America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," Erin makes Bridget Spanish seafood stew, Hannah and Lisa talk about the best disposable and reusable plastic bags, and Bridget makes Julia red pepper coques.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

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-Zarzuela is a hearty Catalan stew that's absolutely brimming with seafood.

Now, it depends on the market that day.

You might have monkfish, clams, squid, cod, even, shrimp, of course.

But it's usually made to celebrate.

And when I think of celebrations, I think of party.

When I think of party, I think of Erin.

-Of course.

-She's here, and she's going to show us how to make a beautiful Catalan-style zarzuela at home.

-I certainly am, Bridget.

It is a wonderful dish.

It's just brimming with seafood, fresh seafood, whatever you can buy at the market that looks the best.

And what we want to do is make sure that that seafood shines.

So, we are going to start with cod.

I have 1 pound of fresh cod, which is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I'm going to cut this into 3/4- to 1-inch chunks.

I have 8 ounces of calamari.

I'm just going to cut the bodies into 1/2-inch-thick rings.

And we have the tentacles, which we are going to leave whole.

So we have 8 ounces of squid.

And we're using 12 ounces of 21/25 shrimp, and I'm just going to put them in the bowl with the seafood.

-Okay.

-Now I'm going to add 3/4 teaspoon of table salt.

What this is going to do is this is going to season the fish.

But it's also going to help it to maintain its moisture as it's going to sit for about 15, 30 minutes until we actually cook it.

So I'm just going to stir this up so it's evenly combined.

Okay.

So now this is just going to go into the fridge until we're ready to use it.

But first I'm going to go and prep my tomato.

-Okay.

-I have two whole tomatoes here.

One I've already grated into a pulp.

And the other one, I'm going to show you how to grate it.

So I cut it in half across the equator, and using a box grater, press the cut side against the large holes, and you just grate it.

The skin just doesn't want to go through the holes.

So, we have about 1 1/2 cups, and now we're ready to move on to our next step.

-Okay, great.

-Alright?

Catalan cooks often will use a picada.

A picada is basically ground nuts, ground oil-fried bread... -Right.

-...and also garlic and herbs and spices.

We really want to keep this simple, so we're just going to use almonds and parsley.

-Okay.

-Straight up.

So we're using 1/3 cup of slivered almonds.

And just going to process this till it's finely ground, which is going to be about 20 pulses.

Okay, so that has been about 20 pulses.

And what we're looking for is for it to have a nice, fine consistency.

To this, I'm going to add 1/3 cup of parsley, so it's basically one to one, and we're going to pulse this about 10 times.

This is the right consistency.

-Alright.

-It's nice and finely ground, and it's going to help to thicken up our stew nicely.

-Great.

-Okay?

Just going to leave that there.

So, now we're moving on to our liquid ingredients.

I have 1 cup of dry white wine.

-Mm-hmm.

-And to this, I'm going to add 2 tablespoons of brandy.

So I'm going to add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for nice, fresh acidity.

And now we are going to add 1/4 teaspoon of saffron threads.

I'm going to crumble them a little bit as I put it into the mixture.

So now we're just going to let this bloom.

-Sounds good.

Now, usually, we bloom spices in oil.

But with saffron, we can bloom it in water.

And to understand this, we need to take a look at other orange and yellow pigmented spices.

Turmeric contains the pigment curcumin, and annatto has a pigment called bixin.

The pigments' molecules are soluble in fat, meaning they need oil to help them disperse throughout a dish.

If we add turmeric and annatto straight to water, the pigments won't dissolve, leaving the water colorless.

However, saffron threads contain the pigment molecule known as crocin.

What makes it unique is that it has sugar molecules at each end.

Because sugar is soluble in water, it makes crocin soluble in water, too.

That's why we can treat the saffron differently than our other spices.

In fact, just one part per million of saffron to water is enough to color the liquid, making it a very special addition to many dishes.

-Alright, Bridget, ready to cook?

-Definitely.

-Alright.

So I have 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil heating over medium high heat.

-Okay.

-And it's just starting to shimmer, so I know that we are ready.

So I'm going to add one large onion, which is finely chopped, and I have one red bell pepper.

And to this, I'm just going to add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and that is going to help the vegetables soften a little bit more quickly.

It's going to draw out their moisture.

-Right.

-And now we're just going to cook this for about 7 to 8 minutes.

We want the vegetables to soften.

