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Throwback Thursday: Espetada, Madeira’s gift to the world

14 Nov 2024

Bay leaves are almost invariably an afterthought. ‘Add one bay leaf’ appears in tens of thousands of recipes. But this recipe is all about the leaves and branches of the bay tree.

Cubed beef, fresh bay leaves, crushed garlic, coarse salt. These are the ingredients you would find in traditional espetadas from the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira.

The cubes are marinated in garlic, crushed bay leaves and coarse salt, before being skewered onto bay branches and grilled over very hot coals. The grilling is quick, because the coals are so hot. They are served, traditionally, with bolo de caco, a flatbread shaped like a cake (bolo), and miho frito, a Madeiran side dish of fried cubes of cornmeal and greens.

If you want to be even more authentic, get hold of some grapewood to burn into coals. There isn’t a lot of that around in my neck of the Karoo, but on the island it’s common to use it.

Of course, cooks do veer away from the central core of the espetada. Today, modern Portuguese or Madeiran restaurants skewer their espetadas on metal rods hanging from a hook over a plate of potatoes and vegetables below.

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I’m blessed to have a bay tree in a pot on my werf, so I cut four slim but strong branches and trimmed them into skewers. The leaves, which I plucked off, were interspersed with the cubes of meat.

But first, a marinade, and time. I stuck to basics, chopping loads of fresh garlic, and crushing bay leaves plucked from the tree. There’s something strangely pleasing about holding a bay leaf in your palm and crushing it. It remains whole, but misshapen, the point being that doing so allows the sap and flavour to seep out into the meat.

Some recipes include onion, also finely chopped, and I’m sure this is not traditional but I decided to go with it, if only because I hadn’t done so before and I wanted to see how it would work out. The resulting braaied espetadas had all of the flavour that I recognise and love, with just a bit of a spike from the onion. That’s the joy of onion, it’s “there” in so many things yet seldom dominates a dish. Of course, you can just leave it out if you’re in a traditionalist frame of mind.

Some recipes suggest a squeeze of lemon in the marinade. I don’t think this is necessary. Espetada is popular worldwide precisely because of its specific selection of ingredients. The ideal is to stick only to those.

Espetada is all about beef, traditionally, and I do often make them with beef, and you can make this exact recipe with cubes of beef fillet or sirloin, and cook them in the same way.

I made my espetadas with chicken for two reasons: one, because they are just as pleasing to the palate as the traditional beef espetada, and two, for the simple practical reason that my local superstores had no beef fillet in stock. The joys of small-town life…

I decided to make rice as an accompaniment, but also chose not to spice it, as that would compete with the flavours of the espetadas. Instead, I wrapped two mealies (corn cobs) in foil and put them on the coals, and cooked the rice in a pot of boiling water with four bay leaves in it. Then I scraped the remaining marinade ingredients (after removing the chicken to skewer it) into a saucepan, added chopped red pepper, a chopped red chilli and the braaied corn kernels, simmered it for a few minutes and tossed it through the drained rice.

Tony’s beef or chicken espetada

(Makes 4 generous espetadas on bay skewers)

Ingredients

4 chicken breast fillets or 800g of beef fillet, cubed

4 bay skewers

For the marinade:

6 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely

1 medium onion (optional)

Fresh bay leaves (as many as you want), crushed

Coarse salt

For the rice:

Leftover garlic (and onion if used) from the marinade

1 red chilli, chopped

1 red pepper, diced

Kernels of 2 mealies, cooked in foil on the braai grid

Olive oil

Method

Start a day ahead. Chop the garlic (and onion if using) and put it in a bowl or bakkie. Crush the fresh bay leaves (go for it – 20 is no problem) and add them.

Cube the beef or chicken and add to the bowl. Add a reasonably generous amount of coarse salt (you want the salting to be prominent but not dominant; use your instincts). Stir or toss with two wooden spoons so that all the meat is coated. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Cut four bay branches. If you don’t have a bay tree, ask your neighbours and mates; somebody should be able to oblige.

When the time arrives, remove the marinated meat from the fridge and skewer pieces on bay branches, interspersed with bay leaves. I used the ones in the bakkie, and added a few more when they ran out.

Make a fire and keep it going. Sterilise a hinged braai grid. When clean, oil the insides.

Wrap two mealies in foil tightly and place near or above hot coals. They need about half an hour for the kernels to become tender enough to use with the rice.

Grill the espetadas until tender and nicely browned, but don’t push them too far.

Meanwhile, make a batch of rice, drain, and leave to one side.

When the espetadas are nearly done, cook the remaining contents of the marinade bakkie in a saucepan with the chopped red pepper and chilli and black pepper, but not salt (the marinade is salty). Scrape off the corn kernels and stir them in. Keep warm.

Serve the espetadas on a mound of the veg-studded rice. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.

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