This is another holiday takeover post from the Pipes’ guest kitchen in Portugal.

I first made this last year and it was awesome, however I didn't take any pictures and haven't got around to cooking it again at home so this time around, I made sure to keep the camera phone handy and record it.

You need a good couple of hours to prep and then it needs 8 hours of slow cooking so be sure to start after breakfast and then you can forget about it for the day. The time and effort upfront is worth it. You can save some time if you get your fishmonger to do some of the squid prep for you.

Its a deep, rich and hearty fishy one pot dish, packed with the flavours of land and sea.

You need a good frying pan for the prep and a big oven-proof dish, ideally with a lid.

If you want some more hints on how to prepare the squid see my Calamari post.

Step 1 - Onions

Peel and slice the onions
Add some olive oil and a knob of butter to the pan on a medium heat
When it’s hot, put all the onions in and stir
Throw in a good pinch of salt
Every few minutes, give the onions a stir
If they start to dry out or catch, add a splash of water and stir
Keep doing this for at least 20 minutes until the onions start to go translucent and sweet
Feel free to keep doing this further and they will start to darken up, just don't let them catch and burn
Once done add the the oven-proof pot

Step 2 - Red pepper

Remove the stalk and insides including all the seeds from the pepper
Chop up into pieces
Add some more olive oil to the pan and fry off the pepper until it starts to brown
This will cook off some of the water and sweeten up the peppers. Don't be to worried if they catch a little, peppers love a little charring
Once done, add to the pot

Step 3 - Chorizo

Slice the chorizo into bite size chunks
Fry off in the frying pan until they start to get a little crispy on the outside and release some of that glorious red oil
Don't let it catch so keep it moving. Once done, add it to the pot

Step 4 - Bacon

Slice the fatty smoked bacon and cook off in the pot until it starts to just crisp then it too joins its friends in the pot

Step 5 - Garlic

Chop some garlic and cook it off a little in the pan which has all the amazing flavours going on it it
Don't let it catch so keep it moving, then into the pot it goes

Step 6 - Squid

The squid needs to be prepped, removing the innards, head and beak so only the body and tentacles remain
Once prepped, slice the body how you like, this time I went for simple chunks
Either keep the tentacles whole or chop up. I did a little of both here
At this point, put your oven on to 130C to heat up

Step 7 - Tomatoes

Add the tinned toms to the pan and give roughly break them down with the back of a spoon
A squirt of tomato puree goes in as well
Give a good stir and cook until the sauce has thickened up and gone deeper shade of red
Once done, add to the pot

Step 8 - Red wine

With the pan hot, add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scrapping off as many bits as you can
Once bubbling, a quick way to drive off the alcohol is to light a match and put it near the surface. A quick flash and you’re good. If you’re not a pyromaniac then just cook for a little longer. Let the wine reduce by half then add to the pot, scraping in all the bits and pieces from the pan

Step 9 - Slow cook

With everything in the oven-proof pot, add a small glass of water and give everything a thorough stir
With some parchment, create a cartouche then cover with tinfoil to create a sealed lid
If the pot has a lid, add that too for good measure
Put in the oven and leave for at least 7 hours

Step 10 - Final cook

An hour before you want to eat, remove the lid, tinfoil and parchment
Every 15 minutes give the dish a stir, it will start to darken up and a thicken with each stir
15 minutes before serving get your rice on and give the clams a quick rinse under some fresh running water

Step 11 - Clams

When ready, add the butter and clams to the pot and give a good stir and cover. They only take a few minutes to cook so by the time you take to the table for the big reveal, they will be done