I'm going to make sure that I keep stirring it frequently just to make sure that they're softening and not browning.

-Okay.

-As you can see, our onions and our peppers are both now softened.

So I'm going to add two garlic cloves that I've minced, and we're going to add some spices.

And again, we're keeping this very simple.

-Okay.

-So we're adding 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, which is going to give us kind of musky, sweet flavor.

-Definitely think of that in this dish.

-And then smoked paprika.

-Mmm.

-And then I have 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

That's just going to give us a little bit of heat.

So now we're going to just cook this for about one minute.

Now we're going to add our bloomed saffron.

-Oh, wow.

Oh, yeah.

-Now we're going to let this reduce for about 4 to 6 minutes until the alcohol is cooked off and the flavors concentrate.

Okay, so our liquid has almost evaporated, and the flavors are concentrated.

So now we're going to add a few more ingredients.

We're going to add two 8-ounce jars of clam juice.

Now I'm going to add 1/2 cup of chopped Manzanilla olives.

-Mmm.

-So now we're going to add our picada.

-Lovely.

The ground almonds and the parsley.

-And our tomato pulp, about 1 1/2 cups of tomato pulp.

-Right.

-Okay.

So now we're going to bring this up to a simmer, a vigorous simmer, and we're going to reduce it for about 6 to 8 minutes until it thickens.

Okay.

So it's been about seven minutes or so, and our mixture has thickened.

Now we're going to add 1 pound of mussels.

Because mussels take a little bit longer to cook, we're going to give them a head start.

-Okay.

-These are washed and debearded, and I'm just going to sprinkle them around the perimeter of the pot.

These are also going to give off a little bit of juice, so having the picada there is really going to help to kind of keep our texture of our stew in check.

So now we're going to cover the mussels and let them simmer for about 4 minutes.

-Okay.

-Okay.

So it's been about 4 minutes, and our mussels have had a head start.

I'm going to add the seafood to the center of the pot.

-Hmm.

-So this is actually a really interesting method, the mussels around the perimeter... -Right.

-...and seafood's in the center.

And we are going to cook this in a little different method than the mussels.

So first, I am putting the seafood so that it's submerged, just submerged.

-Okay.

-Now we're going to put a lid on it, we're going to take it off the heat, and we're going to let it sit for about 15 minutes.

What we're going to do is gently cook the seafood.

So we gave the mussels a kick start with, like, a nice simmer, and now we're just going to let them poach off heat for about 15 minutes.

And the heat of the liquid and the temperature of the seafood after 15 minutes is going to equalize.

-Okay.

-And everything's going to be cooked perfectly.

I am going to get in there one time and stir it halfway through very gently.

-Got it.

-Are you ready?

-I am so ready.

-Oh, my goodness.

-[ Gasps ] -Look at that.

So what does all seafood need?

-A little bit of lemon juice.

-Hey.

A-plus.

Okay, yep.

I'm going to add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Now I'm going to add 3 tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley.

Shall we?

-Yes.

-Okay.

If you have any mussels that don't open, you can just discard them.

-Okay.

-I'm a lemon fanatic, so we are going to have lemon wedges.

Would you like one?

-Oh.

I would love one.

Thank you.

Alright.

I'm going to go in for the shrimp, because I feel like if anything's going to be overcooked, that's where it's going to show up.

-And I'm going to go in for the cod.

-Mmm.

Oh, Erin, those flavors.

Warm, just so warm.

The saffron, the smoked paprika.

-Yep.

-Oh, and the shrimp, by the way, it was incredibly tender.

-I'm going to try soaking up this lovely broth.

-I'm going to do the same.

-It's not too heavy.

-Mmm.

Alright, I'm going to get a mussel.

-Mmm.

-Those mussels, even though you started them, what, 4 minutes earlier than everything else, cooked at a little bit of a simmer... -Mm-hmm.

-...perfectly done.

Gorgeous.

-The calamari is nice and tender.

It has chew to it.

It's like a game changer.

-Erin, this was absolutely spectacular.

Worthy of any celebration, but it's always a party with you.

-Thank you for joining me.

-If you'd like to make this great dish at home, it starts by tossing cod, shrimp, and squid with salt to season and help retain moisture.

Use spices like saffron and paprika sparingly so as not to overwhelm the seafood flavor.

And after simmering the mussels, add in the salted seafood and let it poach off heat until gently cooked through.

