The sama is from the family of the sparids and there are several species in the Canary Islands, among them the sama dorada, bocinegro, snapper and the sama roquera, which is the fish that we make today in our Christmas recipe.
Sama roquera is one of the best known species of traditional Canarian cuisine. Its meat is ideal to be baked and shared with family or friends.
We will accompany with vegetables and some wrinkled potatoes and with green mojo to this sama in the oven.
INGREDIENTS
1 sama between 3 or 4 kilos
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 onions
1 head of garlic
salt the salt flats
Water glass 1
1 lemon
1 dash of olive oil
Platen paper
Toothpicks
POTATOES
a handful of coarse salt from the salt flats
1 kilo of small potatoes to wrinkle
water
MOJO
6 cloves of garlic
1 fist of cumin
a bunch of coriander
1 piece of green pepper
some branches of parsley
1 dash of olive oil
vinegar
salt the salt flats
1/2 pepper (puta la madre, optional)
a pinch of water (if you want it less thick)
PREPARATION
Ask the fishmonger to clean the sama for us and make some cuts to cook it in the oven.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Put a splash of olive oil on a baking sheet. Slice the onions, green and red peppers and put them on the tray with the garlic cloves. Cut half a lemon and put it inside the sama.
We add a little salt to the fish and place it on top of the vegetables that we had cut.
It is time to cover the entire tray with platen paper, (so that the skin does not stick, we put some pricked toothpicks in the sama), so we get it to boil and not stick the skin to the platen.
Now we put the tray with the fish in the oven and gradually increase the heat until it is cooked, about three hours. We will check the fish every hour and add water or water with a spoon of broth that remains on the tray. When we see that it is cooked, we uncover it and let the skin brown a little without the fish drying out.
We can now take it out carefully and place it on a large, decorative tray. Very carefully and with the help of a pair of skimmers. We put the sauce in a nice bowl and the vegetables in a plate to accompany our sama.
The wrinkled potatoes; we wash the potatoes well. In a low pot we put the potatoes and add water. It should only cover the potatoes flush with them. We add a handful of coarse salt, for each kilo. Press until you feel it, cook over high heat, about 3/4 of an hour. The remaining water is drained and the cauldron is moved over the fire so that the salt is integrated into the skin and they become wrinkled.
Now we put the green mojo to accompany the wrinkled potatoes; the mortar or mixer is prepared. In the mortar, the minced garlic, cumin and salt and mash it. Afterwards, the green pepper, coriander and minced parsley and we continue mashing. If you want it spicy put a pepper. At the end the vinegar and oil and we are stirring until we get a sauce. Add water if you want it more liquid (we like it thicker). If you make the mojo with a blender, add all the ingredients together, vinegar to taste and the oil little by little to get a consistent sauce. If you want it more liquid, add a pinch of water.
