4 cups
- fresh yeast - 30g / 1oz
- sal - pinch
- water - 200ml / 6.5floz
- oil - 60ml / 2floz
- onion - 2 (red is recommended)
- red pepper - 2
- aubergine - 2
- smoked sardines - 4
Recipe
- Wash the vegetables and place on a baking tray, drizzled with oil
- Roast at 180ºC / 360ºF (see video for what you're looking for - about 45-60 mins)
- Once cooked, take it out of the oven and leave it to one side
- Meanwhile, mix the flour, yeast, salt, water and add a splash of oil to form a dough
- Turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead
- Cover the dough and leave it to rise
- Knock the dough back then roll into the thin coca (or more than one, depending on the size of your tray)
- Top with the vegetables, peeled and chopped, and a drizzle of oil (again, see the video)
- Back in the oven, same temperature, 20-30 minutes (keep an eye to see how it's doing)
- Break over the fish, a final drizzle of oil and serve