So, from "America's Test Kitchen," a stunning seafood stew from Catalan.

It's zarzuela.

-We use food storage bags a lot, and traditionally, they've been disposable, single-use plastic bags, brands like Glad, Hefty, and Ziploc.

-More recently, reusable storage bags seem to be everywhere.

They promise to reduce the impact on the environment and maybe even your wallet.

-But which should you buy?

We found key traits that we like about both styles.

We like flat bags rather than these three-dimensional ones that kind of look like purses.

And that's because after a month in the freezer, if you didn't press the air out around the food, which you cannot do in these bigger bags, you get ice crystals forming around these, where these were perfectly good at the end of a month.

-We preferred bags with wider openings.

10 inches across was ideal.

It was just easier to load them up and fill them with food.

-We also liked a secure seal.

Our favorites of both styles... [ Bag clicking ] ...clicked right into place with a satisfying snap.

-I heard that.

That was very satisfying.

We wanted tough, leak-proof construction, too.

We actually filled the bags with all different liquids and shook them upside down.

Pretty good.

-We shook them really hard 10 times.

This -- We're just going to show you once.

-I'm going easy.

Yeah, I'm going easy on it, is what she's saying right now.

But trust us, this was not always so pretty.

-We also filled them up with tomato sauce and pushed them off a countertop.

Now, the disposable bags, a couple of them made it.

None of the reusables did.

Our favorites from LK and Ziploc, they actually aced every test.

The reusables, we still think they have a place in the home kitchen, but they're not good if you're going to drop something off a counter.

The seals are just not as strong.

-Our reusable winners worked just like the disposable ones.

Rezip and Ello right here, they were sturdy, flexible, and easy to seal.

-They're also easy to clean and didn't hold on to odors.

The Rezip is even dishwasher safe, and that's a real plus.

-So, the disposable ones are very convenient and less expensive.

The reusable ones cost more money up front, but you might get years out of them if you treat them right.

-For full testing results and more information, head to our website.

-Coques are Catalan flatbread, often served at tapas bars.

Now, sometimes they're sweet and topped with nuts and dried fruit, but sometimes they're savory and topped with those bold, Spanish-style flavors.

And that's the kind that Bridget's going to show us how to make today.

-I sure am.

It's going to be gorgeous.

Little bit of peppers, red peppers, and onions.

-Mmm.

-I know you love that.

But these are lovely, little flatbreads.

They're similar to a flatbread pizza, although I love the fact that they're super crisp on the bottom.

They're a little bit chewy and moist in the center.

But we're starting off with something that's similar to a pizza dough.

So let me tell you where we are here.

I've got 3 cups of bread flour here.

That's 16 1/2 ounces.

Always a good idea to weigh out the dry ingredients, especially when you're doing any kind of bread.

In addition to flour, I've got a little bit of sugar here.

This is 2 teaspoons.

It's not a sweet dough.

We're not making a sweet coca.

Coca is the singular of coques.

-Oh, okay.

-There you go.

-But it's just enough that it's going to give the yeast plenty of fuel to feed on, lots of great flavor.

A little bit of instant yeast.

This is 1/2 teaspoon.

And I'm going to "brr" this together here in the food processor.

Just blitz it about five times just to bring everything together.

Alright.

So that looks good.

You can see it's all mixed together.

-Mm-hmm.

-Put the lid back on here, 'cause for this next step, I'm going to keep the machine running.

We're going to add some ice water.

This is essential that we keep this dough nice and cold.

The longer the dough ferments up to a certain point, the better flavor you're going to have, and the more workable the dough's going to be.

So this is 1 1/3 cups of ice-cold water.

Machine goes on.

Pour it right through here.

Like magic.

-Just like magic.

-Alright.

So it should just come together.

Takes about 10 seconds, and now we're going to leave it alone.

-Mm-hmm.

-Let this sit here.

This is autolyse.

So, we don't have any salt in here yet, and that's on purpose.

That's so that the water can be absorbed by the flour and start to form that gluten structure.

Alright, quick 10 minutes.

Dough's rested for just a moment.

I mentioned salt earlier.

So this is 1 1/2 teaspoons of regular salt and also 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

And this really is different from what we do with a lot of pizza doughs where there's very little olive oil in there.

There's 3 tablespoons in there.

So that's going to help to promote that brown, crisp crust on the bottom and also give some moisture inside the dough itself.

