Modern and Traditional Portuguese Recipes - Chef Peter's Bacalhau Bake
(Codfish baked in the oven):
Chef Peter is Swiss, he lives and works in Norway and everywhere he goes, he takes a keen interest in local dishes. During his visit to Portugal in 2008, he took the traditional Portuguese ingredient of Bacalhau - dried salt cod - to create three superb recipes for us. So here is.............
Chef Peter's Bacalhau Bake which serves 4
Ingredients:
1 kg of soaked and prepared Bacalhau cut into large chunks
4 potatoes sliced
1 red onion sliced
2 tomatoes sliced
½ deseeded red chilli
1 medium courgette
4 cloves of garlic left whole
3 or 4 bay leaves
black pepper
a handful of Coriander chopped
a handful of parsley
100 mls of water and 100 mls of white wine
olive oil
Bacalhau preparation:
Always buy the best and thickest Bacalhau, if you can, especially for main course dishes where good chunks of fish give the best results. The shop will always cut the salt cod into smaller pieces for you, if they have not already done so. The dried salt cod needs to soak in water for at least 24 hours to fully rehydrate, with the water being changed 3 or even 4 times to remove salt during that time. So, plan ahead and start this process in good time. Prepare the now wet fish by trimming away all bone and skin and cutting into the piece size required by the recipe. It is not usually necessary to add any salt to Bacalhau recipes - proceed with care if you decide to!
Method:
Put a little olive oil in the base of a large ovenproof dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with the sliced potatoes. Layer the sliced onions on top of the potatoes, then the bayleaves and chopped chilli. Place the chunks of Bacalhau on top. Roughly chop the parsley and coriander and cover the bacalhao with it, reserving some for garnish later. Cover the whole dish with slices of cougette and tomatoes. Season with black pepper to taste (you probably won't need any salt) and add the water and white wine. Cover the dish with foil.
Place in the oven at 170°C and allow to steam for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Garnish with more chopped parsley and Corinder before serving.
Chef Peter is Swiss, he lives and works in Norway and everywhere he goes, he takes a keen interest in local dishes. During his visit to Portugal in 2008, he took the traditional Portuguese ingredient of Bacalhau - dried salt cod - to create three superb recipes for us. So here is.............
4 potatoes sliced
black pepper
salt to Bacalhau recipes - proceed with care if you decide to!
Place in the oven at 170°C and allow to steam for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 25-30 minutes. Garnish with more chopped parsley and Corinder before serving.
