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

Ingredients - Squid and Clam Stew

• 3 large white onions

• 1 bulb of garlic

• 2 large red peppers

• 2 chorizo rings, ideally of different types

• A chunk of smoked bacon

• 3 tins of whole plum tomatoes

• Tomato puree

• Half a bottle of decent red wine

• 1kg of squid

• A good knob of butter

• 1kg of clams