So you get a little bit more chew.

So, I'm just going to process this for about 30 seconds, maybe up to a minute, looking for it to be completely worked into the dough itself, the olive oil and the salt.

But also, it should come away from the sides of the work bowl.

Alright.

So, I'm just going to dust my counter here.

Just lightly dust it at this point.

Pull this out carefully.

Little bit more flour on top, and I just want to pull this together.

-Ooh.

-See?

It's really sticky.

-It's really sticky.

-This allows us to also add a little bit of flour, and we don't have to worry about it too much as we're working it.

Just going to pull this into a tight little ball here.

And if you wouldn't mind, I've got a lightly greased bowl there.

-Mm-hmm.

-Alright.

I'm going to put this seam side down right in the bowl.

And if you wouldn't mind, I got a little doughy hands here.

-Yep.

-Thank you.

Just put a piece of plastic wrap on it, tightly covered.

We really want to trap this in there... -Mm-hmm.

-...'cause it's going to go into the fridge for a while, minimum of 24 hours.

You can go up to three days.

I find that the sweet spot is two days.

-Interesting.

-Three days, I forget it's in there.

[ Both laugh ] But a full 48 hours allows the yeast to really feed on the sugars, and also, it's going to be a lot easier to work with.

So, I'm going to go put this in the fridge.

-Okay.

-Now, we're making coques de recapte.

And that basically means provisions or ingredients that you would have on hand.

-Oh, I like that.

-We're doing a really simple but gorgeous one here that features roasted red peppers and onions.

So, I've got 3 tablespoons more of olive oil.

I've been heating this over medium heat just till it's shimmering.

I'm going to add in two onions.

Along with the onions, we're going to use 2 cups of roasted red peppers, jarred roasted red peppers.

Goes in.

-Mmm.

-There we go.

A little garlic never hurt anyone.

So 3 cloves of garlic that we've minced, and a little bit of sugar here.

This is 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

You're going to get the savory but a little bit of sweet.

This is 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, and this is two bay leaves.

I'm just going to stir this together.

So I just want to give it a quick toss and put a lid on it.

We're going to let this go for about 10 minutes.

I'm going to stir it a few times.

But we're going to let it cook until the onions are softened and they've given off their juices.

-Okay.

-Alright.

Let's check and see what's going on under the hood.

Gorgeous aromas coming out of there.

-Ooh.

-But a lot of moisture in the pan here.

-Mm-hmm.

-That was just 10 minutes.

So now we're going to let that moisture evaporate.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, going to concentrate flavors.

And what we're looking for are the onions to really start to take on a deep, dark color.

-Nice.

-That's going to take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes, and I'll stir it pretty often.

Now how's that look?

-Looks delicious.

-Just want to get rid of the bay leaves here.

Kill the heat underneath.

I want to get this out of the skillet and into a bowl.

-Mm-hmm.

-Oh, smells so good.

And then to finish this, a little bit of sherry vinegar, 3 tablespoons.

-Ooh.

-So, this has to cool completely.

So, the peppers are going to soak up a little bit of that sherry vinegar, as well.

So, if you wouldn't mind just setting that aside... -Sure thing.

-...let's work on the dough.

-Ooh, it's pretty.

-Isn't it lovely?

-Mm-hmm.

-It's very cold, so it's going to be easy to work with.

I do want to get this out of the bowl here.

So now I want to divide this into four equal pieces.

Now, if you wouldn't mind, I've got a little piece of plastic wrap there.

-Ooh, it's greased.

-It's greased.

Just want to keep these from drying out.

-Okay.

-Would you also like to do this with me?

-You read my mind.

-Yeah.

I need some help.

[ Both laugh ] So we're just taking these quarters, and we want to form them into a pretty taut ball.

This sets that structure on the outside of the dough.

It's going to help us later on when we go to roll this into an oval and kind of keep it from getting misshapen.

So if you see any big bubbles in there, you definitely want to get rid of those.

-Okay.

-Alright?

We don't want giant bubbles in our dough.

And I'm just taking my thumb right in the center and kind of wrapping the dough around it.

-Mm-hmm.

Oh, I see.

-And then once you get to this nice, little, taut ball... -Mm-hmm.

-...you just use the surface tension of the un-greased counter to really form it.

Get that skin of this dough ball nice and tight.

-Mm.

-And then we're going to put it back under that greased plastic and let them sit, rest for about an hour before we roll them out.

Alright.

Fun time.

Rolling with Julia.

- Rollin', rollin', rollin' -So, these dough balls have rested for about an hour.

You can see they've got a little bit of puff to them.

Now, we do want to add quite a bit of flour here, because we are going to work with them.

So flour your surface.

So, we are going to start to pat these out into nice ovals.

So about 5 by 14.

And depending on the dough, super relaxed, you might be able to get all the way with patting.

But if not, I've got a rolling pin there for you.

I'm using a little bit of a stretching technique, too.

-Mm-hmm.

-So pulling on it.

-Yeah.

-And if it snaps back on you, you can just cover it and let it sit for about 5 minutes and get back to it.

-Right.

Let that gluten muscle relax.

-So, I am going to put mine pretty close to the long edge here.

-Okay.

-And if it starts to snap back again, we're going to cover this, let it sit for a few minutes, and then we can pull it again, kind of reshape it.

-Okay.

-And you just want to keep about a 1/2-inch space between the two of these.

-Okay.

That looks pretty good.

-So, we just need to take these remaining two dough balls and roll them out to about 5 by 14.

We're going to place them on the other greased baking sheet before we move on.

Alright.

Working on a little snap-back here, but we got them all on our greased sheet pans.

And now we're going to dock these.

-Alright.

-Each one, about 15 docks.

And that's just to keep them from puffing up too much.

So, this is another tablespoon of olive oil extra virgin olive oil.

So, we're going to pre-bake these or par-bake them at 500 degrees, both of them in the same oven, upper middle rack and then lower middle rack.

And I'm going to keep them in there for about 6 to 8 minutes until they're just lightly puffed.

I'll go in and switch the pan positions halfway through.

-[ Sniffs ] I can smell them.

-Ah, fresh baked bread, right?

Alright.

So obviously, they're not too colorful here.

But again, we're just par-baking them.

Oh, but you can see they got a little bit puffed.

-Mm-hmm.

-Oh.

And the top had a chance to really set up a little bit before we added our topping.

So, I just want to take our mixture here, and I'll spread it.

One last item that's totally optional, but these are pine nuts.

They're un-toasted because we're going to toast them in the oven.

This is 1/4 cup.

So this just goes right over the top.

So it's going to give some really interesting crunch.

Alright.

So, these are going to go back into that 500-degree oven, this time for 15 minutes.

We really want to get it nice and crisp on the bottom.

And again, I'm going to switch the positions of the two trays halfway through baking.

-Okay.

-You mind getting the door for me?

-Mm-hmm.

[ Sniffs ] Yum.

-Mmm!

Ah.

Gorgeously brown.

-Mm-hmm.

-Sizzling hot.

There we go.

Just put them on our cooling racks here.

-They're beautiful.

-Aren't they lovely?

-We did good.

-You did great.

Alright.

Obviously, super hot.

We're going to let these cool down for about 10 minutes before we eat them.

Alright.

It's time to eat.

-Mmm.

-You worked for this.

-[ Laughing ] I did.

-So, we've got one here.

Just going to cut it in half, make it a little easier to handle.

Just going to cut these into triangles.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can use a pizza cutter for this or a regular knife.

-Man, that looks good.

-Alright.

Let's bring it on up.

-Okay.

-I've got a little bit of zhuzhing to do here.

This is 1 tablespoon of minced parsley.

I just want to sprinkle some over this one.

This is enough for all four.

-Mmm.

I can't wait to try this.

Mm.

Mmm!

The onions, they have this complex sweetness, 'cause it's the onions and the sherry vinegar.

And then you have the fruitiness of the roasted red peppers.

But it's the dough.

-Mm-hmm.

-There's so much flavor.

-A lot of chew, too.

-Mm-hmm.

-And you get that really crisp bottom.

-Bridget, this is delicious, and it was fun to make.

-It was.

-Thank you.

-You bet.

-If you want to make this traditional Catalan flatbread, make a yeast dough in the food processor using ice-cold water.

Shape the dough into ovals and par-bake for just a few minutes.

Then top with roasted red peppers and caramelized onions and bake to a deep golden brown.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a delicious recipe for red pepper coques.

You can find this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

I'm going for the end piece.

-Oh, yeah.

Me, too.

-Oh, yeah.

'Cause that crust?

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